Marvelling and Pondering ...

We read in Luke 2: 15-20 that the shepherds hurry with haste to see what the angels described to them--the birth of a Savior in a barn. They make it to Bethlehem and find Mary, Joseph, and Little Baby Jesus just as it had been told them.

Then they tell. They tell "all who can hear" about the revelation of the angels. The bright light in the sky. The presence of the angel. Their fear. The comforting message of joy and hope. The sudden burst of an heavenly ensemble.

And most everyone is amazed at their story. They 'marvel' at it. They are 'amazed' at the events. They are 'astonished' by their experience.

But Mary is reported as doing something other than marvelling. She "treasures" and "ponders" the sayings of the shepherds. Her action is different than marvelling, than being greatly impressed by the story. She stores up their words deep within her heart and searches for understanding.

Marvelling is akin to seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. As you near the Front Range, you begin to see their outline. Then you begin to make out the individual ridges, until finally you have the great splendor of the mountains standing before you in crystal clear skies (providing you're outiside of the smog cloud of Greater Denver). You can stand there for several moments and hours even. The vistas of the Rockies are breathtaking. It's marvelling.

But then you go inside, or turn your car around, or look to something else. And the beautiful feelings that accompany your marvel begin to slip away. They are replaced. Our attention takes hold of something else, and marvel slips away.

The shepherds and others were filled with marvel. Their sight of the birth of a Savior prompted real action from them. They returned to their flocks with praise on their lips. They told many of what they saw. But night gave to day, and days gave into weeks, and weeks gave into months, and marvelled withered away.

But Mary ponders. She took what was said and engraved it on her heart. The angel Gabriel announcing God's hair-brained idea. Elizabeth's pronouncement of great blessing. John's leap for joy in the womb at a simple salutation. And now this--strange shepherds appearing in the night with stories of angels' songs and great light in dark skies.

She stores it all in her heart and ponders it. She doesn't just think about it. She thinks about it heavily, weightly, with great seriousness. She ponders.



Pondering has staying effects. Pondering means searching for truth, for meaning, for reason. Pondering means not giving up until the answer has been found. And sometimes when the answer is found, it means still hanging with it because the answer may never be enough for the pondering pose.

Pondering allows Mary to tell Jesus that he is special. Pondering allows Mary to pass on her hope in the Lord to the ears of the newborn Savior. Pondering allows Mary to bring Jesus to the faith of Israel and to let him explore and soak it up and live it for himself. Pondering prompts action, seeks understanding, lives with the tension of not knowing, of seeing how small we are in the greater scheme, and discerns the small part we play in big ways.

How will you celebrate this Christmas? Will you be full of marvel? Will you be astonished at great lights? Will you be amazed at nice gifts? Will you marvel at the special spirit that fills the air for a few moments?

After the presents are put away, the wrapping paper thrown away, the Christmas dinner gobbled away, the tree taken away to the curb (or attic), will your marvel give away? Will your amazement pass along the Christ scene and turn into something else and leave you once again with the feeling of emptiness and hope for something more?

Or will you ponder? Will you look seriously at this tiny child wrapped in borrowed clothes, laying among the barnyard animals and ponder by asking: What does this all mean? What is God doing to us? What is God doing to our world? Why this Child? Why this plan? Why this message? What does it mean? Will you ponder?
Let us ponder anew this Christmas at what the Almighty can do.