Read Luke 2:8-20 and Luke 2:41-52 (from an actual Bible!)
What do these two accounts have in common?
Luke 2:19, 51b (LEB)
“But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering them in her heart.”
“And [Jesus’] mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
To ponder: to think or consider especially quietly, soberly, and deeply
To treasure: to hold or keep as precious
“In her heart …”
In our culture the heart is the center of emotions
Broken hearted
Heart bursting with pride
Hating with all your heart
Loving with all your heart
Heartless
To be troubled in the heart
We think of Mary the mother of Jesus mostly at Christmas time, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee and at the crucifixion of Jesus, but, what about the rest of her life?
Wouldn’t it be awesome to have biographies of some of the main characters of the Bible?
I mean, look at Noah. The Lord says, “Build an ark” and the next thing God is saying, “OK. Noah, you’ve got seven days.”
What happened in the 100-120 years between those events?
Did the Lord come down for progress reports?
Did Noah need to ask the Lord for solutions to certain problems?
What happened during those years? Enquiring minds want to know!
The same thing applies as we follow Mary through her life. What happened?
Perhaps the Lord did not give us that information because He knows that we as humans seem to get distracted from the main focus easily.
For example: why did the Lord take Moses away from the Israelite camp when he died? Was it because the Israelites would have somehow tried to preserve his body and make it an object of worship? This is the only time in the Bible that you read of an angel and the devil fighting over a human corpse! (Jude) If the devil had dragged Moses’ body back to the Israelite camp would they have made an idol out of it?
Is that why there's no detailed biography of Mary's life?
Anyway, let’s try to walk through what we know about Mary’s life with the idea of what she might have been pondering in her heart.
Mary was indeed a righteous woman, chosen by God to bring His One and Only Son into the world.
So, what were some of the things Mary was treasuring and pondering in her heart?
Luke 1:32 LEB
“This One will be great, and He will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”
Luke 1:33 LEB
“He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:35b LEB
“The one to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
The shepherds and their story of the angelic announcement …
Simeon’s prophecy Luke 2:30-32 LEB
“My eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory to Your people Israel.”
His father and mother were astonished at what was said about Him.
Luke 2:34b-35 LEB
“Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed - and a sword will pierce your own soul also, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed!”
Wow! What a mixture of exaltation and calamity! How could anyone make any sense of it?
What exaltation! Son of the most High - throne of David - Kingdom with no end - the Son of God - angels announce to shepherds - shepherds worship - He is salvation - glory of Israel
Awesome!
How on earth does all of that mix with Simeon’s second pronouncement?
Luke 2:34b-35 AMP
“Listen carefully: this Child is appointed and destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that is to be opposed - and a sword [of deep sorrow] will pierce through your own soul - so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
So, it seems as if Joseph, Mary and Jesus stay in Bethlehem for up to two years.
During that time Joseph is working. Jesus is eating, sleeping, spitting up, learning to roll over and to walk and to talk and doing what infants and toddlers do.
Mary is tending to the home and raising Jesus and still these prophecies and events are rolling around in her head. What does this mean? How can this be? Can they both be true? Treasuring the good things in her heart. Pondering the warnings in Simeon’s prophecy.
Treasuring and pondering in her heart. Are the memories starting to seem like a distant dream?
Then, something totally unexpected happens.
One night it seems unusually bright out and there is a knock on the door at their home.
Matthew 2:9b-11 NIV
“The star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
“On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
And then, coming right on the heels of that visit Joseph wakes them up in the middle of the night and they head out of town as fast as they can because of a warning he received from an angel in a dream.
The next day they hear news that all of the baby boys in Bethlehem had been murdered at the command of Herod.
Talk about mixed emotions! Extreme sadness as the thought of the anguish of the parents whose children had been murdered.
Relief that Jesus had been spared. Reassurance that Jesus was a special Gift from God.
More to ponder in her heart. Mulling all of these things over and over and over in her heart.
They are in Egypt until Herod dies and then at the direction of an angel they end up back in Nazareth again.
And Mary is holding all of the miraculous past events as treasures and pondering in her heart what they might mean.
From there we don’t hear anything about the family until Jesus is 12 years old.
(Tell the story briefly and that Mary treasured and pondered these things)
Then, we step into a blank period of eighteen years to the wedding at Cana of Galilee.
Remember, all this time Mary is remembering and pondering and mulling over in her mind the events of the past as she watches Jesus grow into a man.
What was He like? How different was He from His brothers and sisters?
What were the family dynamics?
When they were sitting around at night did Mary tell them all the stories of Jesus birth and His experiences at the temple and how He was delivered from certain death?
Mary then watches His ministry and listens to His teaching.
She sees the crowds of followers grow.
She hears the words of praise.
She hears the words of anger against Him.
She wonders, will He be King?
Will He reign on David’s throne?
She hears of His grand entry into Jerusalem with shouts of Hosanna!
She hears of His cleansing of the Temple.
She hears rumors of murder.
The next time we see Mary she is at the foot of the cross on Golgotha standing next to John, the disciple Jesus loved.
The words of the angel and the shepherds and Simeon and the wise men keep churning in her head.
Luke 2:35b NIV
“And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Her soul has been pierced.
That is the last we hear of Mary the mother of Jesus until after His resurrection and ascension.
She is not present at the tomb nor is she present at the ascension.
However, there is no reason to believe that she did not interact with Jesus at some point between His resurrection and ascension because she is in the upper room in Jerusalem waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is over now.
Are the words of the angel and the shepherds and Simeon and the wise men any more clear at that point of her life than they were 33 years prior?
Is she still pondering them in her heart?
What a question. What a life!
What can we learn from Mary’s life?
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We know that Mary was a righteous person; that’s why God chose her.
God the Father chose her for a very important task, to be the human conduit through which God the Son would become incarnate, God in flesh.
Mary’s life shows us that humility is honoring to the Lord. The Lord deserves all of the glory and if our obedience to Him brings about some benefit to Him and His kingdom here on earth, He gets the credit and we stay out of the way.
When we take our car to a mechanic and he fixes a complex problem we don’t go into his shop and admire the tools in his tool box, instead we thank him for a job well done.
When God does a work through us He deserves the glory not us.
Mary in her righteous humility demonstrated this for us.
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We know that Mary was an available person. This is best demonstrated in her response to the angel Gabriel after their conversation when she says,
Luke 1:38 NIV
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Mary allowed the Lord to take her down a path of humiliation, danger and horror.
She could have lived a simple life in a small village near Jerusalem but she chose obedience.
The same goes for us when we truly choose Jesus. Some say that they choose Jesus but there is never any observable difference between their before and after lives.
When we respond to God’s grace calling us to salvation we are changed from the inside out. All we are and have becomes His and is placed at His disposal for His glory.
Mary was an available and obedient person.
Question we must all ask, “Am I a righteous, available and obedient person?”
Is God the essence of my life or is He just an accessory, like a necklace or watch that we put on when we want to and take Him off at other times?
Have you come to the point in your life where you say,
“Lord, I am Your servant, may Your word to me be fulfilled.”
Invitation and prayer
