“I Wonder What Tomorrow Will Bring?”

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

One of my favorite Christmas songs is ">“Mary Did You Know?” by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene. It begins with these words:
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you.

It continues with question after question, probing the mind and heart of Mary to find out just how much she may have known on that cold night in Bethlehem. Personally, I think that these new parents knew very little of God’s incredible plan. I believe that she knew nothing more than what the angel Gabriel told her, that she was held in very high regard by God, that she was to have a child and His name would be Jesus (“The Lord Saves”)), that he would be called the Son of the Most High, that He will receive the throne of David, and will reign over Israel forever, and His kingdom would never end.
And her reply was simply “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:26-38)
And what did Joseph know? At first, he knew that something had happened that should never have happened! But then the angel appeared to him, and told him that this child had been conceived by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, and not in a normal, human way, that he should not be afraid or worry about this, that this child should be named Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins.
They heard nothing more, they heard nothing less.

God had chosen an unmarried and very young and very humble woman to be the means that His Son would come into this world, and this is all that the chosen ones of earth would know! And yet, with great faith, they accepted the shame that would come to them from their family and friends, and they gave themselves completely to God’s will. Now I also have to believe that the angelic message helped them to be accepting of the condemnation, but on that night when the child came into the world in such a normal and usually way, I also have to wonder what were they thinking about?

This Boy Baby looked pretty normal – no glow, no halo, no divine word from His lips, nothing out of place to indicate that this birth was any different than any other – including the pain of child birth and the cries that come with any infant birth! There were brief instances when the couple would be reassured in the Lord’s plan, and we read that each of these times that Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19, Luke 2:51). But she never knew what would come to be because of this child she had faithfully carried.

But maybe this couple wasn’t supposed to know. Can you imagine the questions that would have flooded their souls if they knew that Jesus would be rejected by the very people He had come to show Divine love to? Or what about His criminal arrest and beating and crucifixion? They would have begun to doubt those visits from heaven’s messenger!

But we know the entire story – maybe not the details behind the story, but we have the benefit of not only knowing the events in Christ’s life, but the outcome of those events. And we still struggle with living a life that is even close to that lived by Mary and Joseph. But even in their ignorance of the things that were to come, these new parents believed and lived life as God had planned.

Where do we fail and fall short? Why do we come up short? We can put so much of Jesus teachings together, and can begin to see why His life among us was necessary. We can be amazed by many of His miracles. We see His death and resurrection and the divine promise for eternity. And still we doubt.

The blind will see
The deaf will hear
The dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of The Lamb

The miracle of Christmas is before us, and all too often the only things our eyes can see is the glitter and festivity that surrounds the day. And we turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the fullness of truth in the day.

My friends,
Do you know that our baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Do you know that our baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Do you know that our baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
And that the child that grows within us is the Great I Am?

When Mary took that newborn child and lifted Him to her breast for the first time, she saw a precious gift, she saw the Son of God, she saw the great potential of hope for this world, but she had no idea as to what He would have to endure. In that moment, she knew that this Child of God had come into the world as a helpless baby, and that she and Joseph had been chosen to be the ones who would nurture Him, and teach Him, and care for Him, and love Him until He came into His own for the world.

And now we have that same responsibility. To hold Him, to care for the truth of His teachings, to remember His miracles and share them with others, to nurture the faith that is within each of us, to love Him with our entire lives, and to share this precious gift to earth with all who will listen.

Mary may have never known, but she believed absolutely. We know, but our faith must become stronger and more obvious in our life. Will you kiss the face of God today?