When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, angels announced the Messiah’s birth to local shepherds (Luke 2:8-14). The shepherds then went to Bethlehem to see the baby for themselves, telling Mary and Joseph what the angels had said.
For Mary, the news from the shepherds confirmed what she had been told previously about the identity of her son (1:30-33). Luke reports that Mary “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (2:19).
What did it mean for Mary to “treasure” and “ponder”? In his book The Real Mary, biblical scholar Scot McKnight explains, “These are standard words in Judaism for thinking about events in one’s life so one could make sense of and narrate what God was doing in history.” Mary wanted to understand what was happening so that she could communicate the good news to others clearly. She was one of the first to announce the Gospel, starting even before Jesus was born (1:46-55).
There was much more for Mary to ponder as the boy grew up. At age twelve Jesus showed himself to be right at home in the Temple courts in Jerusalem during the Passover season, holding his own in discussions of the Scriptures with the sages of Israel (2:40-51). Luke notes that afterward Mary “treasured up all these things in her heart,” continuing to consider the destiny of her son.
Luke’s portrayal of Jesus and Mary in Luke 2 brings together two biblical motifs. One involves precocious children whose conceptions were miraculous. The second is about servants of God who treasure and ponder divine revelation.
Both motifs are also present in the Genesis account of Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, whose birth was an answer to prayer (Genesis 30:22-24). When he was seventeen, Joseph had unusual dreams that implied he would one day lead the family. Jacob was troubled by the dreams, but he “kept the saying in mind” (Genesis 37:9-11). Like Mary, he pondered what the future might bring for his talented son.
Luke 2 makes an implicit comparison between Mary and Jesus on the one hand, and Jacob and Joseph on the other. Luke also compares Jesus and Mary to the prophet Samuel and his mother Hannah. Mary’s expression of rejoicing in Luke 1:46-55 is similar to Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving after the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1-10).
Like Mary and her husband Joseph, Hannah and her husband Elkanah made regular pilgrimages to worship God (1 Samuel 1:3; Luke 2:41), and Samuel’s boyhood service under Eli the priest (1 Samuel 2:11) looks ahead to Jesus’ experience at the Temple. Luke emphasizes the connection between Samuel and Jesus when he writes in Luke 2:52 that “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man,” a reference to 1 Samuel 2:26.
In treasuring and pondering the revelation she received concerning her special son, Mary followed in the footsteps of Jacob and Hannah. We, too, would be wise to consider the meaning of God’s Word and God’s work in our lives.
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