Luke 2:18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds
Who was the first to ever question the virgin birth? There may be a number of answers that can be given, but the answer that comes to my mind is that the first to question the virgin birth was the Virgin Mary. She did not doubt the virgin birth, but she did say, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Later, her cousin Elisabeth would say of Mary, “And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.” So, Mary believed God, and God kept His word.
Now this brings us to an interesting question. Is something true because I believe it or do I believe it because it is true? I cannot wish things to be true, however, there is power when I have the faith to believe what is true. When you come to the Christmas story in Luke 2, something becomes very obvious: you do not understand the Christmas story if it does not make you ponder and if it does not make you praise. This is an incredible story, and we are not thinking deeply or thoughtfully enough if it doesn’t make us ponder and praise.
Luke 2 says about the shepherds, “And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all those that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” Now, the shepherds had not read the Christmas story; they were part of it. Everything the shepherds were claiming, the angelic announcement, the Christ child, the Son of God, was not just wonderful, causing wonder, it was impossible! But it was God.
Verse 19 goes on to say, “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” This is a theme you find throughout the account. She pondered. We always picture Mary with this soft aura over her head, little fluffy sheep, nice blankets, and the Christ child placed in a beautiful manger. The fact is, she had seen the miraculous, an angel who had given the pronouncement that she would be the mother of the Christ child, but long months had elapsed and nothing miraculous had happened. There was no halo, no supernatural; it was just daily life. Then, all of a sudden, a bunch of shepherds she had never met show up and say, “We have seen angels and they told us that the Christ is here.” This caught her short. She pondered these things.
Later, when Jesus was a lad, she said to Him, “You have worried us, and your father and I have looked for you sorrowing.” She was referring to Joseph as His father. Jesus responded by saying, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business.” Mary is talking about Joseph; Jesus was talking about Jehovah. Again, the Bible says that when this God in a body became subject to Mary, a young Jewish lady, she kept all these sayings in her heart. Over and again, Mary was forced to ponder, think, and wonder about these amazing things.
You don’t understand the Christmas story if it doesn’t make you ponder, if it is not wonderful, full of wonder, to you. The more you think about the Christmas story, the more you will have all kinds of questions because there are impossible things that happened, unless there is a God. That is why I say that you don’t understand this story if it does not make you ponder, but secondly if it does not make you praise.
In Luke 3 John the Baptist basically said to religious leaders, who had rejected God’s Christ, “Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father. We are special,’ for God can use one of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” So, God could raise children from stones and God can raise up a child of this Jewish maiden. He did; He is able. The Bible says in Luke 1, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
I don’t understand Christmas if it doesn’t make me ponder and doesn’t make me praise. When the shepherds saw and heard what they did, they glorified and praised God. Anna, who saw the Christ child in the temple, did the same thing. She had been waiting for God’s redemption, this Messiah, and she praised God.
The bottom line is, there are things that are impossible to us that are not impossible to God. Our God is infinite yet personal. That is why this story is so incredible, except it is credible. It happened. It’s true. It’s not true because I believe it. I believe it because there is a God. The infinite God of the universe Who transcends time and space was compressed into the tiny body of a child. Christmas is an amazing time and an amazing story. If you understand the story, it will make you ponder and it will make you praise. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men.