Luke 2.19, Christmas Eve, 2018
Life in Christ Lutheran Church,
Grand Marais, MN
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering
them in her heart. (Luke 2:19,
ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I once heard about a child who told
the story of Christmas. I don’t remember
all the ins and outs of it, but I do remember one phrase. Mary
treasured up all these things and pounded
them into her heart. Well, it makes
a certain amount of sense doesn’t it?
What second grader is going to know or understand the word pondering? Now, she probably understood the idea of pounding something. If she had brothers, she’d probably even been
on the receiving end of a pounding. Her brothers had something they wanted her to
know, so they pounded her till she
remembered it. That was an object lesson
in the making. Mary, the mother of Jesus, pounded these things into her heart. I’m sure she did. All these wonderful events; shepherds,
angels, magi, special travel arrangements made in the middle of the night,
these things didn’t happen every day.
God’s hand in the birth of her child wasn’t subtle. Mary was probably the first human being to
really understand the meaning, the reality of God coming into the world in human
flesh. She suffered the pains of child
birth when God was born. She knew these
events were events to be remembered. She
pounded them into her heart. When she held the infant Jesus in her arms
and fed him at her breast, she must have been overwhelmed to hold God, feed
God, and change God’s diapers. She pounded these things into her heart. When she and her husband took him to the
temple to be circumcised, on the eight day, when he cried at the pain, at the
first shedding of his blood and the prophet told her that her heart would be
pierced; she pounded these things into
her heart. As he grew, learned to
walk and talk, skinned his knees, worked with his Joseph, laughed and played
and cried, just like any other completely human growing baby boy; she pounded these things into her heart. When he was twelve and stayed behind in the
temple wowing the scribes and the Pharisees with his knowledge of God and his
understanding of scripture. She and
Joseph were in a panic when they couldn’t find him. They were angry, but soon they understood. Jesus was doing what he had come to do; she pounded these things into her heart. When Jesus ministry began in earnest, when he
turned water into wine, when he healed the sick, when he preached to the
gathering crowds, he spoke with authority showing he wasn’t just an ordinary prophet;
she pounded these things into her heart. She’d need to remember all these things. Her son, isn’t just any human baby, he is the
son of God. He wasn’t born to live a
life for his own sake. He lives his life
for her. He lives his life for you. Mary, Jesus’ mother, saw all these things
first hand, she saw Jesus living his life for sinful human beings. She saw God’s love expressed in human
form. She saw grateful human beings
reacting to God, in the flesh; she pounded
these things into her heart. So,
with Jesus standing bleeding from thorns in his scalp, torn flesh from the
Roman scourge, bruises on his face from being pounded with human fists, she
recalled the things she had stored up in her heart. She maybe didn’t fully understand why
God-in-the-flesh would allow himself to be treated so, but she knew who he
was. And so, this too, she pounded into her heart. She remembered Simeon’s words about the pain
she would endure. With each blow of the
hammer that pounded a nail into Jesus hands and feet, she felt the pain she was
warned about, a mother’s pain. And yet
it was nothing compared to the pain that her son, Jesus bore. You see, this her son, the God-man, Jesus
Christ, was born of the virgin for this very purpose. The life he lived, the life Mary pounded into her heart, was lived with
the purpose of suffering the guilt and shame of sin. He lived his life to suffer the death of
sinful men. What Mary saw on the cross,
wasn’t just her son, it was her Savior. With
all his life stored in her heart, what she saw on the cross was the sinless Son
of God; God, himself, restoring a relationship to his people. God doing what was necessary, what you and I,
(and she) can’t do for ourselves. Jesus
Christ, true-God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified dead and buried; And Mary saw it all, and pounded these things in her heart. But it wasn’t over. The joy Mary felt at the birth of God’s son,
was given in full measure when he rose again.
Then she understood fully what God had done through her son. All that she had pounded in her heart came flowing out in joy.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent
forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to
redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit
of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:4-6, ESV)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the
form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a
servant, being born in the likeness of men. And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. Therefore
God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every
name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)
So, this evening, what are you
pounding into your heart? Christmas
gifts, or the Christmas gift? As you
listen to the account of your Savior, do you hear about the Savior for
you? Do you pound Jesus Christ and his
life, death and resurrection for you into your heart?
Think on Jesus, the son of the
Virgin, God in the flesh born for you, and pound that into your heart. Think about Jesus keeping God’s law perfectly
for you and pound that into your heart. Think
of Jesus suffering for you, think of Jesus dying on the cross for you for the
forgiveness of your sin, and pound that into your heart. And pound into your heart the joy that Jesus
promises on his return, when you rise from your dusty grave.
I guess the little girl had it
right. Mary kept all these things and pounded them into her heart. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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