Ponder Anew
Sermon by Pr. Craig Mueller on the First Sunday after Christmas + December 29, 2024.
These are the best days. Best movies of the year. Best books of the year. Best songs of the year. And of course, the Time magazine Person of the Year, someone always in the news for nearly a decade, though some could use a little less of him! There is the Year in Pictures like this special section in the New York Times. And what a year it has been! All the stories related to the presidential campaign. Wars and political movements across the world. And don’t forget the solar eclipse last April—which I witnessed in Indiana, a highlight of the year for me! The editor of the Year in Pictures edition invites the reader to spend time with the pictures. Take in the photographers’ reflections. In other words, to do some pondering.
The events of our lives are also captured in photographs. Sometimes a montage is put together at graduations, weddings, funerals or other special occasions. Since I was the oldest child, there are a lot more photos of my first year of life than my brother’s! If I gathered pictures from my entire life some would be in photograph albums, some were slides, some were polaroid instants, and most since 2007 are digital. Remember the days when you got a roll of pictures “developed,” including some really bad ones. You kept most of them, including duplicates. And stacks of photos grow and grow and grow until you need to downsize and go through them. Or you leave them for your descendants—not a great idea. In any case, to see events from your life in one fell swoop is to do some pretty serious pondering.
We don’t have photographs from Jesus’ life, though wouldn’t it be cool if we did? But imagine if we could. We would have lots of pregnancy and baby photos, from the infancy stories in Matthew and Luke—ones we have heard the past week in church. There would be photos of Elizabeth and Mary together. Pictures of the birth in a stable. Pictures of shepherds and the Magi. Pictures of Simeon and Anna forty days after the birth. Then skip ahead a long way to Jesus’ last three years of his life. Gobs of photos. And even more of the last week of his life. There would be photos from only one event between his birth and his public ministry. One event in approximately thirty years: the gospel today, of the twelve-year Jesus being left behind in the temple. There would be a lot of lost years in the photo album we are imagining. That’s worth pondering.
The four gospels may only have this one childhood story of Jesus, but some noncanonical, “nonofficial” gospels tell some other stories, many of them quite fanciful, likely fables. Do you recall the words to the carol “I Wonder as I wander,” with the words, “If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing, a star in the sky, or a bird on the wing?” In the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Jesus molds sparrows from clay on the Sabbath and when Joseph rebukes him, five-year old Jesus claps his hands and brings the clay birds to life! In this gospel Jesus is precocious and gets into trouble with his father. He uses his miraculous powers for the good, but also to kill several children who annoy him! Could be why it didn’t make the cut to be an official, canonical gospel in our Bibles. A 1600-year-old manuscript of this Gospel of Thomas was found in a German archive and was in the news last year, though I missed it! No surprise: scholars don’t recognize the events narrated as historical. For one thing, the gospel was written a century after the others. But it is intriguing, isn’t it? Makes you ponder a bit.1
In our gospel story today, Joseph and Mary return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with a caravan of others. It’s then they realize their boy Jesus isn’t with them. They hurry back to Jerusalem and find him in the temple conversing with teachers of the Law. His parents, overcome with worry, anger, and relief, do some pretty serious scolding. Wouldn’t you? The way Luke tells the story, Jesus is a bit baffled that mom and dad don’t understand his divine purpose that transcends family ties. His calling is to be about the business of God. This narrative is similar to Hellenistic biographical tales in which “a childhood incident foreshadows the greatness of the person in adulthood.”
The infancy stories in Luke end with Jesus obedient to his parents, growing in wisdom and in years. As we take in this story, and the other stories of Christmas, I am drawn to Mary’s response. Mary treasures all these things in her heart. She cherishes the memory of these events. And later looking back over Jesus’ lifetime, she will remember how crib and cross are intertwined.
Twice in earlier passages it says that Mary pondered. When the angel Gabriel appears of out of nowhere to announce Mary’s impending pregnancy, Mary ponders what kind of greeting this is and how it will change her life. After the shepherds return to the fields, Mary treasures and ponders in heart all that has happened to her in the birth of Jesus.
The Greek word for “treasure” implies to preserve, to keep within one’s self. To ponder means to throw together, to bring together in one’s mind.
When our Wednesday morning study group discussed these stories, we talked about what it means to ponder. One answer was: slow thinking. Our minds are usually racing, taking in so much information, especially online. To ponder is to do some slow thinking. Some reflecting. Some ruminating.
Maybe we need more pondering and less pontificating. More listening and less lashing out. More reflecting and less overreacting.
Take some time to ponder the events of the last year, both in the country and in the world, and in your own life. What are some takeaways for you? Take some time to ponder the major events in your life story. What have you learned? Have you grown in wisdom, in being with what is?
Pondering can stir up anxiety. Or it can lead to trust. Maybe since we are human, it is a bit of both. How are you feeling about the new year? About the future? Consider this quote by Eric Sevareid: “I'm sort of a pessimist about tomorrow and an optimist about the day after tomorrow.”
For many, the Twelve Days of Christmas are a bit more slow-paced. Take some time to ponder. Take some time for some slow thinking. As the words of a well-known hymn puts it, “ponder anew what the almighty can do.” Ponder what has happened to you the past year. Ponder God’s faithfulness to you throughout your life. Ponder the mystery of the holy birth we celebrate these Twelve Days of Christmas. And with Mary, treasure in your heart all that you have seen and heard.
1 What is the earliest record of Jesus Childhood?
1600-year-old papyrus fragment contains earliest account of Jesus’ childhood
1 Elizabeth Johnson. Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints, 282-285.