Mary's Treasure

Luke 2:17-20 - The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Mary's Treasure Doug Partin - The Christian Church - 11/29/20 Merry Christmas! Did you find a treasure for a discounted price on Black Friday? I did, but it was on Craigslist, not in a store; but since I was in Santa Fe to pick it up, I stopped by Lowes to get a new microwave that I had been looking to get for quite a while, it was on sale. Our old one had quit responding to about half of the key pad numbers, and the fan was rattling because the plastic brackets had broken, and they weren't the sort you can replace. It was time. When I arrived, I walked straight in and over to the appliance center and showed the salesman what I wanted. There was no line at all, but she said that there was one person in front of me so I would still have to wait. So, I did, as she helped a lady who showed up. After half an hour, I decided to wave down a stocker who was glad to go back into the warehouse and get one for me. But while I was waiting, a friend called to ask if I could help him fix a leak in his shower, and since I was in the right place, and had the time, he sent the model number, and I looked up the part, and they had it in stock. Being able to help him out was the best treasure of the day for me. May having to wait felt like a God thing. I don't know if you bought anything on Black Friday, but the merchants were hoping that you would. They were, as they do each year, hoping to amass their own treasure, making enough sales on the day after Thanksgiving to get them out of the red and into the black; that is, to make a profit for the year instead of dealing with a loss. Doing so makes it, for them, a crazy, but wonderful time of the year; and there seemed to be a lot of Christmas shoppers out and about who were looking to find a great deal, so that probably happened. Christmas, because of all those presents under the tree, that we like to give and receive, has become an event that impacts our economy. But that isn't why it is the most wonderful time of the year. Its because of Mary's treasure. When we think of the original Christmas story the treasures that come to mind are Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. And while Mary must have taken charge of them along with Joseph, and was certainly glad to have received them, these treasures had been presented to her child. When the Magi bowed down, they worshipped Him, not her. We don't know how those gifts were enjoyed, but most believe that they provided the means for this young family to escape Herod's threat to kill their child. They went down to Egypt, and, at the right time, made their way back. So, in a way, these treasures should serve as a reminder of God's gracious and timely provision in times of need. We remember and treasure those times. But even so, these gifts paled in comparison to what Mary truly treasured. Mary was, after all, the sort of girl who had found favor with God. Although, when told that she had done so, she was quite puzzled and pondered why this might be so. It wasn't just modesty. And while I don't want to take anything away from Mary, she was right to question what she had been told. She knew that she wasn't worthy; that is, she hadn't done anything to "earn" the right to be favored by God. She was just like the rest of us, she too needed to be saved, but God gives grace to the humble; and she was certainly humble. And, Luke tells us, she was treasuring all that God was doing to make His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The term Luke used that is translated "treasure" was a compound word. "Suntereos" - "sun" (together) and "tereos" (to watch over). It was only used four times in the New Testament. Matthew and Luke report that Jesus used it when talking about putting new wine into a fresh wineskin, noting that both are "preserved;" that is, treasured (Mt. 9:17, Lk. 5:38). And Mark used it to describe how Herod knew that John the Baptist was a righteous and holy man, and so he "kept him safe," that is, he treasured him (Mk. 6:20). Mary really was taking in everything that was happening and "preserving" it, "keeping it safe." Others would come along, trying to "rewrite" what had really happened or "reinterpret" it; they are still doing that today, but Mary was holding on to what happened. She may not have fully comprehend the full significance of everything as it transpired, but she was taking mental pictures and mulling over how God was doing exactly what she had been told He would do. Which implies that she was also a rather intelligent girl. Mary recalled how the angel who passed along that she had found favor with God, also gave her something else to consider: She would have a son, name Him Jesus, and He would be called the Son of the Most-High. Although it was an angel giving her this inside information, she just didn't see how any of it could really happen. But after her objections, namely that she had never "known" a man, were answered; she was also told that her cousin, Elizabeth, would bear a child under equally impossible circumstances. Her virginity and Elizabeth's bareness were meant to focus attention on God's awesomeness. These two babies would only be born because God was doing the impossible. Mary submitted to God's will, saying, "May it be done me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). And then, she started watching for God to keep His promise, treasuring it all. She probably noticed things that others would never had seen. Because she was watching for God to be at work in her life. As we move toward our annual celebration of Jesus' miraculous birth we will zoom in each week on various aspects of what transpired back in those days. And in today's study, we have fast forwarded to the end of the Christmas story, where we are told, after the shepherds' visit to the stable that Mary treasured all the things spoken by them, contemplating them in her heart. What exactly had the shepherds been told? Luke records that an angel told them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Lk 2:10-12. A Savoir is one who makes things "whole" again. If it was broken, then it gets fixed. This same word is occasionally used to indicate that a sick person was healed, a captive delivered, a prisoner set free. A Savoir is one who makes things right again, and, at least from a shepherd's perspective, they had a lot of wrongs that needed to be righted. A Christ is one who has been anointed. "Chrio" means to "smear" or to "rub." Prophets, priests and Kings were anointed with oil to symbolize that they were serving God in all that they did. But by this time, many of them only went through the motions, and most were serving themselves. But these shepherds, along with most people, were hoping that a special servant would be raised up by God to save them, a servant like the one that Isaiah often spoke about in his writings. They were an oppressed people, and wanted relief; but they were not expecting the sort of "Christ" that God sent because they did not realize that their own sin was an even greater oppressor than anything else they faced. A Lord is one who was the Master, the person in charge of a kingdom, a city, even a household. But they also used this term back then as a substitute for God's name. They were careful not to utter His name just in case they might somehow use it in vain. So, they called Him Lord; and themselves His servants. Even so, what the Shepherds relayed to Mary was nothing "new" to her; but it was an affirmation of what she had been collecting ever since that angel first showed up. These experiences had become Mary's treasure. And she would later reveal these treasures to Luke as he collected the material to write his gospel. It is a vast treasure, and pondering it, as did Mary, makes this the most wonderful time of the year. The shepherds were evidently a noise bunch, and their arrival at the stable behind the Inn caught the attention of others, who crowded around to find out what all the commotion was about. Seeing the child confirmed the angel's announcement to the shepherds; but, unlike them, and unlike Mary, who treasured what the shepherds' proclaimed, the crowd was simply "amazed" by what they heard. They were not looking for God to be at work in the same way that Mary was looking, or the shepherds for that matter. Those in the crowd had not been given inside information nor had they been out in the fields to see the angel for themselves, and so they had to decide whether they should believe the shepherds story or not. The shepherds were, after all, not a trustworthy lot. Their testimony was not even allowed in court. They were, in general, too easily bribed to bear a false testimony, and often did. You may have noticed that the Bible is full of folks who the religious leaders easily bribed to bear false testimony. Primarily against Jesus and His disciples. And, while we are not told specifically, a good number of them would have been in the same situation as the shepherds. Living a life without an earthly treasure, and needing it. There were good shepherds, but not many of them. But now, these Shepherds had a treasure of their own. And they shared it with those who did not have any. Their story did make those in this crowd consider that perhaps God was keeping His promise to send a savoir in this rather unexpected way. I hope that some of them would later treasure that they had been there that night. Crowds still gather around the Christmas story each year. Drawn to it by those of us who celebrate the long-expected Messiah's birth. He is to us, our Savoir, Christ the Lord, and we bring out Mary's treasures and thank God for sending His Son to save us. And if any of those wondering whether what Mary treasured could possibly be true, we can invite them to ask us about it, because we can confirm it by bringing forth our own treasures. What? You didn't know that we have been given the same sort of treasure that Mary received? We certainly have. Our treasures are those moments in our own lives in which we have experienced God carrying out His will in this world. We don't have to explain them, or even fully understand them, but we can relate them, these "God moments." It had been a while, far too long, since I contacted Joann Houlton. I had heard from Bob and His sister how she had gotten very sick, put on hospice, and moved into a care facility, and once there she started eating and drinking and got better and is now back at home again. Only family was able to visit her, and I kept my distance. When I spoke with her, she asked if I had been told what had happened to her. I related to her what I had heard, and she told me that I had missed the best part of the story. "What's that?" I asked. She said, "As you know, I was really sick. I don't know if I was in a coma, knocked out, or dead, or whatever, but I was completely out of it. And then I heard the voice of a woman, she was speaking from behind me. Then I heard her say, "It's a miracle." And the next thing I knew, I was coming out of it, and my senses came back to me, and within a couple of days I was headed back home." Joann told me, that she believed that God had healed her, and it hadn't been the first time in her life that He had done so. For her, it was an angel who had spoken to her. Then she told me, "I guess it wasn't my time, and I still have something more to do for Him." And I agreed. Joann also told me that I needed to share her story with you; because it might be the very thing that you need to hear. That God is still doing impossible things. Still making His will done on earth. That is a part of Joann's treasure. There are a lot of experiences in this life that we come to treasure. They might be related to your wealth, your house, your relationships, your position, your education, your health, your talent, your expertise, and you might not even realize just how much you value it. When I was a student at DCC, our dorm Dad lead a devotion for those who led a small group Bible study, and I was one of those leaders. He told us to make a small wood or paper model of something in our lives that we treasured. At the time, it was my 12-string guitar, I've still got it in my office. It symbolized a lot of things for me. My relationship with my Dad who played well and taught me some cords, my interest in writing songs at the time. It was a way that I could express how I felt, I even sang one of those in worship at this church when I served as an intern. They weren't the best, but meaningful to me. So, I made a very detailed model, which I planned on putting up on my bookshelf later. We got to the devotion, which was held outside, in the parking lot, which we all thought was a little weird. He took our symbols, and we each shared what they meant to us, revealing experiences that we treasured. Then he sat them down on a large cooking sheet, which I thought was to protect them from getting messed up on the ground. Then he told us that the experiences that we shared were import to us, part of our treasures, but one day they would all go up in flames. Then he struck a match, and tossed it down and the symbols ignited. He had put lighter fluid on the pan. It was a bigger explosion that he had intended. But they all burned up. I was pretty upset about loosing something that I had invested so much time in making. But that only pushed his point home even further. I was still treasuring the wrong sort of memories. They were precious in themselves, but they were not the sort of things that Mary treasured. There is nothing wrong with remembering the experiences that have impacted us over the years. But our real treasure, like Mary, should be focused on those times when God entered into the picture. And we, like Mary, need to share those treasures. So, I am looking forward to hearing about that time when you felt like God protected you, when He provided for you, when He saved you, when He did what seemed impossible for you. I want to hear about your God moments, and I'd be delighted to share mine with you. And there are a lot of other people who need to hear them too. They may not have any of their own, because they don't know what to look for, and you could teach them. It is these treasures, like Mary's, that make this the most wonderful time of the year. Prayer: Lord Jesus, we treasure Mary's story. We thank you for making it known to us. Please help us share our own story. Amen.