What Child Is This?

Deb Sisti
Passage: Luke 2:15-20

            I Love my children as much as any good parent does. But certain aspects of each of my girls that were like myself made it easy for me to relate to each of them, even as babies, and I was drawn to them in those areas. I was thinking about Mary for this devotional...and I'm grateful for the opportunity to share a few thoughts. 
 
            As Mary gazed upon the face of her baby, how different from her she must have realized he was! As he grew up, she may have felt increasingly how little she had in common with him; maybe she’d have found it difficult to relate to him. Yet I believe she was every bit as drawn to this son of hers as any mother could be! 

            ​I would imagine that despite her probable lack of understanding as to just who this baby was, and what would unfold, I think she would have had an overwhelming awe and a pinch of fear of this baby. I imagine He would have been at least the best baby ever!  Coupling that with what she was told of her God-human baby, I imagine she must have quaked at times at whom she was holding in her arms. 
 
            And how strange that must've been for a mother - who supplies, protects, nourishes, nurtures, teaches and saves her child from all sorts of troubles - to gaze upon the face of her baby that she brought into the world, knowing that He was the Savior she needed! In the book of John, Mary calls Jesus her Lord. (John 20:13)
 
            And she must have had some dread of what she had been told regarding the sad times this child would bring. In Luke 2, the Prophet Simeon had told Mary in the temple that this baby would pierce her soul! But given what we know of her character, her humility, she would not have had the attitude that "it's all about me," and would not have been worrying at all about what she would go through. I doubt it even crossed her mind. 
 
            I'm also thinking Mary’s continual thought was, "But why me?!“ Mary herself extols humility as a virtue God values highly in that poetic declaration she made to her cousin, Elizabeth, regarding their miraculous pregnancies (later to be called, “The Magnificat”):
 
            “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble.” (Luke 1:52)
 
            She no doubt would have continually pondered, “What ever did I do to be chosen for this honor?" And I believe that's the only good response she could have had. 
 
            Luke 2:19 “ …But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.”