I listened to an interview with Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, some time back. He’s reputed to be the richest man in the world and is estimated to have given away 36 billion dollars to charitable causes. During the conversation the interviewer reminded him of something his dad once recounted. When Bill Gates was about 14 the family organised to go away on a trip. Everyone was helping to get packed up and load up the car. All except Bill! His dad shouted up the stairs, “Time to go, Bill.” No reply. “Hurry up, Bill we need to go. What are you doing up there?” Bill Gates replied, “I’m thinking”.
Think about Bill Gates saying ‘I’m thinking’ for a moment as we further reflect on the life of Mary from Luke chapter 2 (take time to read it)!
I almost imagine this chapter as a series of pictures that are lifted straight out of Mary and Jospeh’s family album. They capture those precious moments in early family life. There is a photograph of Jesus as a new born at the beginning of the chapter, one of him at his dedication in the temple in the middle and one on a family holiday in Jerusalem at the end of the chapter.
Much of family life is found in those snapshots.
You have the family’s…
High days - Jesus’ birth and the joy it brought.
Holy days - Jesus’ dedication to God in the temple and the sense of responsibility it awakened in Mary’s heart.
Holidays - Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem with the wider family and the fun and happiness that must created.
High days, holy days and holidays all in one brief chapter. However, beyond the material realities of life Mary was confronted with some pretty major truths about her Son.
There’s an angel choir in the hills high above Bethlehem announcing his birth and declaring that he would be the Saviour of the world.
There’s a godly old man in the temple when Jesus is dedicated who says that his life will lead to an event so dramatic that it will feel like a sword has pierced her soul.
And finally having lost Jesus on the family holiday Mary eventually finds him in the temple conversing with the most learned men in the Jewish faith. Jesus then informs her that she should have expected to find him there involved in God his Father’s work. That’s a lot for any mother to handle. Luke tells us exactly how she does respond to those remarkable truths. Twice over in this chapter there is a phrase used that describes the attitude that Mary adopted during these extraordinary years.
After the Jesus’ birth and the visit of the super-excited group of Shepherds and their story of angel choirs and the message of a new-born Saviour, it says:
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
And then:
“But his mother treasured all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).
Mary “treasured” God’s words to her, actively remembering and reflecting on what He had spoken to her through Gabriel and through the Holy Scriptures. One of the definitions of the word “treasured” is “to preserve a thing from perishing or being lost.” So she guarded these truths in the deepest recesses of her being. What God had done for Mary was the treasure of her heart.
She also “pondered” these things. Not even Mary understood Jesus fully. But she began to put together growing insight into the biblical prophecies about her Son, the earlier birth of John the Baptist, the report of the shepherds, the later visit of the wise men, and so on. She thought it through, again and again. She meditated on those truths and experiences. And that truth sustained her, while others might have lost their enthusiasm.
In the frenetic pace of family life Mary maintained that practice of meditating on all that she had learned from God about her Son and those truths sustained and strengthened her with everything she would encounter on years that followed.
Psalm 1 is a stunning example of this practice and Mary would have known it well.
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he mediates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Christian mediation is taking the truths of the Bible and planting them in your heart until they germinate and grow. It’s very different from reading and studying the Bible. You study the Bible to learn. You mediate on what you have learned in the Bible so that it affects your heart and mind to love the things contained in it and to delight in them.
What a great practice to adopt this Christmas season - I’m thinking!
This Week...
Read the Bible passage - Luke 2:1-51
Reflect on what it says, means and how it applies to you
Respond - Write out Psalm 1 on a card or type it into "notes" on your mobile phone. Memorise it verse by verse over the week. Repeat it to yourself often and practice its advice on meditation.
Song Choice - Joy to the World https://open.spotify.com/track/7Cix5zKZXNbzdtMcy2lMFP?si=2bU953k2QOajnGKwCTRTfg
(picture - near our home in Waterfoot!)
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