Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
When I got back from Israel, one of the most difficult things I faced were the questions. What was it like being over there? How did it change you? What did you learn from your experience? What did you gain?
The reason these questions were so difficult is that I didn’t really have an answer to all of them. I knew something was different. I knew I had been changed by my experience. But I was so busy while I was over there reflecting. Writing everything down. Taking photographs of just about everything I saw. So I wasn’t really sure what all had changed inside me.
One of the moments that helped me the most was reflecting on my journey with the folks at Colonial Haven. It was in that moment I realized that one of the things I gained was a greater understanding of God’s desire to be with us. I had walked some of the same streets Jesus had. I had seen some of the sights He had seen. I now knew where He had been when He walked among us.
And I gained a better sense of what was going on in the Scriptures. Now there are certain places that when I read about in our readings, I have a mental picture of what that area actually looks like. And I hope those are things that I have been able to convey to you.
And most of all, there is a power of being able to say for yourself that the tomb is empty. Jesus isn’t there. He is risen.
But there are many more things that I’m sure I gained from this trip that I haven’t fully comprehended yet. That it will take a great deal more time and reflection to fully grasp.
And for this reason, I find myself often drawn to Luke’s words in the Gospel today. that Mary “pondered these things in her heart.”
And there are certainly a lot of things that she had to ponder already. Here is a girl, barely 13 or 14, who has had her normal, common life completely turned upside down. She’s been visited by an angel. She’s become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Her relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age and then randomly prophesied to Mary about her own child. And in the Gospel today, she’s just travelled all the way from the North in Nazareth to Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem, to give birth. That’s not the entire stretch of the country, but it’s pretty close!
And then, as if all that weren’t enough, shepherds come to visit her. They come to honor Jesus. And they tell Mary, Joseph, and anyone else who happens to be nearby, that an angel came down and told them this child who has been born is a Savior. Messiah. The Lord.
This is not a little thing. Shepherds are nomads. As Heidi told us last month, they weren’t really plugged into society. They were outsiders. They weren’t a part of what was going on.
And yet these are the people who are told of what has happened from the angel. And they take the time to no longer be removed. They take the time to find this child. They take the time to honor Him.
A lot has happened in Mary’s life. A lot to think about. To reflect on.
And I believe what she does is just about the wisest thing a person can do. This 13 year old girl, a virgin who found herself suddenly and miraculously made pregnant. This young girl who is wise way beyond her years. She doesn’t try to do what most of us do. She doesn’t try to rationalize what has happened. She doesn’t try to explain it. She doesn’t try to formulate some sort of explanation to make sense of it all. She doesn't try to say "this is what happened, and that is the end of that." She simply takes what has happened and keeps it as a treasure in the back of her head. She decides to allow these wonders to continue to do their work to transform her and her life. She continues to ponder these things in her heart.
Scripture itself is a great example of continuing to ponder things in life. This book is the sum total of how God has acted on His people and what He did for the world to save it. And it wasn't written down so that it would just sit there as a stale record of the past. It was written down so that we could continue to ponder these things. It was written down so that we could continue to reflect on how God transforms our lives from ways of sin and death to the ways of life and compassion. It was written down so that we could continue to hear God speak by the words and events we ponder over in this book. It was written down so that we could continue to wonder at what God has done, is doing, and will keep on doing for us.
When we stop to reflect, to ponder, to marvel, to wonder, when we struggle and wrestle and try to figure out what exactly it is that God is saying to us, we let God continue to work in us. We let Him continue to transform Him. And that is exactly what this season is about.
This season is the time to let the Christ child into our hearts. And with that, we let in the love and compassion He has for us. We let in the love of one who loved us so much that He was willing to die on the cross so that we could be raised up with Him to new life. To new being.
And if the love of one willing to die for the rest of us isn't something suitable for us to continue to ponder in our hearts, I'm not sure what is.
As we continue to move forward in our relationship in God through Jesus Christ, we will find that there are many things to ponder, and there will be many more things to ponder still. Just as we see with Mary. We will see her continue to wonder at her son when a 12 year old Jesus stays behind in the temple to teach the learned teachers and rabbis there. And most importantly, we see Mary "treasure these things in her heart."
As we continue to treasure these things in our hearts, whether through what we find in Scripture, in stories, or in the events of our own lives, we open the way for God to continue to work through us and in us. We open the way for God to transform our lives so that we can be more fully His. We open the way to be closer to Him.
Like Mary, we don't need to have all the answers now. We can continue to let all these things we treasure in our hearts work in us. Like Mary, we can know that God will continue to speak to us and give us the answers we crave not when we want them but when we need them. Like Mary, we can open the way so that Jesus can be more fully in our hearts, transforming us with the power of His love so that we can be better equipped to show that love in the world. And for the wonder of God's gift of grace and love through our Lord Jesus Christ, we can truly say Thanks be to God!