Christmas Day: Putting It All Together - Mary, Pondering

Luke 2:8-20

Mary was a ponderer.

It’s a great moment in the Christmas story, a quiet moment away from the angels singing and the shepherds scampering to the manger and then away again. Mary was paying attention to everything that went on, and she pondered the events of that night.

The shepherds were running around, telling anyone who would listen about this incredible, amazing child who had been born. The angels had perched in the night sky to tell them. This baby was very good news. This baby was the Messiah. Of course they were telling everyone!

But the baby’s mother, it seems, was quiet. She wasn’t running around saying, “Hey, look what I did! I just gave birth to the Messiah. Isn’t that amazing?” Instead, she treasured the information and thought deeply about it.

The Greek word Luke uses in Luke 2:19 for “treasured” or “kept” has the sense of preserving something precious. The word for “pondered” was often used for conversations between people, but here Mary was “conversing” with herself. The root word means “throw” or “place.” In this case, Mary was gathering her own experiences and the reports of the shepherds and putting them all together in her mind. (And if you’ve ever wondered how Luke got this story, this description suggests that Mary gathered the details first, preserved them, and was interviewed years later.)

But look at the contrasting styles in the story. The shepherds are going crazy while Mary quietly ponders. Were the shepherds wrong to spread the news? Not at all. Was Mary wrong to keep quiet? Of course not. She simply needed to deal with all that had happened in a way that was right for her. She needed to take some time, be quiet, treasure what had happened, and do a little pondering.

When something good happens, how do you react to it? Do you run around telling everyone? Do you rush to tweet friends or update your Facebook status? Or do you softly reflect, quietly treasuring the good news? Especially when we’re dealing with God’s Good News, the first approach tends to erupt in praise, the second in thankfulness. There’s nothing wrong with either.

Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Luke 2:19, NIV