Luke 2:1-20
Luke’s Gospel is filled with powerful phrases but the one that has especially caught my attention this year is that marvelous phrase “Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Like many of us, Mary has been swept along by events.
An angel appears to her; she’s going to have a child for which she had no decision-making power. Caesar proclaims the great taxation (thanks, Caesar!), so now she has to walk some 80 miles while nine months pregnant. Apparently, she had no family in Bethlehem and there's no proper place for her to sleep (since there was no room in the inn) much less a proper place to deliver her firstborn son. Then in the midst of this most unsanitary of places (perhaps a barn?) suddenly, shepherds show up and tell her a shocking story.
Finally, finally, she’s able to take a moment to pause and reflect or, as Luke tells us, to ponder and to treasure.
And it led me to thinking about the things that we treasure or “value” and the cost we’re willing to pay. And that perhaps all too often the cost we pay doesn’t align with the value we gain.
Remember that Furby Furblets Fierce & Fabulous 2-Pack cost you so much, not just in the amount of money that you had to fork over but the hours that you had to wait in line. And then, much to your dismay you see this toy, that your child desperately insisted they had to have, has been unused, untouched, since it was opened last Christmas.
As we shop for goods and services, we realize the cost of that trendy bauble is whatever we’re willing to put on our charge card. But the dust it gathers on the closet shelf discloses its value to us is as nothing. We spend too much capital—that is, money, time, emotional energy, relationship energy, and our intellect—on that which is not of true value. At times, we pay a high cost for a low return.
The good news is that, overall, as Americans, we are a relatively satisfied group. The Gallup Poll conducted an interesting survey:
The main life evaluation question asked in the poll is: “Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you, and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?” (This is also known as the “Cantril Ladder”.)
The United States measured 6.5 on the ladder, whereas unsurprisingly those in Haiti measured 3.6. But countries like Finland, Sweden, England, and others all scored higher than the U.S. There is a broad correlation between wealth and happiness, which we have known since the dawn of civilization; this is why Mary’s hopes for her child underscore her hope that he will bring good news to the poor. We all need food, shelter, health, and education. Without these, it’s very hard to be satisfied with life. Last century, the New York professor and psychologist, Abraham Maslow, explained that our ability to be satisfied with life is tied to a hierarchy of needs. And unless the base-level needs are met—food, water, shelter, and safety—then we can never be truly at peace.
But because we have a hierarchy of needs, simply having our basic necessities met is not sufficient for lasting peace. We need to go a layer deeper than economic satisfaction.
For though, overall, as a country, we are happier than most, there is a level of disease and disorientation in our country—especially among young people who are having a harder and harder time finding direction and purpose.
And I think it’s because we fail to emulate Mary, who takes time to reflect. We may not feel we have the time to ponder and treasure, but truly we will be worse for it.
“Reflection, meditation, and prayer help us to renew ourselves in God’s love, as we strive daily to become better people.” – Queen Elizabeth II
Mary has charted a path for us that helps us to “buy” those things whose value is timeless and priceless. I know it sounds like I’m talking about shopping—I’m really not. And perhaps as we go deeper into Mary’s story, it will become clear.
For Mary not only ponders the problems of the world, she treasures its gifts.
She treasures her son—her healthy and strong firstborn son! She knows that birthing a child is dangerous for mother and child, so she treasures a successful birth! She treasures all that has led to this day to support her in this awesome task. She treasures even the appearance of the shepherds, for they have brought her an amazing story and showed her that hope is already reaching beyond her.
She is showing how to reach beyond our basic needs; it requires a leap of faith. A leap of faith in which we no longer spend all our capital on things of fleeting value. And once again, I don’t mean money. Mary believed the angel! She invested her whole life in this promise.
Jesus called it “the pearl of great price.” When a man finds this pearl of inestimable value, he will sell everything he has in order to obtain it. Mary is going to pay the hardest cost that any mother can. But she has seen the value for the whole world.
For she knew, based on the mission Jesus would have, that the Messiah—her very own son’s life—would not be easy. Perhaps Mary was tempted—tempted to shelter her child from this high calling; tempted to lead him away from this path in order to keep him safe, as is our parental instinct. There would be a great cost to pay for everyone, especially her child.
As Adam Smith, titan of economic theory, wrote: “The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.”
In some ways, classic economic theory describes perfectly the path that God took to save humanity through the birth of Jesus. God paid a great price in becoming human; Jesus paid the price of scorn, rejection, ridicule, and a painful physical death. Jesus paid everything He possibly could because He valued you and me and everyone.
He was not going to leave humanity sitting on a shelf gathering dust. And for God, cost and value align perfectly.
There is a moment for Mary, and for all of us who seek a life of meaning, that we must take a leap. A leap beyond our own base needs. It’s this which enables us to pay a high cost for that which is of true value. As people of faith, we believe that God did not make us only to eat, drink, and work but to engage in the sublime, the beautiful, the mysterious, the sacred, and the holy.
And especially in the most transcendent thing of all—a love that knows no boundary, measure, or barrier.
As Mary pondered and treasured, it was clear that she had fully embraced God’s plan. She placed high hopes in this child to bring good news to the whole world. The baby shows us that we are treasured by God. This is what Mary is reflecting upon—she is treasuring God's treasuring of us. This is what Mary treasured the most—the depth of love God has for us shown in the gift of this child.
Amen.
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