All God’s Grace in One Tiny Face
“And all who heard…wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
- Luke 2:18-19
Wondering – Treasuring – Pondering: These words in Luke’s gospel describe different reactions to events surrounding the incarnation. Many utilize an advent liturgy to celebrate Christmas. Advent is the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. Nothing is more significant, more life-changing, and more important to grasp than God’s initiative in sending Jesus to accomplish the work of salvation.
Wondering conveys the response of being amazed – to marvel at something. Acts 7:31 uses it to describe Moses’ response to the burning bush. It involves the visual and one’s response to it. Christmas includes countless opportunities to experience the rapture of wonderment. In our holiday traditions, I can think of several: The Gaylord Texas’s ICE exhibit, the trains at Northpark Mall, and the holiday lights at Arkansas’ Garvan Gardens. All were amazing, but I’ll be honest: Gazing upon a fifteen-foot-tall ice sculpture of the abominable snowman, while impressive, was not life-changing. Neither were the intricate trains at Northpark Mall or the million-plus lights of Garvan Gardens.
Treasuring connotes a mental exercise related to storing information for awareness, contemplation, and remembrance. If you can’t stop thinking about something, mulling it over in your mind, you are engaging in the essence of this Greek word. What do you treasure about Christmas? Are we treasuring the right things?
The final word is the most important. Pondering is something I would encourage all to engage in this holiday season. I dare go as far as to say if we fail to “ponder” we miss the meaning of Christmas altogether. Its usage in Luke 2:19 is unique among all its biblical occurrences. One author wrote, “Since the overall context of verse 19 concerns extraordinary and mysterious occurrences, here the verb might mean to ‘grasp the true sense of’ or to ‘hit upon the right meaning.’”
In our common English colloquial expressions, it means “to connect the dots” signifying the discovery of the truth behind a matter. What is the true essence of Christmas? Do we connect the dots?
Mary and Joseph had been through it that first Christmas. Angelic messages of virgin births and the coming Messiah, public scrutiny, and questionable innuendos of what was an unplanned pregnancy from man’s viewpoint but divinely timed and intended from God’s. I can’t imagine what it must have been like, but the Bible implies Mary connected the dots and “got it” so to speak.
If we succeed like Mary in “connecting the dots” we must think deeply about the incarnation. It alone should dominate our thoughts. We should engage in the wonderment of a holy God redeeming an unholy people. We should treasure this as the ultimate gift of Christmas. Christmas is all God’s grace in one tiny face.
Bart McDonald | SBTF Executive Director