SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS.
S. LUKE ii. 18, 19.
"All they that heard it, wondered at those things which were told
them by the shepherds;
but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."
EVERY year, the Church calls us in a manner to Bethlehem, to see
the things which have there come to pass; to see the Most High God, the Co-equal
and Co-eternal Son of the Father, newly born, a little Infant, taking up
no larger space in the world which He made and preserves, than His tender
limbs might lie on in the rude and narrow manger; to see Him, a true child
of Adam, yet born without spot of sin; to behold His Blessed Mother bending
over Him, and performing all the offices of a mother for Him, yet continuing
a pure and unspotted Virgin; to hear the carol of the Angels and to see the
Glory of the Lord, how it shone upon the quiet and simple shepherds, but
was hid altogether as yet from the great ones of the earth. We, I say, my
brethren, during this season which has passed, as in many former Christmas
seasons, have by God's special. favour been brought within hearing, yea,
in a manner, within sight of all these wonders. And whereas those shepherds
at Bethlehem, and the neighbours to whom they told their story, could but
admire and adore what had happened; we are, from our youth up, instructed
in a great part of the meaning of it. They saw that it was altogether
strange, altogether glorious, a kind of Heaven upon earth; but they could
not yet know how nearly it concerned themselves and all men. We, by God's
mercy, do, or may, know this. "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath
given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is True: and we are
in Him that is True, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God and
Eternal Life." [1 S. John v. 20] We know this: but the persons who
were on the spot, those who came nearest to His cradle when He was born,
they did not as yet, the more part of them, know or dream of it. Yet even
among them in their ignorance, there were two ways of receiving the Christmas
good news; the one right, the other wrong; the one pleasing, the other displeasing,
to our God. Some heard it all with mere wonder; all they that heard it wondered
at those things which were told them by the shepherds." Others, of whom the
Blessed Virgin is the type and pattern, 'kept all these things, and pondered
them" in their hearts. As it was then with the witnesses of our Lord's
Birth and Ministry, so is it now with all those, to whom, by the Church,
He makes His Birth and Ministry known. Some wonder only; some, by His
grace, consider. As afterwards, when He cast out a devil, from one
who was blind and dumb, so that the blind and dumb both spake and saw: the
multitude marvelled, and there was an end; but the more serious and considerate
among them said, "Is not this the Son of David? "-so now, as often as we
read of His coming down to join Himself to Adam's seed, and cast out the
Evil spirit which had made men so long blind and dumb in spiritual things,
we cannot indeed help wondering; but which of us does more than wonder?
Which of us all, like that blessed Virgin Mother, lays up these things and
ponders them in his heart? We have not now heard of them for the first
time. Last Advent, and many Advents before, we have been told of Christ
coming to judge us. Last Christmas, and many a Christmas before, we
have been told of His coming to be made a little Child for us. Nay,
more; as the Apostle says, that by the holy mysteries of our Communion, Jesus
Christ is evidently set forth crucified among us; so may we say, that by
the customs and ceremonies of Christmas time, He is evidently set forth,
Incarnate and born among us; set forth in a manner to strike our very eyes
and senses. Why are the Church bells rung at that time? Why are
hymns and carols sung from door, to door? Why are not only the Churches,
but the very houses and streets dressed up in green boughs? Why do
families gather, and children come home from school? Why is there especial
joy and kindness in men's faces, and words of congratulation on their tongues,
when they meet one another at this time of year more especially? Why,
but because it is Christ's Birthday, and we all know that it is so, and have
known it from our youth up. More or less, we have all been aware that He
was born at this time, and that His Birth brought Glory to God in the Highest,
Peace on earth, and goodwill towards men. The shepherds have told us these
things; that is, we have been taught them by God's own chosen ministers,
whom He ordained to be over us His flock. And as we heard, we wondered
at them; we could not help doing so, if we attended to them at all.
But too commonly alas ! when our wonder had passed away, we thought no more
of them. We thought indeed sometimes of Christmas, and rejoiced in
the hope of its coming again, with its many joys and delights. But
it was a mere childish thought; there came not along with it any serious
remembrance of God, made . Man for our salvation; any deep thankfulness
for His mercy; any earnest purpose to serve Him better hereafter. We
smile at little children, when they think so much of the carols and evergreens,
the mirth and good cheer, of Christmas. But how are we wiser or more
manly than they, if we let the holy thoughts proper to that season pass away
out of our minds, and plunge ourselves again without scruple in the cares
and diversions of the world? What a sad, what a shameful appearance
shall we make hereafter before Saints and Angels, when the Judge shall demand
an account from us of the many Christmas seasons which He has allowed us
here on earth, and we shall be forced to confess, that we gave them all up
to nothing beside mere mirth and bodily enjoyment, even when we were old
enough to know much better !
Why did God fill the whole history so full of wonders, which the Shepherds,
His Ministers, tell us of every Christmas? Not that we, might just
wonder at it, and go away, and mind other things, till we find something
else to wonder at. Not so; but that we, like Mary, might keep all these
things, and ponder them in our heart. It is told us more than once
of that Blessed Virgin Mother, that favoured one above all, how carefully
she practised this duty of devout recollection. None of all God's dealings
were lost upon her. She carefully attended to them at the time, and
treasured them up afterwards with religious care. When the Angel had
left her, and the wonderful Incarnation of the Son of God had taken place
in her womb, she began to ponder in her heart what the Angel had said of
her cousin Elizabeth, and without losing time set out on her long journey
across the mountains to see her. Whilst others were simply wondering
at the shepherds' report of Christmas night, she was keeping it all in store,
recollecting it carefully, going over it again and again, that she might
lose no part of it. She was treasuring it up, as a miser might his
money, that she might count it all over, and meditate upon it at her leisure.
So again, twelve years afterwards, when that remarkable circumstance happened
of our Lord's separating Himself from them in Jerusalem, and staying behind
at the Feast of the Passover, we read of His Mother especially, that "she
kept all these sayings in her heart." No hint that He gave was lost
upon her. In the midst of His deep Humiliation, while He was subject
to Joseph and herself at Nazareth, and working at that poor trade, she was
ever calling to mind the glimpses she had had of His heavenly glory, and
the wonderful words which at any time had fallen from Him. He dwelt with
them at Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But His Mother was all the while,
all those eighteen years, keeping those sayings in her heart. Thus was she,
by the grace of God, silently preparing herself, both for His Sufferings
and His Glory, and for her own share in both.
So we may often see it to have been with thoughtful and religious persons,
for whom God was preparing great and trying changes. They have watched His
dealings with them, and so had warning. The patriarch Jacob was one
of this sort; a great observer of God's providential tokens; whereby he came
to acknowledge in his old age, so earnestly and devoutly, the God, before
Whom his fathers had walked, Who had fed him all his life long to that very
day, Who had redeemed him from all evil. And it is particularly mentioned
how he observed what Joseph told him of his dreams. He treasured it up in
his remembrance, as Mary did the wonders of her Child's birth. Of the Prophet
Daniel too, that "man greatly beloved," we read that he "kept the vision
in his heart." [Dan. vii. 28] He thought much of it, as a token from
God, though he could not exactly understand it. S. John again, the beloved
disciple, appears by his Gospel to have been a diligent watcher of what our
Saviour said and did, and so to have come long afterwards to a right understanding
of many things, which had been quite dark at the first both to him and the
other disciples. More than once he has such sayings as these. "When therefore
Jesus was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said
this unto them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus
had said." [S. John ii. 22] And again on his riding into Jerusalem:
"These things understood not His disciples at the first; but, when Jesus
was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him,
and that that they had done these things unto Him." [S. John xii. 16]
Here we seem to perceive clearly, that S. John also, like the Blessed Virgin,
was accustomed to take note of all things which Jesus did, and to ponder
them in his heart, long before he could rightly comprehend their meaning.
Putting all together, it is very plain that our gracious Saviour delights
in those who mark and recollect His dealings with them; mark them at the
time, and recollect them afterwards. They are highly favoured, like blessed
Mary; greatly beloved, like the Prophet Daniel; or like S. John, they are
disciples whom Jesus loveth. If we would please Him in earnest, if
we would be favoured and beloved, surely we must try to be like them.
And we shall be like them, if, with prayer and good desires, we set ourselves
to keep His ways in our heart, when He has any how made them known to us.
"Blessed," says the holy Psalmist, "is the man whose strength is in Thee,
in whose heart are Thy ways." [Ps. lxxxiv 5.] "Blessed is he, who is
not only stricken at the time with awe and wonder, when in any way Thou shewest
Thyself to him, but who also lays it up in his mind and memory, loves to
think of it, when he is alone; withdraws himself, as he best may, from common
and worldly things, to meditate upon it." And this will be chiefly in regard
of two sorts of things: the one, solemn times like this of Christmas, when
God permits and invites us to see more and more of His great work of salvation
for the whole world: the other, His special providences over ourselves, often,
very often, secret to all but ourselves, yet so clearly and so awefully marked,
that we, whom they concern, cannot possibly doubt of their meaning. For example;
too many an one of us before now has been set on some evil purpose, has made
up his mind, perhaps, to venture it, has even taken the first step; when
something which men would call an accident, little or great, has taken place
and stopped him effectually in it. If he considers, he cannot doubt that
this was God's merciful Hand, staying him when on the way to everlasting
damnation. Balaam is an instance of this. He had set out on a journey
which he knew in his heart displeased God, when his ass, after proving once
or twice unusually restive, fell under him. This was just the sort of thing,
which in ordinary life would be treated as a chance that happened to him;
and so Balaam dealt with it. But the Lord opened his eyes, and he saw
the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand.
Balaam's heart still went after his covetousness, therefore he was not really
the better even for this fearful revelation: but well may we learn from what
happened to him how deeply our Lord would have us think of all the providential
circumstances that happen to us; how He would have us discern His hand in
them, especially when they are So ordered, as to stay us in any course or
purpose of sin.
The beginning of a new year is a time when nature herself, and common sense
and feeling, set us on thoughts of this kind: how we have dealt in the year
gone by with Christ's holy times and special remembrances of His Presence;
and again, how we have dealt with His special tokens and particular providences
in regard of ourselves and our friends. In both, our Lord has shewed
us His loving wonders. Have we just wondered at them and so forgotten
them? or have we kept them like Mary, to the best of our power; and pondered
them over and over in our heart?
This last year, like former years, has had its Christmas, its
Easter and its Whitsuntide, its Lent and its Advent, its Fasts and Feasts;
and we, if we have at all gone along with the Church in her services, have
had the wonders of each time duly set in their order before us. Some
of us may perhaps remember, whether at this time last January we made any
serious vows, had any contrite self-accusing thoughts; whether or no we had
at that time any misgivings about ourselves, any searchings and stirrings
of heart, such as, it then seemed to us, we could never forget. We can tell,
whether we had such thoughts, and we can tell, alas! whether we have remembered
them, whether we have profited by them or no. We may remember perhaps,
if we will try, what good resolutions we then made, to overcome, by God's
grace, the remnant of our old sins; to break off such and such evil habits,
which we felt ashamed for God to know of; to do right, and persevere in doing
it, whatever other persons might say; and never to be ashamed of Jesus Christ
and of His Words. We may recollect that last New Year's Day we had some such
thoughts as I have now said: and we of course know, how well we have attended
to them. If we have failed, let us now with all our might prepare ourselves
to do better; it is not too late; by His undeserved mercy we are yet in this
world, not where we deserve to be; it is not too late. Only remember,
Whatever good desires and holy vows God shall now put into your hearts—remember
to keep them there, and to ponder them over.
So again with regard to special interferences of Providence. I make
no question at all, but that every man who now hears me has had occasion,
within the last twelvemonth, to admire and adore God's merciful Arm, stretched
out either to smite or save himself or some one dear to him. I make no question,
but that if we had watched, we might be able to tell of many gracious hints,
many low but plain whisperings of God's ever-present Spirit, which have come
to us since the beginning of last year, making a great difference to us for
good or for evil; for good, if we marked and obeyed: for evil, if we neglected
them. Well! Whatever has been our past behaviour, here, by His great
mercy we are; spared, while so many no worse than ourselves have been taken;
and our good God is still going on with His silent whisperings to our conscience,
as well as with His open warnings and tokens in His Church. What shall
we do this year? Shall we neglect, or merely wonder, or keep it all,
and ponder it in our heart, and try, by His grace, to live accordingly?
One or the other we must do: and we had need be careful which we do, for
it will very likely determine our lot for ever. Consideration or carelessness
now, may make us happy or wretched to all Eternity.
