Thursday, December 16

Thursday

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,  “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  - Luke 2:15-19

When you see a really great movie, which are you more likely to do, try to keep it a secret, or talk about it with your friends?  When you read a great book, hear a beautiful song, or eat at a great restaurant, don’t you feel almost compelled to share that experience with others?  I know (from extensive personal experience) that most sports fans cannot stop talking about the amazing game or the incredible play they witnessed last night, last week, last year (or in the case of Cubs fans, last century!)

Why is it that we can’t stop talking about the food, movies, books, music, and sports that we enjoy, but we are often nervous and hesitant about sharing the love of God in our lives?

This question has often troubled me, both as a pastor and as a Christian who sometimes struggles to share the love of Christ.  C.S. Lewis offers some profound insights on this issue in his little book Reflections on the Psalms;

“But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians and scholars ... My whole, more general difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not merely to compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are, the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” (pp. 93-95)

Whatever those shepherds saw and heard out in that field, it compelled them to go in search of the Christ child, and to share all that they and seen and heard with anyone who would listen!

Luke gives us a snapshot of two different responses to the shepherd’s message. 

First there are the crowds.  Luke tells us that all who heard them were amazed at what the shepherds told them. It is easy to make the mistake of thinking that everyone who heard the message repented of their sin and surrendered their hearts to God.  This is not at all what happened.  The ESV says that they “wondered” at what they heard.  The NKJV says that they “marveled” at what the shepherds told them.  The implication is that the masses heard the message and they were fascinated, interested, even moved by it, but not necessarily changed.  Kind of like the masses who come to a Christmas service at church and are moved by the music and touched by the sermon, but then they go back to their regular lives without any kind of lasting change in their lives.

But, in contrast in to the masses there is Mary. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)  Mary does two things; she treasures and she ponders all that she heard and experienced.  The word for treasured actually means to “store up”.  In other words, Mary memorized the message!  The Greek word for ponder usually means “to discuss”.  Mary thought deeply about, meditated on, and talked to God about the meaning of all of these things.

Let me ask you a very simple but critical question; Are you more like the masses or Mary when it comes to the message of Christmas?  Do you just feel sentimental, emotional, and a little more religious at this time of year, or do you treasure and ponder the meaning and power of Jesus Christ in your own life!?

Oh God, keep us from casual sentimentalism and shallow religiosity.  Teach us to treasure your truth deep in our hearts and to ponder the meaning of the gospel as it transforms our lives – Amen.

Jeff Frazier