Amy C Walters

The Shepherds and the Angels – Luke 2:8-20

Mary has probably heard a lot of things in the nine months leading up to Jesus’ birth. Yes, she’s heard good things from the angel and from Elizabeth, but this unwed, teenage mother has probably heard a lot of criticism, too. So when the shepherds come with stories of angels and good news of great joy, Mary takes the time to treasure their words.

In recent stories, Mary has been a prominent figure, sometimes one of the only few characters in a particular story. In this week’s story, she’s present, but she plays a much smaller role. We don’t hear as much from Mary or about Mary. It’s mainly about the shepherds and the angels and the shepherds sharing the angels’ message.

The shepherds, after they hear from the angels, go and find Mary and Joseph and the baby wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. And when they see the baby Jesus, they start spreading the news concerning everything that had been told them about this child. 

What had been told them? What’s the message they are spreading? That Jesus is “good news of great joy for all people.” They’ve heard that “today in the city of David, his savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.”  So they’ve heard that he is a Savior and that he is for all people.

The shepherds would have also talked about their experience hearing the angel choir singing about “glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 

So there’s peace and there’s favor from God in the arrival of this child. And Mary is hearing all of these things. In fact, every person the shepherds encounter hears all of these things.

We’re told that everyone was amazed at what the shepherds told them. Mary, though, has a very specific reaction to this news. We’re told that “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” 

Mary isn’t just hearing it and saying, “Oh, that’s really great,” then just moving on. She is collecting all of these incredible words and angelic encounters, and she’s holding those in her heart and just thinking them through, wondering and being amazed at each one.

Mary, I’m sure, has heard all kinds of things about her baby up to this point, and probably most of those things are not positive. Think about it, she was an unwed teenage mother. People are probably not treating her well. People are probably saying things about her baby that are not nice, things behind her back and to her face. 

I’m sure Mary has heard that her baby is a mistake, is a burden, is an embarrassment. Mary does know that she’s had this encounter with an angel and that her child is the work of God. Mary knows from her interaction with Elizabeth that God is in this, that this child is the Lord. And yet so often, the negative messages that we hear ring a lot louder in our heads than the truth.

I know that’s true for me, that I can hear all kinds of good things, but one piece of criticism, one piece of negativity can stick in my brain, and that’s what I think about over and over and over again. That’s what I unintentionally meditate on, those negative things, those ugly things.

And Mary has no doubt heard a lot of those in the past nine months. 

So here come the shepherds with this incredible, joyful, wonderful news, affirming who her baby is. And Mary is treasuring those things. She is choosing to treasure and ponder on the good things, on the truth, instead of all those other lies and the garbage and the mean things that have probably been said.

Mary is treasuring the truth. And that is our key truth for today: that we, like Mary, need to treasure the truth.

We need to make conscious decisions sometimes to rid our minds of the negative things, of the lies, of the critiques, the criticisms that so easily creep in and replay over and over like a movie on repeat. And we need to make the conscious decision to turn that movie off and to meditate on, treasure, ponder the truth.

Just like it says in Philippians that, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things.” 

We have to be active in taking our mind where it needs to go, in capturing our thoughts and making them obedient to the truth, to God. We see Mary doing that right here, where she is treasuring and pondering.