Wondering



Preparing for a Christmas message, I was led to a verse location not knowing what I would find.

 It was Luke 2:18.

And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

We wonder. From the first time we are told about Christ we wonder about it. Could that be true? How could it? Are they crazy? That’s weird. That’s wild. That could be wonderful. Does that Christ know me? Is there really a heaven? Angels can just appear? Words sent from heaven? Really?

 Mary heard the things the shepherds had to say and in verse 19 it says, “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

The angels had burst on the scene to shepherds in the middle of the night. The angels declared what they knew. They knew Him! They knew the glory! They knew the love! They knew the peace! They knew the joy! They knew the promise made and now the promise being kept! They knew the glories of heaven, His nature, and this great thing for all men with whom He has found pleasure. That peace that the angels knew first-hand was being released on earth! Christ was here! They were rejoicing, exclaiming and thrilled that they were the ones to bring the news; the news that they knew! They knew Him in all those ways.

But the shepherds didn’t know Him yet, they only knew the message sent by the angels that they had personally encountered. The angels told how they would know Him, “And this will be a sign to you, you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Because at this point, Jesus was not able to reveal Himself except for what was done to Him and told about Him; wrapped and placed in a manger.

The Son of God of the Universe, the Holy one, the one there at the beginning, the Living Word had left the grandeur and reign in His great glory and came to us in this least expectant way. Yet, a young woman expected. Expected the birth and expected the things that the shepherds spoke of in a way that she held onto those words and pondered them.

Christ had not revealed Himself yet. As He grew He began to reveal Himself. He revealed wisdom as a child talking to the teachers in the synagogue. He started to perform miracles; water into wine, blind to see, deaf to hear, lame to walk, demons cast out. He began to show Himself as one who blesses children. He showed Himself as one who multiplied food. He showed Himself as one who loved women and let the ones who were thought of as unclean to touch Him and draw near, He taught them when women weren’t allowed to be taught, He protected one from stoning by pointing out that no one else was better. He delivered people from demons and evil. He showed unconditional love to thieves and a soldier who was taking Him away by restoring an ear cut off by a sword. He showed He raised dead people to life. As He showed Himself, more people knew Him. His disciples got to see Him in all these ways. The ones who followed after Him got to know Him.

Word spread of Him. Jesus is written about in the history of the Romans and the Greeks; He walked this earth.

At the end of His time here, He revealed Himself again by what was done to Him. He was placed on the cross. Humility. Sacrifice.

Then He rose again and showed Himself alive.

We wonder through first hearing and then going through life until we get to know Him in those ways that He would show Himself. As He does, we know Him more. He provides, He blesses, He delivers, He heals, He protects, He says do not be afraid and He gives His peace. He takes our sin and shame and guilt and releases us from it when we accept that He did give His life on the cross because He loves us. Grace. He lets us get to know Him through our life and He is letting us know Him more and more. But in knowing Him in these ways, we had to go through the hardships in seeing our need for Him. He reveals Himself and we have fresh hope each time because we get to know Him again in another way.

 Those who have had the experiences of knowing Him in life-changing ways are often those who declare like the angels in great joy, who He is, His love and that He is here and there is peace! Peace in every situation, every circumstance when we are caught up in the worst of emotions and earthly hardships a moment in prayer can open His peace to you even in what is the most torrential storm. His words, “Peace, be still.”

We wonder.

We ponder.

And the more we follow Him, looking for Him, He reveals Himself in our lives. We get to know Him and become like those angels who can’t help but tell of Him with the joy and love of the good news.

The LORD of heaven in all its vastness of eternity loves you with His love that is as expansive as the universe. That kind of love to make Himself real to us in a humility no other king could or would ever do except Him because He loves you that much, that large, that powerfully, that fully and that beautifully to give you Peace. It’s not the peace the world gives, but the peace from a timeless eternity Who has no limits of love for you. In our loneliness, He is still with us. In sorrow, He comforts. In our bad choices, He shows mercy and grace. A line in a David Crowder song says, "He is brighter than the dark in us."

The vastness of I Am to say to you today, “I love you,” from the glory of God in the Highest.