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This month we have been reflecting on some of the holy moments that make the Christmas story so powerful. There is the moment the angel Gabriel told Mary that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah and Mary surrendered herself to God's will. There was the moment Joseph was told by an angel to take Mary as his wife because the child she was carrying was the son of God and that this child would save people from their sin. Joseph was obedient and took Mary as his wife and he never looked back.
There was the moment an army of angels appeared to some shepherds while they were working. Not only were they told that the Messiah had come but that this was a Messiah for them. Outcast shepherds that no one liked or found worthy were worthy of God’s love and they were included in God’s saving grace. Salvation was for everyone and the shepherds were told they could find their Savior lying in a manager. Once they found Him, they spread the news about this Savior to others. If this was a Savior for them, then he was a savior for all the world.
And then there were 3 holy moments that changed the lives of the wisemen. There was the moment a new star appeared in the sky and they began their search for the new king of Israel. There was the moment they learned a new truth. The king wasn’t to be born in the holy city of Jerusalem but the lowly city of Bethlehem, and then there was the moment they found Jesus and worshiped him. They not only gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh but they gave Him their allegiance and their devotion in worship. They gave their hearts and lives to Jesus and refused to return to Herod and tell him where the child was they returned home a different way. Holy moments changed their lives and they helped save Jesus and his family.
The Christmas story is filled with holy moments that shaped and changed people’s lives and if we can make these moments part of our lives, they can shape us too. Like Mary and Joseph, all of us will experience moments when we will have the opportunity to surrender to God and be obedient to His will. There will be moments when God will ask us to share the love of Jesus, and there will come moments of worship that will change our hearts and send us off in new directions. That moment could be here and now!
While the Christmas story tells us that our lives can be filled with these kinds of holy moments, too often we miss them because in this season and all throughout our lives, we are too busy to notice. For holy moments to bring us life, deepen our faith, and fill us with love and joy, we have to take the time to stop and reflect. We have to slow down so we can look at and listen to all that God is doing. We know God is calling us to slow down and reflect because we see a holy moment just like that in the Christmas story.
When we hear the Christmas story read, like we did tonight, too often we find ourselves focused on Mary and Joseph having to make a trip to Bethlehem. Or that when they got there there was no room for them so they had to use a manger as a cradle. Or we celebrate with the shepherds the message of the angels and long for peace on earth and good will for all the people. But tucked in at the very end of this story is one verse we often overlook.
After a difficult trip to Bethlehem with Mary 9 months pregnant, after giving birth in a stable or a cave and having to place their child in a manger, and after a group of dirty shepherds finally left, Mary and Joseph were alone and it says, Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19.
Mary treasured everything that had happened that day, and everything that happened in the weeks and months leading up to that day and she thought about it. She reflected on it. She didn’t let this holy moment pass her by but took the time to ponder it all. She weighed it in her mind and thought about what it meant for her and for Joseph and for her people and for the world.
While we don’t know what Mary pondered, she may have thought about all the promises God had made to her and Joseph. New parents often think about all that led up to the special moment of their child’s birth so Mary may have thought back to all that God had said to them. Maybe she thought about the visit of the angel who told her that their child would be great and be called the son of the most high. Maybe she thought about how Joseph told her that their child would save people from their sin. Maybe she thought about the name the angel had used when he talked to Joseph. The child would be called Immanuel, which means God with us.
Surrounded by animals and with their son in a manger, did Mary ponder whether or not this was actually God with them. Her cousin Elizabeth had told her that she was carrying the Messiah and the shepherds had just told them that a host of angels proclaimed that this was the Messiah. So while it wasn’t what she and Joseph might have expected, could it be true. Was this God in the flesh?
Tonight, we need to ponder and reflect on the promise that Jesus is Immanuel. Not God with them but God with us. Jesus wasn’t just God with Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the wisemen, He wasn’t just God with them 2,000 years ago, He is God with us - today.
Ponder what it means that God has promised to be with you. No matter who you are or what you are going through, God is with you. In the middle of disease and death and doubt - God is with you. In the middle of anxiety, uncertainty and fear - God is with you. In the middle of feeling lost and alone - God is with you. No matter what you are facing today, or what you have come through this year, or how far from God you may feel, or what you fear the future may hold - God is with you. God isn’t here to be held in our arms as a baby but for us to be held in His arms.
Mary did hold Jesus in her arms and she must have found a profound sense of peace because for all of us, there is nothing more powerful and peaceful than holding a child - when it’s asleep. The moments Mary would have been able to ponder all that had taken place would have been those quiet moments when Jesus was sleeping. I wonder if some of Mary’s peace came from knowing that God had chosen her and Joseph to raise the Son of God.
Take a moment and ponder that same truth. God has chosen you. God is for you. God loves you and He loved you first. He loved you before you ever thought about loving HIm. 1 John 4 says that the only reason we can love God or love others is because God first loved us. God loved us and chose while we were still sinners. John 3:16, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The world didn’t first love God and ask for a Savior, God first loved us and said, you need a Savior so I’m going to come and be your Savior. At some point Mary pondered that thought and found a peace that goes far beyond the feeling of holding a child. She was holding the one who loved her and chose her and came to save her.
Don’t let the busyness of this night, or the days to come, crowd out that peace. We can experience a peace that passes our understanding, a peace that can hold us no matter what we are going through, a peace that can overcome fear and doubt, and a peace that can assure us of eternal life if we remember that God loves us. The Bible calls the Messiah the Prince of Peace and tonight we need to hold on to that peace as tightly and as lovingly as we would a child.
Mary pondered the promises God made in the past, the peace God was giving her in the present and maybe the assurance that God’s power would be there for her in the future. If God loved them and had chosen them and was with them - then they had the power to face whatever was going to come. While Mary didn’t know just how much she was going to need that power, we do.
Mary was going to face the loss of her husband at an early age. She was going to watch her son enter ministry where he would be ridiculed and taunted and hated by those in power.
She was going to hear about his miracles and then struggle with her own doubts and fears. She was going to watch her son be put on trial and beaten. She was going to stand at the cross and watch him suffer, struggle to breathe, and eventually die. Mary was going to have her heart pierced by sorrow and pain but she was not going to be defeated because of the power God would give her.
Tonight, you might need the assurance that God will give you the power you need for your future. No matter what doubts, fears, problems or pain you are looking at right now, the power of God will be there tomorrow and in every tomorrow to come. If you don’t feel like you will be strong in the face of problems, don’t worry, sometimes we don’t know the power God can give us until we need it - but if we will trust God - it will be there.
Mary didn’t know all the ways she was going to have to be strong. She didn’t know she was going to have to watch her son suffer, and that she would have to stand at the foot of a cross and watch Him die, but she did and she was able to do it because of the power God gave her. God will give us power for our future. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to endure and overcome all things. There is even power in death because Jesus overcame sin and death.
Don’t let this holy moment pass you by. Stop and ponder all that Jesus means for you. Think about the promise God has made to be with you at all times and in all places. Think about the peace that can be yours in knowing that no matter what you have done or where you have been or what you are facing, God has chosen you and loves you and is here for you. Think about the power that God will give you in the future. No matter what you will face, the power of God’s love will be with you and will see you through.
We know all this is true because of another promise God made.
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31, 35, 37-39
Ponder this promise - nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus
and find in this moment God’s peace
and know the power of God’s love will be there for you - forever.
