The Word Made Flesh
By Kendra Osborn
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Luke 2:19 (NIV)
I was listening to Christmas music on the radio one morning while I was getting ready for work and a song came on I had never heard. The name of the song is, “A Baby Changes Everything” by Faith Hill. As it began to play I made the assumption the song was about a young boy and girl who had gotten pregnant and how their lives had changed. The thought crossed my mind, “What a typical country song.” However, as the song went on I realized the song was about Mary and Joseph and how the baby boy she would give birth to would change the world.
I stopped to listen to every word to see how the song would tell the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. By the end of the song I was in tears, praising God for sending His son to earth in the form of an innocent, precious baby boy. I couldn’t stop thinking about several things in the spiritual and in the natural.
I thought about Mary and how amazed she must have been to have given birth to her first born and the joy she felt as she held him and breathed in his sweet smell that only a baby has. As a mother of two boys I can remember the feeling of oneness I had when I would stare at them in amazement. My natural instinct was to care for them and protect them no matter what the cost. I can only assume Mary experienced the same feelings and her motherly instinct was only natural to do the same.
Mary knew she had been blessed to be the one God chose to give birth to the Messiah. She knew her baby boy was chosen to do great things. After she had given birth, she remembered what was told to her by the angel Gabriel. Luke 2:17-19 says, “When they had seen him, they (the shepherds) spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed; but Mary treasured up all these things in her heart and pondered on them.”
Can you imagine the overwhelming emotions she was experiencing and all the thoughts she had racing through her mind? I love the fact that Mary didn’t talk about the things she knew to be true but she treasured them in her heart and pondered on them silently as she stared at her baby.
The word all in Greek is Pas which means ‘individually’ or ‘collectively’ and the Greek word for things is Rhema which means ‘that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken, or word.’ Mary pondered on every (individual) word God had spoken to her through the angel Gabriel.
Sisters, are you amazed at the very fact Jesus came as a baby who did in fact change the world? Has He changed you? I have often pondered on the cross, still not able to wrap my mind around it, but I have also tried to grasp how the Living Word was made flesh and how he entered this world as a baby born of a virgin.
As a women and a mother I can relate to Mary in the natural but I can’t touch what she felt in the spiritual. I think the world of my two boys, but they aren’t the Savior. Mary must have found herself stunned to think the baby she felt grow inside of her and gave birth to was the Savior for all mankind.
Mary’s mind had to be consumed with all Jesus had to offer the world trying to grasp the depth and width of his purpose here on earth. However, as we read the scriptures we see Mary couldn’t fully grasp His purpose and wouldn’t completely understand until the day Jesus was crucified.
This Christmas take a moment to meditate on the Rhema, the word God spoke announcing the arrival of His Son. (Luke 1:30-33) But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father of David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Pray with me: Lord God, You are high and lifted up, how I praise Your Holy Name. I enter Your courts with thanksgiving and praise and rejoice in the knowledge of knowing I am Yours and You are mine.
Lord, I come before Your throne praising You for sending Your one and only Son for my sake Lord, for my sake. I praise You Lord that Your Son entered the world as a baby so that Your prophecy would be fulfilled. My I continue to be in awe of Your plans and Your mystery. Thank You for looking down and loving me as Your own and for saving me from the pit of hell and offering a lifetime with You in heaven.
I pray this Christmas, as I enter into the business of this season, I will remember Your word and store it in my heart like a treasure to be hidden only to be revealed for Your glory. Jesus, I thank You for coming as a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel and for being a faithful Son from the beginning until the end.
In the name above all names I pray, the name of Jesus Christ, Yeshua. Amen.