Luke 2:1-20

Luke 2:1-20 is replete with sights, sounds, smells, scenery, and sensations--a governor's decree, a long journey, pregnant Mary bumping along on a dusty donkey, no room in the inn, stunned shepherds, a heavenly host proclaiming Good News and peace, a crescendo of divine light and Word piercing the darkness, the Messiah has arrived!

Verse 19 haunts me: "But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart."  What, precisely, did Mary "ponder in her heart?"  Surely she wondered what to make of all this and what would one day become of Jesus.  She must have wondered:  "Why me?"

A baby brings both peace and  upheaval--it turns our world upside down.  Holding our new-born children, I was upside down with wonder, awe, joy, and trepidation.  You ponder what will become of your children.  Who will they become?  Where will life take them?  Mary could not envision the degree to which Jesus would turn the world upside down.

I often pondered why our Savior came as an infant--until I had children, that is--now I think I understand.  The greatest paradox of our Christian faith is this:  2000 years ago Holy God, Emmanuel, took on human flesh in the form of a baby to pierce the darkness and turn our world upside down.  And when we make room for Him in the inn of our hearts he does it again...and again.

O Lord, pierce our darkness with your light and turn our worlds upside down with prophetic peace.  Amen.

David Lee Jones

Director of Doctor of Ministry Program