I awoke today with the word ponder on my mind. It was meant for the blog, and I didn’t anticipate it leading to terrible things.
For most women, the first announcement comes in two blue lines on a white plastic stick. Mary got her soon-to-be-pregnant news from an angel.
I once heard someone say if you see an angel, you’re in a dire place and need help. Far from cherubic, those heavenly beings are terrifying. And Mary was terrified to see one too.
Global worker Dick Brogden writes, “The soft lights and gentle music of Christmas alternate with the festive side of the holidays and lead us to excise the terror of God coming to tabernacle on earth. Missing the terror of Christmas, we miss its deeper peace. God coming near is both wonderful and terrible: wonderful for it leads to our salvation, and terrible for it leads to our judgment… Jesus came to earth to divide out sin and to crush it. Christmas starts a war that ends with peace.”
I prefer to focus on the cozier side of Christmas and of Mary, the teenager favored by God. She was the girl God trusted—and she trusted Him back.
There’s a familiar Christmas song asking the same questions I wonder today. Did Mary know what was coming when she accepted the assignment and welcomed the pregnancy? Did she get it when she gazed at her baby, watched Him take His first steps, and noticed Him missing that day on their road trip home from Jerusalem? Did she see a flash of whips and blood and agony when she felt His infant hand squeeze her finger? Or sense the coming elation of His abandoned grave?
Maybe Mary caught a glimpse of the future of her boy Who still stirs up trouble with His presence. Or maybe she didn’t. But she pondered all the details she knew, giving thorough care to store the memories for later.
Today I ponder too, trying to imagine. And I’m terrified, comforted, and at peace because Christmas calls for all of it.
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.
