Sermon given on January 8, 2012, the Baptism of our Lord at Wooddale Lutheran Church by Pastor Tim Rauk. Texts are Mark 1:4-11, Luke 2:19, 51. “Pondering and Treasuring Life”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is baptized by John, the event that marks the beginning of his ministry. We have just come off the Christmas season, with stories we know so well. Those present at the birth of Jesus were: Mary and Joseph, (Jesus earthly parents,) Elizabeth and Zechariah, (who were John the Baptist’s parents), and then an unknown number of unnamed people: shepherds from the hill country around Bethlehem in Luke’s Gospel and wise men from the east in Matthew’s Gospel. So there’s quite a lot going on around the story of Jesus’ birth.
But then, given all these amazing events that surrounded the birth of Jesus, what was Jesus’ life like between his birth day, and the event of his baptism we look at today, about 30 years later? There is only one story in the whole New Testament about that period of time, and it takes place kind of in the middle of that 30 year period. It’s the story of Jesus and his parents on their annual pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem for the Passover when he was 12 years old, a story that, we are told, reveals that, as a 12 year old, Jesus shows signs of deep understand and insight.
In one of my Bible studies this past week, this started an interesting series of questions, that I confess, I had never really thought about before.
1) Given the miraculous nature of Jesus’ birth, as Jesus was growing up, how much did people remember or know about his birth?
2) Did the people in Bethlehem talk about being visited by wise men from the east?
3) Did the rejoicing shepherds tell people about the angels and what they had heard and seen?
4) And if they did, would anyone believe them?
5) Jesus and his family lived in Nazareth. How much were the people of Nazareth told by Mary and Joseph about Jesus’ birth?
6) And who keeping track of what happened.
And that led us to the question that most intrigued me: Who was present throughout the whole story of Jesus? Who was there at his birth, throughout Jesus’ ministry, and was also there at the cross? And of all the people in Jesus’ life, the only person who was there from the beginning of the story all the way to Holy Week, and the resurrection where God’s purpose and power became most apparent, was Mary. Joseph is present in the story of Jesus as a 12 year old, amazing the teachers in the Temple, and that’s the last we hear about Joseph. There is no reference to shepherds or wise men after the birth, no reference to Elizabeth and Zechariah after their son, John the Baptist was born. And John the Baptist is killed somewhere in the middle of Jesus ministry before Holy Week.
So, that leaves us with: Mary. And there is an interesting phrase that describes Mary at Jesus’ birth, and again at the end of the story of Jesus as a 12 year old, visiting the temple in Jerusalem during Passover; a quality that I think Mary did throughout her life. After all the joyous amazement of the shepherds glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, Luke tells us, “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” And then, 12 years later, you can imagine the feelings of a frantic mother not being able to find her 12 years old boy. But after being reunited, the story ends with that same phrase: “Mary treasured all these things in her heart.”
Treasured and pondered. It’s hard to take time out of our lives to treasure the events and blessings we share and enjoy with those we love. And it’s even harder to take time to ponder. I’m afraid, the act of pondering is something we have ceased to value. To ponder means: to reflect or consider thoroughly, to think about carefully, to contemplate, to deliberate, to wonder about. “Mary treasured and pondered in her heart” as a mother would. But I also suspect that this was something Mary did often throughout her life: take time to ponder, to reflect thoroughly and carefully.
We rarely see experts and leaders taking time to ponder now days. Pondering seems to some, to be indecisive and unsure. Just once, I would love to listen to an interview where someone, respected as an expert in a difficult issue facing our country, would take time to ponder, and share their own deliberations about a difficult question. Everyone’s got quick and absolute answers. That’s what we expect. Quick and absolute answers.
As we enter another political election cycle, we will continue to hear debate after debate, and this will only intensify over the next year. Questions will be asked, questions that are deep, difficult questions, questions where the answer is not self evident, where caring, competent, loyal people disagree. But what we hear are absolute, quick, glib, canned, packaged answers that do not reflect the kind of pondering that Mary did throughout her life.
And so, when Jesus was baptized, when Jesus ministry began, I picture Mary watching Jesus’ journey unfolding, feeling a deep concern and anxiety as only a mother can feel for a child who may not be understood by the world as she understood him. I suspect that the only thing that got her through all this was that she took time to ponder, to weigh and consider the will of God as she witnessed the ups and downs of Jesus’ ministry. She no doubt would have liked to have rescued Jesus on more than one occasion, but she had to let go. And ultimately, Mary was there to see Jesus hanging on a cross, crucified as though he were a common criminal. And just as she had done at his birth, and as he grew into manhood, she took time to ponder, to reflect, to carefully consider what this might mean and to treasure all she knew Jesus to be.
What kinds of questions did Jesus ponder, as he is baptized, as he hears God say to him, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”? The way the Bible talks about Jesus pondering and reflecting on his ministry after his baptism is a story we will look at as Lent begins in about a month, the story we know of as, “the Temptations of Jesus.” As Jesus pondered his future, even he felt the weight of choices that were not of God.
And what are the kinds of questions that you might ponder as we contemplate the meaning of our baptism? Do you take time to treasure and ponder your life? Jesus felt the call of God at that moment of baptism. What does the baptismal call of God mean to you? How is my life different because of the promise God made to me in my baptism? How has my life changed because of the grace and love of God that has come to me through Jesus? How might I live my life differently, more thoughtfully, more joyfully because of the birth of a Savior, because I too have been baptized? How can I become more Christ-like in my approach to life? How might I be more like Mary, taking time to consider, to reflect, to ponder, to treasure the life God has given me?
Each of us has different questions, different struggles, different challenges in our lives. And so no two people will ponder their lives in exactly the same way. Yet a part of the pondering is that we are a community of believers: we are here to serve one another, share one another’s joys, bear one another’s burdens, ponder together what it means to wear the name of Jesus in our baptism.
What does it mean to us to ponder together what the future might hold for us as a community in Christ? May you be richly blessed again this year because you too have been baptized. The future is unknowable. But the promise of God is sure.
