“Treasured and Pondered” 12-24-24
Overview
Treasured and Pondered
We often picture the first Christmas with words like beauty, calm, and peace. But the account in Luke 2 tells a different story, at least at first. Four other words fit better: terror, loud, quick, and surprise. Shepherds — those on the lowest rung of the social ladder, so disregarded they could not even testify in court — were terrified when the angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them Luke 2:8–9. The night quickly became loud as a multitude of the heavenly host filled the sky with praise Luke 2:13–14. Scripture suggests this host is innumerable (Daniel 7:10; Hebrews 12:22; Matthew 26:53). The shepherds went quickly — with haste — to Bethlehem Luke 2:15–16. And there was surprise on every side: a baby born in a barn, laid in a feeding trough, with strangers bursting in to announce angelic news Luke 2:17–18.
In the middle of that swirl, Mary did something different: "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart" Luke 2:19. The word treasured is the same Greek word used for preserving new wine in new wineskins Matthew 9:17 and for Herod protecting John Mark 6:20. To treasure is to guard, to preserve, to keep something so it cannot get away. To ponder is to bring things together, to reflect, to make sense of them in light of God's larger truth. Mary did this again when twelve-year-old Jesus stayed behind in the temple and reminded her, "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" Luke 2:49–51.
If we are honest, our tendency is the opposite. When difficulty, disappointment, or unmet expectations swirl around us, we react rather than reflect. Sin lurks there, whispering that God does not care, that He is absent, that He is punishing us. But God will not leave us in our reacting. He keeps coming with His Word so that we might treasure and ponder it — and so that the truth of who Christ is might bubble up in the middle of every circumstance. The child Mary bore was God in the flesh, true God and true man, born to die. As truly God He never sinned; as truly man He lived the perfect life we could not. On the cross He bore every sin — yours, mine, all of them — and the empty tomb declares the sacrifice accepted. The world has been redeemed.
Because of that finished work, we are released from the bondage of mere reaction and freed for a life of reflection. This is why Paul could write, "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord" Romans 14:8; why he could say he was "afflicted in every way, but not crushed" 2 Corinthians 4:8–9; why he could declare that "all things work together for good for those who love God" Romans 8:28. Beloved of the Lord, treasure and ponder this: in the waters of baptism God claimed you as His own and washed you in the victory of the cross and empty tomb. He has said you are His — today, tomorrow, and into eternity. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Hold that close. Reflect on it. And the words that fit Christmas become exactly what we hoped: beauty, calm, peace.
Transcript
Would you open your Bibles please with me to the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. 4s
If you're using a copy of the Scriptures in the Puehrack in front of you or underneath you, 8s
you're going to find the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament. 14s
Page 50. 17s
Luke the second chapter. 19s
All around the world. 24s
People gather. 27s
They gather in makeshift buildings and make nifacent structures. 28s
They gather on this day because God has something to give them. 38s
Word and sacrament. 46s
When one thinks of Christmas Eve services, there are some descriptive words that can be 52s
applied. 57s
Three come to mind. 58s
Beauty, calm peace. 61s
Beauty, calm and peace. 67s
But what we read about that first Christmas, that first Christmas, it seems to take a different 73s
turn, at least initially, doesn't it? 79s
There are different words that can be applied to it. 82s
Different descriptors, four immediately come to mind. 86s
I think of the first word associated with that first Christmas, the word terror. 93s
Terror. 102s
Why? 104s
Look with me please. 104s
At the Holy Scriptures, verse 8 of chapter 2 of Luke. 106s
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields keeping watch over their flock 110s
by night. 115s
That an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shown around them. 116s
And they were terrified. 121s
Beauty, calm peace. 127s
Initially though, that first Christmas, what are the words that can be applied to it is 131s
terror? 138s
Terror? 139s
Why the shepherds were terrified? 142s
The shepherds were the lowest on the social strata pole. 146s
In fact, they were so disregarded and disrespected in ancient day that they weren't 151s
even allowed to testify in a court of law. 156s
The angel comes, most likely it's Gabriel because remember, Gabriel was the one that appeared 162s
to Zechariah. 167s
Gabriel was the one that appeared to Mary. 169s
So if we have to have to hazard a guess here, probably the angel here that appeared was 172s
Gabriel. 178s
And the reaction of terror. 181s
That's a common reaction. 184s
We see in Scripture a common reaction when an angel appears or when one is in the presence 186s
of God, a very common reaction is terror. 193s
And so thankfully the angels come with some assuring words. 198s
Look, please, at verse 10. 202s
But the angels said to them, do not be afraid. 205s
For see I'm bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. 208s
To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is the Messiah the Lord. 213s
This will be a sign for you. 221s
You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. 223s
Calm and beauty and peace, but the first Christmas at least initially. 232s
Terror. 242s
As we look at that first Christmas, a second word that comes to mind is the word loud. 246s
Look when they please, at verse 13. 256s
Suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God 260s
and saying, glory to God and the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom he favors. 265s
Now angels are created being. 276s
They're a constant number. 278s
They don't procreate. 280s
It's a constant number. 282s
And the Scripture tells us that there's a lot of them. 284s
Daniel 7th chapter says, a thousand thousands served him. 288s
10,000 times, 10,000 stood attending him. 292s
Jesus says, in Matthew the 25th chapter, do you think that I cannot appeal to my father? 298s
And he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels. 303s
Allegion was 6,000. 308s
We do the math. 310s
Scripture mentions in Hebrews the 12th chapter, innumerable angels in festo gathering. 312s
This is a crowd. 319s
Look describes it as a multitude and they appear all at once and they are praising the birth of the anticipated Messiah. 321s
It's not going to be quiet, is it? 333s
It's going to be loud. 339s
It's a third word, also that we can apply at least initially here with this Christmas story. 346s
A third word of quick. 359s
Quick. 363s
Look, please, at verse 15. 365s
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another, 369s
let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place which the Lord has made known to us. 374s
So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. 382s
This was in the region right outside of Bethlehem and it says that the shepherd's went with haste. 390s
They went quick. 396s
So you've got terror. 398s
You've got loud. 401s
You've got quick. 403s
And the fourth word that we can apply to describe, at least initially, that first Christmas. 406s
Mary gave birth in a barn. 420s
When they had cleaned Jesus, they wrapped him in bands of cloth. 429s
They laid him in a feeding trough. 437s
Manger is a kind way to put it. 445s
It was a feeding trough. 451s
She gives birth in the barn places Jesus in a feeding trough. 456s
And then they come. 463s
Absolute strangers. 469s
Any amount of privacy has totally dissipated as the shepherds come in. 474s
And they come with amazing, amazing news with quite a story. 485s
Verse 17, when they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child 493s
and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 499s
How about this for the fourth word? 507s
Surprise. 511s
And each scripture had foretold that the babe would be born in Bethlehem. 515s
But now further details emerge. 522s
And the baby is born in a barn and put in a feeding trough. 524s
And then shepherds come. 529s
Absolute strangers barging on in with this incredible message. 532s
Surprise. 538s
Terror, loud, quick, surprise. 542s
And amidst the swirl of that, amidst the swirl of it, 553s
notice what Mary is doing. 561s
Verse 19, 566s
but Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 570s
He's got terror, loud, quick, and surprise. 587s
And amidst the swirl, Mary treasures and ponders. 593s
Jesus began his formal ministry when he was 30 years old, when he was 30. 607s
Two other times that word treasured appears in the New Testament. 618s
Two other times, the exact word. 625s
One of them is in Matthew the 9th chapter. 628s
And Jesus is addressing criticism that had come to his disciples that they weren't fasting. 631s
And Jesus says, you don't take new wine and put it in old wine skins. 639s
You take new wine and you put it in new wine skins. 643s
That way, there is preservation. 646s
It is preserved. 651s
That's the same exact word translated as treasure. 653s
That Mary treasured these things in her heart. 659s
She preserved them in her heart. 664s
Second time that occurs is in Mark VI chapter. 669s
And there's a reference to Herod protecting John. 673s
And the same word translated protected there, it's that word treasure. 679s
It's the same identical word. 684s
There's three times in the New Testament. 686s
Treasure with the implications of protection. 689s
Treasure with the implications of preserving. 695s
We do that, don't we? 701s
When something special happens and we don't want to forget it, 705s
we can play it around in our minds. 708s
We can pull back the pictures again so that we won't forget it. 711s
Or we take the program home with us. 716s
Or we print out the picture and we put it in a frame. 721s
We can do that. 725s
We treasure and preserve and protect. 727s
Scripture says that when that message came to Mary, 732s
amidst the swirl of it all that first Christmas, she treasured it. 736s
She protected it. 741s
She preserved it. 742s
So she wouldn't forget it. 745s
That word pondered. 749s
That occurs five times in the New Testament. 753s
Five times. 756s
And it means to bring things together, 759s
to figure it out, to reflect on it. 763s
Do you see the picture now? 769s
It's all of the loudness. 772s
I'm is all the terror. 778s
I'm is all of that which was swirling around that first Christmas mourn. 782s
There's Mary. 790s
And she punders. 794s
She treasures. 799s
If we're going to be honest with one another, 806s
if we're going to be honest with one another, 811s
we have a tendency not to treasure and not to ponder the word of God. 814s
If we're going to be honest with one another, 823s
we have a tendency to react to things instead of reflecting on things. 827s
For example, when challenges or difficulties come in our lives, 844s
we can react to them. 850s
Sometimes it's just an emotional reaction. 853s
Sometimes it bypasses the brain here. 855s
It just bypasses all of it. 859s
We just react to the difficulty or the challenges instead of reflecting on the difficulties and the challenges in light of a larger truth. 860s
Or when our dreams perhaps fall apart or our plans just don't turn out how we would hope to. 872s
Our immediate reaction, right? 881s
Our immediate reaction can be to react to it. 883s
It's the swirl of all of the activities there. 888s
We can react to it instead of reflect on it with a larger truth of reflection. 891s
And when we react instead of reflect, 902s
sin lurks, right? 911s
It lurks. 914s
And we can start to say things where we can start to think things. 918s
God must not care about me or God just doesn't love me. 922s
Or God, I don't know where he went. 928s
He's just absent. 932s
He's not true to his promises. 933s
Or God must be punishing me for something. 936s
Why in the world would he allow this into my life? 938s
We start to think and we start to say all of those things. 943s
But God will not leave us to our lack of treasuring and pondering. 950s
God will not leave us to our reacting instead of reflecting. 962s
Bible tells us of when Jesus was 12. 978s
It's interesting to note, isn't it that in the very same chapter of Luke that talks about his birth 984s
all of a sudden, he's 12. 990s
Jesus grew up quick, didn't he? 992s
At 12, Mary and Joseph has it every year. 997s
They went to Jerusalem for the Passover. 1000s
Jesus went, of course. 1002s
When the Passover had concluded, well, they started to head back to their hometowns. 1004s
Mary and Joseph thought that Jesus was part of one of the traveling groups. 1013s
They went today's journey, but they realized that they couldn't find Jesus. 1017s
They go back to Jerusalem. 1023s
And there's Jesus in the temple. 1025s
And he's amazing people with what he's saying in the questions that he's asking. 1030s
And Mary turns to Jesus and expresses her concern here that they couldn't find him. 1037s
And Jesus, in verse 49 of chapter 2, says he said to them, 1046s
why were you searching for me? 1053s
Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? 1057s
But they did not understand what he said to them. 1062s
Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. 1066s
Now notice what it says. 1071s
His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 1074s
It's a different word. 1085s
It's the same reverberate. 1089s
And it means to keep something so it won't get away. 1093s
She treasured what happened. 1101s
She treasured what Jesus said to her. 1103s
She kept it. 1107s
She wouldn't let it get away. 1109s
She kept it. 1114s
And what Mary would need to come to know is that her son had divine authority over her. 1117s
Because the son that she bore was God in the flesh, the second member of the Trinity. 1130s
Jesus, true God and true man. 1138s
Or his children like to think and like to say, God with skin on. 1145s
The one she bore, God in the flesh, was born to die. 1153s
He had to be truly God and truly man. 1161s
Because it's truly God he never ever sinned. 1164s
If Jesus ever sinned, then he would be to save you. 1168s
Truly man, he could then live the perfect life that none of us could ever live. 1173s
And so Jesus goes to the cross, true God and true man. 1179s
The one that Mary bore. 1183s
And he takes all of our sin upon him. 1187s
You're sin and my sin. 1190s
The sin of all that have gone before us. 1192s
The sin of all those, if the Lord carries in the second coming, that will come after us. 1194s
He took it all and he bore every single sin, every single sin. 1199s
There's not one sin that he did not through his shed blood, wind forgiveness. 1205s
Not a one. 1211s
The justice of God for sin was laid upon Jesus because God cannot wink at sin. 1214s
The wrath of God, the punishment for sin was laid not on us. 1225s
It was laid on his son. 1232s
That's the grace and the mercy of God. 1234s
And on the cross Jesus Christ cried out to tell the story, it is finished. 1240s
The reconciliation between God and humankind, the sin that has been paid for. 1249s
He was raised out of the tomb. 1256s
The sacrifice for sin had been accepted. 1259s
He lives and reigns. 1262s
And the world has been redeemed. 1266s
It has been purchased back. 1270s
And through what Jesus Christ did, we are released. 1275s
In all the days that God blesses us this side of heaven with, we are released. 1280s
From the bondage of reacting. 1287s
And freed to a life in which we can reflect. 1294s
You see, because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, because our sins are forgiven. 1304s
Listen to what the Apostle Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 1315s
He writes in Romans the 14th chapter. 1319s
He writes, if we live, we live to the Lord. 1323s
And if we die, we die to the Lord. 1327s
So that when whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord. 1331s
There is one that can look into the reality of death itself and reflect. 1335s
Because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on the cross. 1343s
Reflect that the tomb is empty, that the sacrifice has been accepted. 1347s
Reflect on that and say, whether I live or whether I die, I belong to the Lord. 1353s
And he's freed up, you see, to live this side of heaven. 1360s
And he knows where he will live for all of eternity. 1366s
You see, that's not reacting in the face of death. 1371s
That's reflecting in light of the promise of what Jesus Christ has accomplished. 1373s
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians the 4th chapter. 1380s
He says, we're afflicted in every way, but not crushed. 1383s
Perplexed, but not driven to despair. 1389s
Persecuted, but not forsaken. 1392s
Struck down, but not destroyed. 1397s
You see, if Paul looks at his circumstances and he simply reacts, 1404s
Paul would have said, we're afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. 1408s
But because he reflects, there's the treasuring and the pondering of the word. 1417s
He protects that and he preserves it and he reflects on it. 1425s
Paul can say, omits the affliction and being perplexed and persecuted and struck down. 1429s
He can say, we're not crushed, we're not driven to despair, we're not forsaken, we're not destroyed. 1434s
See, that's one who can reflect on what Jesus Christ has done, 1441s
can reflect on the promises of God, can treasure them and ponder them in His heart 1447s
and that manifests in a peace and a joy. 1452s
He writes in Romans the 8th chapter, we know that all things work together for good 1458s
for those who love God who are called according to His purposes. 1463s
Not all things were good in Paul's life, but he could say all things work together for good 1469s
to those who love the Lord. 1474s
He could say that, omits all of the troubles and the heartache and the difficulty that he was going through. 1478s
He could say that, that all things for the Christian work together for good, all things, all things. 1485s
That's not someone, that's not someone who's reacting, that's someone who's reflecting, 1498s
it's treasuring and pondering the word and it changes how he lives unto the Lord calls him home. 1505s
That's one that can reflect on who Christ is, what Christ is accomplished, what that meant for his life and it changes him. 1515s
The love of God keeps coming, he keeps coming with His word, he keeps coming with His word so that we'll treasure it and ponder it, 1528s
that we'll protect it and reflect on it. He keeps coming with His word so that amidst all of the circumstances, 1539s
it's the word that bubbles up as we reflect on what is going on in our lives. 1547s
He keeps coming with His word so that nothing, nothing will get in the way of us knowing who he is. 1555s
He keeps coming with His word, freeing us to be a people who know our eternal destiny and our freedom to serve him in the here and now, 1564s
not with a life of reaction, but a life of reflection born out of the promises of God. 1576s
Beloved of the Lord, treasure this, ponder this, in the waters of baptism, God claimed you as his own. 1591s
He washed you in the victory of the cross and the empty tomb, and God said to you, your mind, today tomorrow and all of the tomorrow's that stretch into eternity. 1610s
Beloved of God, treasure this, and ponder this, that today is one more day in all of eternity for you, 1631s
that when the day comes and the Lord says, it's time to come home, that that is just a transition in living. 1648s
And we're here and then we're there, treasure that and ponder that, love it of God, treasure and ponder that Jesus is Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God with 1658s
us, God with us. 1691s
What words do you put on it? 1699s
What words can you put on as we gather on this Christmas Eve? 1702s
What words can describe it? 1712s
How about beauty, calm, peace? 1717s