Luke 2 tells of the birth of Jesus. It begins with the mandatory census that would enroll all people within the Roman Kingdom, and it was the reason Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were traveling to Bethlehem.
Jesus was born in a manger and wrapped in swaddling cloth “because there was no room for them in the inn,” and as Jesus was born, angels appeared to shepherds in the countryside telling of Christ’s birth. The Messenger speaks to the shepherds, “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: For this day, is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David (Bethlehem).”
Next, as the story goes, an army of angels appear to the shepherds singing “Glory to God in the Highest and peace to men of good will.”
The shepherds then travel to Bethlehem in search for the one the Messenger spoke of. Finding Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, the shepherds understand the message and tell all of the angels and their message of Mary’s son, “But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.”
When Joseph and Mary take Jesus a short time later into Jerusalem to be admitted into the Church, Jesus is recognized by another holy man, Simeon.
The chapter ends with the family returning to Galilee and Nazareth, and tells of Jesus growing until one day, on return from a visit to Jerusalem, Jesus is forgotten, and when Mary and Joseph return to find him, Jesus is speaking and teaching, at the age of twelve, in the temple.
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In this chapter, angels again make visit to simple people speaking of miracle and blessing coming into the world. I think it’s interesting the first words the angels speak are used to put the shepherds at ease: “Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people…”
If ever brought face to face with the true presence of an angel, or God, how terrifying, overwhelming, reality-changing might that really be? How intimidated, humbled, or scared might such an engagement be? How small might we feel? How, if the messenger, would you put the ones you seek to speak with at ease?
Reading this engagement made me wonder.
How often in life do great possibilities and blessings hold beyond an initial wall of fear when we first come face to face with situations and conditions that make the blessing possible? What signs, words, or element of faith, leads us to act and follow through beyond our first-wall of fear?
In growing to live and trust my faith, I often feel foolish, scared, but after proceeding; I find the fear was not what I perceived it to be, and that maybe to proceed and continue in spite of fears is a test to live and practice faith.
When the shepherds arrive in search of Jesus, it made me wonder too on the purpose of the angel’s message. Was it simply to proclaim Christ’s birth, or was it too a message needed for Mary herself, one someone other than angels needed to bring and give to her in a time of doubt to encourage and bless her to continue in living God’s calling for her life?
Just because we answer God’s call and begin to live and make movement on the path we perceive he leads us toward doesn’t mean everything will be easy. How often, even when on the right path, do we need encouragement and affirmation to keep going when doubt shadow our resolve? How often, in these moments, does God send these affirmations in the words and acts of others interjecting into our lives. Maybe it’s a friend, a stranger, a message in a reading, a story, lyric in a song, and an infinitude of other ways that appear and speak to us precise in the moment we need to encourage us to continue living faith when all we have, in the prior moment, is doubt.
When the shepherds came to Mary, she was a newborn mom, betrothed to a man who was not her child’s father. They were rejected from an inn and gave birth to the child in a stable—which then was really no more than a cave or hole in the ground. This was Mary’s beginning for answering God’s call. There was no glory, no praise, only foreseeable hardship. But in this moment, in all the fears of a newborn mom in a world that judges, shepherds came to give her praise. They reaffirmed God’s earlier message that she accepted and asked to be, and even in the hardships of the immanent world, God sought and spoke to her still in the ways that he could find to affirm the blessings her acceptance of God’s will was making possible for the future of mankind.
How did Mary feel and respond to God’s messaging for her through other men who were shown and told the same destiny and glory for her newborn son? It isn’t for us to know. In receiving God’s message and affirmations, “Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.”
To me, this part of the story is something we could all stand to remember and contemplate. When God seeks and affects us through whatever medium He/She/It may, we do not always need to give an immediate response of action. There are times when contemplation and silence are the best course as we make sense of what we are shown and guided to perceive.
Mary did not need to speak or be extravagant in her response to God’s signs. No, she answered with contemplations in her soul and, after, continued will to live and follow the Destiny God asked of her. That kind of answer, to me, is better than any volume of words or superficial gestures.
I often wonder what is in the soul and mind of another when I perceive them in thought and contemplation, but I understand such is not for me to know. Such spirit and time are between them and God.
I wonder too, how would our world and the raising of children be in our present time if there were more shepherds among us; when instead of casting judgment and indifference to young, new, and scared mothers without fixed family, instead we spoke to the blessing God has made by them and the glory and love that will come of a child the world says does not belong or deserve to live. How did the affirmations and forwarded message from an angel affect Mary in a moment of doubt and encourage her to fulfill the Destiny God made for her? How often might we be the shepherd, or Mary, in the living of our own purpose and Destiny?
We never know what part our answering to what God asks of us will affect, manifest, and make possible in context to God’s greater designs. Even when we answer, we will be tested and doubt; but I believe, when we are living true—and too when we lose course and need guided back—God will seek and speak to us in the mediums and means our souls receive.
These are my thoughts on Luke 2. I believe God sends us messages of affirmation and guidance in moments when we need. Sometimes we perceive. Sometimes we miss. When we perceive, sometimes we answer, sometimes we doubt and turn away. But I believe God will keep sending us signs to continue guiding us to the full of our created purpose; miracles are possible.
What do you think?