I wonder if Mary felt homesick for the people and places she loved.
I wonder if she ached to have the support of family and friends around her as she cradled her firstborn child in her arms.
I wonder if she had reached the point of feeling she would do anything to see a friendly face. Someone to share her joy with. Someone who would recognize something of the mystery of it all. She was a new Mum and I doubt in this sense, not much different to any other new Mum whose natural sense would be to show off her baby, to hear others coo and woo and tell her how beautiful He is. To ask His Name and respond, " His is the Name above all other names..."
As they clutched His little fingers would they realize they were the hands that flung stars into space. And on asking His age, recognize His days were numbered and yet the Alpha and the Omega.
I imagine Joseph had been great, a most excellent support – but sometimes we women need just that little bit more.
And then … they came … shepherds … sheepherders of all things. Possibly dirty, smelly, homeless, shepherds. Sent by God … told by an angel of the Saviour’s birth and an angelic choir. Do things come much more mystical? In our familiarity with the story are we in danger of losing some of the awe and wonder of it all?
…And they came, shepherds, to meet with Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child. For them, seeing was believing as they witnessed all they had been told.
For Mary, the kindness of strangers was enormous, memorable for the rest of her life. The shepherds recognized just who they came to worship and returned glorifying and praising God.
‘Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.’
I have no doubt there have been times in our lives when complete strangers have ministered to us in a most unexpected and yet perfect way. Reflect on the kindness of strangers in your life, thank God for them.
What experiences do you hold dear, deep within yourself? Tales of the unexpected.
Ask God to use you to the benefit of others. We might never known just whom we are ministering to.
‘Brother let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant too.’
Other people affected the heart and life of Mary too … unexpected strangers. We are no doubt very familiar with the account of the visit from ‘Wise Men’ … ‘Astrologers’ … ‘Scholars’ from the east who brought homage to our God in the shape of gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. But the two people I want us to consider today are Simeon and Anna. Two elderly people who may well have been considered to be past their best. And yet two more people who gave something of themselves. Their faithfulness and commitment to God ministered to Mary and Joseph at one of those times when they possibly needed it most.
At this point, Scripture tells us that Jesus was eight days old, the day of circumcision, the naming day when Jesus was given the name the angel had already revealed before He was conceived. Here in Jerusalem, obeying God’s commandment in the law, Mary and Joseph met with Anna and Simeon.
Anna, a prophetess, a very old woman, who had been married for seven years and now widowed for eighty four years. She had been faithful to God through thick and thin, through good times and bad, and now in old age she continued to fast and pray in the temple area.
I wonder as Mary looked at this saintly old woman did Anna’s faithfulness bless, encourage and challenge Mary’s heart. I imagine so.
We can learn so much from old people if we take the time almost to stop and stare. To examine who they have been as well as the person the years have made them. I love to watch the expressions on their faces as they share something of their life’s story and they talk of the hand of God in their life. I never fail to be moved as I witness them sing: ‘Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me’ from a very real position of knowledge. As one year quickly rolls into the next may our lives, through our life’s experiences testify to the faithfulness of God too.
‘Faithful God,
Faithful God
All sufficient One I worship You
Shalom my peace
My strong Deliverer
I lift You up
Faithful God’
Major Glad Ljungholm
Commanding Officer
Exeter Temple Corps, UK
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