What were Mary’s Ponderings in her heart?
Text: Luke 2:19
At Christmas we often stress the heavenly hosts singing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” But the most important happenings were the ponderings in the virgin-mother of the Son of God. I believe there were two main points according to my carol Winter Moon. The first point is “O the thought that God’s Son is born! Sweeps o’er her soul this first Christmas night.”
Soon the Roman Catholic Church elevated Mary to Mother of God and Queen of Heaven, but the virgin-mother’s thoughts were not for herself but for her Son. Before Jesus was born she was well prepared to bring him into the world. The Bible describes when the Baby was born he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and lay in a manger. Swaddling clothes are baby’s clothes which are tightly wrapped around him to keep him from catching cold.
When I stayed half a year in Bethlehem 1969-70 I went to the Shepherd’s Field to test out the conditions before I preached to the believers. I found it extremely cold. The temperature had plunged to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Suddenly I realised it could also be only 40 degrees the night our Lord was born since the manger stable was without door or window.To feed the new-born Child she had started breast feeding. The next morning she must have left the stable to stay in the inn or rented a house. On the eighth day she and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem for circumcision to fulfill Moses Law. No sooner had they returned from Jerusalem than came the three wise men and found them and offered gold, frankincense and myrrh. And Joseph being warned in a dream that King Herod would seek to kill the young Child the mother quickly prepared her Baby to escape to Egypt by night.
The distance between Bethlehem and Egypt, according to our Pilgrimage to the Holy Land is about 250 miles and it took us a whole day. By foot and donkey it must have taken the Holy Family well over a month. We visited the site in Egypt where our Lord Jesus began to grow up until it was revealed to Joseph in a dream to return to Israel, to Nazareth in Galilee.
The other thing that made Mary ponder in her heart was, “O the thought that He’s born to die!” Mary did not fully know this but it was soon confirmed when they brought Jesus for circumcision on the eighth day to the Temple in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem when Jesus was presented for the circumcision the Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon a just and devout man that before his death he would see the Lord’s Christ. How thrilled was Simeon when he beheld Baby Jesus and took him up in his arms and said, “Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Mary the virgin-mother of Jesus not only brought him up to full manhood, teaching him the Scriptures that he might answer the Jewish doctors when at twelve but accompanied her Son to the cross and felt the sword pierce through her own soul, “O the thought that He’s born to die! Sweeps o’er her soul this first Christmas night.” What are the ponderings in your heart tonight?Let’s sing Winter Moon, third verse together.
Amen.
