December 10, 1995 -- AM: The Dreams of Christmas, Part II
CHRISTMAS DAYDREAMS
Luke 2:8-19
INTRODUCTION:
From the closing words of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, come these insights to the ponderings of the human heart:
Here was Louisa on the night of the same day, watching the fire as in days of yore, though with a gentler and a humbler face. How much of the future might arise before her vision? Broadsides in the streets, signed with her Father’s s name, exonerating the late Stephen Blackpool weaver from misplaced suspicion, and publishing the guilt o his own þ son, with such extenuation as his years and temptation (he could not bring himself to add his education) might beseech were of the Present. So, Stephen Blackpool’s tombstone, with he father’s record of his death, was almost of the Present, for she knew it was to be. ’These things she could plainly see. But, how much of the future?
A working woman christened Rachael, after a long illness once again appearing at the ringing of the Factory bell, and passing to and fro at the set hours, among the Coketown Hands; a woman of a pensive beauty, always dressed in black, but sweet-tempered and serene, and even cheerful; who, of all the people in the place, alone appeared to have compassion on a degraded, drunken wretch of her own sex, who was sometimes seen in the town secretly begging of her, and crying to her; a woman working, ever working, but content and preferring to do it as her natural lot, until she should be too old to labor any more? Did Louisa see this? Such a thing was to be.
A lonely brother, many thousands of miles away, writing, on paper blotted with tears, that her words had too þ soon come true, and that all the treasures in the world would be cheaply bartered for a sight of her dear face? At length this brother coming nearer home, with hope of seeing her, and being delayed by illness; and then a letter, in a strange hand, saying "he died in hospital, of fever, such a day, and died in penitence and love of you -- his last word being your name"? Did Louisa see these things? Such things were to be.
Herself again a wife-a mother-lovingly watchful of her children, ever careful that they should have a childhood of the mind no less than a childhood of the body, as knowing it to be even a more beautiful thing, and a possession, any hoarded scrap of which is a blessing þ and happiness to the wisest? Did Louisa see this? Such a thing was never to be.
But, happy Sissy’s happy children loving her; all children loving her; she, grown learned in childish lore; thinking no innocent and pretty fancy ever to be despised; trying hard to know her humbler fellow-creatures, and to beautify their lives of machinery and reality with those imaginative graces and delights, without which the heart of infancy will wither up, the sturdiest physical manhood will be morally stark death, and the plainest national prosperity figures can show, will be the Writing on the Wall, she holding this course as part of no fantastic vow, or bond, or brotherhood, or sisterhood, or pledge, or covenant or fancy dress, or fancy fair; but simply as a duty to be done, Did Louisa see these things of herself? These things were to be.
Dear reader! It rests with you and me, whether, in our two fields of action, similar things shall be or not. Let them be! We shall sit with lighter bosoms on the hearth, to see the ashes of our fires turn gray and cold. THE END.
(226) # 9-13
People spend their time thinking of many things when their time is their own with no distractions. They may stare at a fire, the stars, or out a window, and there is as much variety in those things we think about as there are ways to do it. Shawna Talbot said she spends most of her leisure time thinking of sleeping. I have discovered that Marshall Butcher has done some serious reflecting on the game of Golf. I found these hypothetical notes which dropped from his Bible one Sunday. They give us insight to the ramblings of his heart.
SOME REVISED RULES OF GOLF:
A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit said tree. Hitting a tree is just bad luck and has no place in a scientific game. The player should estimate the distance the ball would have traveled if it had not hit the tree, and play the ball from there.
There shall be no such thing as a lost ball. The missing ball is on or near the course somewhere, and
eventually will be found and pocketed by someone else. It has thus become a stolen’ ball, and the player should
not compound the crime by charging himself with a penalty stroke.
If a putt passes over the hole without dropping, it is deemed to have dropped. The law of gravity
holds that any object attempting to maintain a position in the atmosphere without something to support it must
drop. The law of gravity supersedes the law of golf.
The same thing goes for a ball that stops at the brink of the hole and hangs there, defying gravity. You cannot defy the law.
A putt that stops so close to the cup that it inspires comments like "you could blow it in" may be blown in-but only if it is no more than three inches from the hole. After all, no one wants to make a travesty of the game.
-Arnie Kunz, quoted by Alex Thicn
in Milwaukee Sentinel (78) RD 157d
The book of Philippians addresses the thought of thinking:
Phil 1:27 (KJS) Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; Phil 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one mind. 3 [Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Phil 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Phil 3:19 Whose end [is] destruction, whose God [is their] belly, and [whose] glory [is] in their shame, who mind earthly things.) Phil 4:2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
Phil 1:7 (KJS) Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. I have...: or, ye have me in your heart} of my...: or, with me of grace} Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things. honest: or, venerable}
We think about many things. Do we give this kind of reflection to Christ? Look at what Mary did.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered [them] in her heart. Luke 2:19
In the recesses of her mind were captured and catalogued the details of these special moments in history. These things are Mary’s daydreams. Somewhere our own daydreams must include our Lord. To contemplate merely the truths of His birth will fill a great amount of time and stretch our minds.
PROPOSITION: THE RICHNESS OF HEAVENLY TRUTH RUNS DEEP AND WIDE AND LONG.
Here are eight sets of Christmas details which are things dreams are made of. These are suggested thoughts Mary have had.
Here is a Christmas dream. Mary pondered "all these things" in her heart. She kept them and reflected on them. The Greek word, communicates holding within one self. This is a precious collection of memories.
The "things" Mary pondered and kept were words uttered by others rather than her visual records of the events. This is evidenced in the word used by Luke for these things. These things were spoken by the shepherds as we are told in v18.
In pondering these things she attempted to understand everything in context and implication. She would reflect on these things for a long, long time. Anyone who thinks about the things of God and their meanings will find that he can think a long time and that there will always be some aspect beyond himself, making room to marvel at the greatness of God.
The things mary pondered included the following:
A. DETAILS COMMON TO SHEPHERD LIFE IN THEIR COUNTRY(Luke 2:8).
She knew the weather as they described it. She knew what they were doing in the night watches as they told her. Perhaps she heard their concerns during the night moments. they told her what was happening in this otherwise ordinary night. They may have described some aspects of abiding or living in the field with their flocks. See Jacob’s description of Shepherd life as he reminds Laban of his commitment in Genesis 31:38-40
B. DETAILS REGARDING THE ARRIVAL OF THE ANGEL OF THE LORD (Luke 2:9)
Angels are interested in Salvation. See I Peter 1:12; Exodus 25:20; Daniel 12:4-6; Luke 15:10; Ephesians 3:10.
C. DETAILS OF ANGEL’S SAYINGS (Luke 2:10-12)
How appropriate that an angel should announce the Lamb of God to shepherds. Note also that lambs are often born in barns. See John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. {taketh away: or, beareth} and John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
D. DETAILS OF THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF THE HEAVENLY HOST (Luke 2:13-14)
E. DETAILS OF ANGELS LEAVING AND SHEPHERDS PLANNING TO COME SEE THE BABY (Luke 2:15)
the Angels traveled to Bethlehem in faith. they came to see things which had come to pass.
F. DETAILS OF THE DISCOVERY OF JOSEPH AND MARY WITH THE CHRIST CHILD (Luke 2:16)
G. DETAILS OF THE COMPELLING NEED TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED (Luke 2:17)
The shepherds couldn’t keep silent.
H. DETAILS OF THE PEOPLE MARVELING AT THE STATEMENTS OF THE SHEPHERDS (Luke 2:18)
In pondering these things Mary attempted to understand everything in context and implication. She would reflect on these things for a long, long time. Anyone who thinks about the things of God and their meanings will find that he can reflect at great length and that there will always be some aspect beyond himself, making room for marveling at the greatness of God.
CONCLUSION:
Everyone who heard the shepherds marveled at their sayings. In contrast, Mary pondered. They were awe stricken, but she pondered. Why the contrast? Every work of God, every statement in His word, has an application. Did any of those shepherds remember this night when Jesus started doing miracles some three decades later? Mary did. Did anyone else remember this night while Jesus lay breathing His last on the cross? Likely Mary did, because she pondered these sayings in her heart.
He was born contrary to the laws of nature, reared in obscurity, lived in poverty, and only once crossed the boundary of the land in which He was born -- and that in His childhood. He had no wealth or influence, and had neither training nor education in the world’s schools. His relatives were inconspicuous and influential. In infancy He startled a king. In boyhood He puzzled learned scholars. In manhood He ruled the course of nature. He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His services.
He never wrote a book. yet if everything He did were written in detail, the þ-world itself couldn’t contain the books that would be written. He never founded a college, yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students as He has. He never practiced medicine, yet He has healed more broken hearts than doctors have healed broken bodies. Throughout history great men have come and gone, yet He lives on: Herod could not kill Him, Satan could not seduce Him, death could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him. Jesus was (is) God’s Rightful Heir, The Maker of all Things, The Light of Life, An Exact Reproduction, the Divine Maintainer, and The Priest Whose Work is Done (Hebrews 1:1-3).
-- John MacArthur (5-6) 144.20
Thinking about Jesus changes one. Pondering, reflecting, speculating, evaluating, deliberating, considering, appreciating, meditating . . . Daydreaming. When an individual grasps the importance of the Son of God, he sustains impact! He cannot be neutral and he cannot remain untouched or indifferent. His breadth covers every continent and people. His length misses no point or person in time. His depth reaches the lowest sinful being. Christ is inexhaustible.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson tells the story of a family of unregenerate school kids who typically terrify their peers and somehow end up playing the major characters in the local church Christmas play. One scene comes to my mind as I think of the impact Christ makes when we give our thoughts to Him in depth.
Usually, by the time we got to "Silent Night," which was always the last carol, I was fed up with the whole thing and couldn’t wait for it to be over but I didn’t feel that way this time. I almost wished for the pageant to go on, with the Herdmans in charge, to see what else they would do that was different.
Maybe the Wise Men would tell Mary about their problem with Herod, and she would tell them to go back and lie their heads off. Or Joseph might go with them and get rid of Herod once and for all. Or Joseph and Mary might ask the Wise Men to take the Christ Child with them, figuring that no one would think to look there.
I was so busy planning new ways to save the baby Jesus that I missed the beginning of “Silent Night,” but it was all right because everyone sang “Silent Night,” including the audience. We sang all the verses too, and when we got to “Son of God, Love’s pure light” I happened to look at Imogene and I almost dropped my hymn book on a baby angel.
Everyone had been waiting all this time for the Herdmans to do something absolutely unexpected. And sure enough, that was what happened.
Imogene Herdman was crying.
In the candlelight her face was all shiny with tears and she didn’t even bother to wipe them away. She just sat there -- awful old Imogene -- in her crookedy veil, crying and crying and crying.
Well. It was the best Christmas pageant we ever had.
Everybody body said so, but nobody seemed to know why. When it was over people stood around the lobby of the church talking. There was something special, everyone said -- but they couldn’t put their finger on what.
Mrs. Wendleken said, “Well, Mary the mother of Jesus had a black eye; that was something special. But only what you might expect.”
She meant that it was the most natural thing in the world for a Herdman to have a black eye. But actually nobody hit Imogene and she didn’t hit anyone else. Her eye wasn’t really black either, just all puffy and swollen. She had walked into the corner of the choir-robe cabinet, in a kind of daze - as if she had just caught onto the idea of God, and the wonder of Christmas.
And this was the funny thing about it all. For years I’d thought about the wonder of Christmas and the mystery of Jesus’ birth, and never really understood it. But now because of the Herdmans, it didn’t seem so mysterious after all.
When Imogene had asked me what the pageant was about, I told her it was about Jesus, but that was just part of it. It was about a new baby and His parents who were in a lot of trouble -no money, no place to go, no doctor, nobody they knew And then, arriving from the East (like my uncle from New Jersey) some rich friends.
But Imogene, I guess, didn’t see it that way. Christmas just came over her all at once like a case of chills and fever. So she was crying, and walking into the furniture.
Afterward there were candy canes and little tiny Testaments for everyone and a poinsettia plant for my mother from the whole Sunday school. We put the costumes away and folded up the collapsible manger and just before we left, my father snuffed out the candles.
“I guess that’s everything,” he said as we stood at the back of the church. "All over now. It was quite a pageant " Then he looked at my mother "What’s that you’ve got?"
"Its the ham," she said. “They wouldn’t take it back. They wouldn’t take any candy, or any of the little Bibles. But Imogene did ask for a set of the Bible-story pictures, and she took out the Mary picture and said it was exactly right whatever that means.”
I think it meant that no matter how she herself was Imogene liked the idea of the Mary in the picture-all pink and white and pure-looking, as if she never washed the dishes or cooked supper or did anything at all except have Jesus on Christmas Eve.
But as far as I’m concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman -- sort of nervous and bewildered but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby. And the wise Men are always going to be Leroy and his brothers, bearing ham.
When we came out of the church that night it was cold and clear with crunchy snow underfoot and bright stars overhead. And I thought about the Angel of the Lord -- Gladys, with her skinny legs and her dirty sneakers sticking out from under her robe, yelling at all of us everywhere:
"Hey! Unto you a Child is born!"
(36) 61.1
An evangelist tells of visiting Yellowstone National Park. The guide took him by a little pool of boiling hot water called the "Handkerchief Pool " He was told to put a dirty handkerchief into the water, pull it out and he would find it as clean as if fresh from the laundry. He followed instructions. His dirty handkerchief, grease spots all over it caused by wiping his hands after working on the car, was placed in the pool and came out as white as snow. How wonderful to know that Christ can make any sinner clean who will come to Him. "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s
veins . And sinners plunged beneath that flood loose all their guilty stains." Spiritual dirt can be removed only by Heaven’s provision. "O Plato, Plato,” cried Socrates, "I know God can forgive sins but I do not know how ." The answer to that how is to be found in "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1 :29) . Christmas means more than reunions, rich and often indigestible foods, fun and frolic. It means God has visited us in Christ Jesus, and we have a Savior who is able and wilting to cleanse, forgive, and guard every repentant and trusting soul .
Long ago when Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Isaac asked “Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb" (Genesis 22:7 8). About 1800 years later, John the Baptist answered Isaac when he said of Christ "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 129). God’s Gracious Gift died to take away our sins. A Christmas drawing shows Mary holding the new-born Jesus in her arms. On the sole of the Babe’s tiny foot may be seen a cross. It is not enough to hear the angels’ song in the sky, and join in the merriment of the season; we must remember that this Babe was born to die on a cross upon a lonely hill, and that we can only worship Him as we give ourselves and all we are for what He died to obtain. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? Have you received God’s Gracious Gift today? If you haven’t, will you receive Him right now?
-- James T. Jeremiah (6) 48.12
