Christmas is almost here, and with it comes all the expected trappings. Lights, presents, busy stores, and the ever-controversial Christmas tree. If you travel in church circles, it also brings the beloved Christmas hymns, nativity scenes, and reflection on the birth of Christ. The nativity story has stood out to me in a different way this year. This year I've thought more about Mary than any other participant. And not the usual reflections of how startling it must have been when Gabriel announced Jesus birth, or how difficult the journey to Bethlehem must have been. This year one small sentence from Luke 2 has been standing out to me. It's after the journey to Bethlehem, after the crowded inn, after the shepherds have returned to their field praising God for the birth of Jesus. By the time this sentence shook Mary's world, her little family had probably moved into a more permanent dwelling in Bethlehem. She and Joseph were probably starting to build a life together with their newborn son.
This sentence is spoken to her as she and Joseph are sacrificing at the Jerusalem temple. Jesus is just a little over a month old. They enter the temple, and an old man approaches them. His name is Simeon, and he has waited his whole life to see the promised Savior. He sees Mary and Joseph with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit reveals to him who Jesus is. Overjoyed, Simeon approaches Jesus and blesses him. How thrilled Mary must have been to meet someone who recognized her Son for what she knew Him to be- the Son of God, the salvation of the world! How wonderful for Mary and Joseph to see that the words spoken to them by the angel Gabriel were also being spoken to others. It wasn't a hallucination; God had entrusted them with the Messiah!
But then, Simeon turns and addresses Mary. "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too." (Luke 2:34-35) Right on the heels of this marvelous encouragement, comes what is basically a warning. A sword will pierce your soul. Nothing else. No details. No way to avoid it or lessen the pain. Simply a warning, a prediction. A sword will pierce your soul. I wonder how many times Mary thought about that warning. What did it mean? What "sword" can pierce your soul? What pain can be so deep that it feels like a stab wound to your very spirit?
I wonder how many moments throughout Jesus childhood and ministry caused Mary to replay Simeon's words. A sword will pierce your soul. Did those words cast a shadow over her joy? Did they flit across her mind in the dead of night when she was comforting her baby? Did they keep her awake after her toddler son was safely asleep? Did she hear them again as she searched for a 12 year old Jesus, lost in Jerusalem? Did she watch Jesus walk away the day He left her home for good and wonder what those words meant? A sword will pierce your soul.
My guess is that those words reverberated in her heart with every report of Jesus' adult life that came to her. As whispers of a plot to kill Him grew, as the hatred of the Pharisees became more pronounced, as the danger to Jesus became undeniable- Mary felt the shadow of a sword hanging over her soul.
And then one day, the sword fell. Jesus was arrested, condemned, and executed in the most gruesome way. And Mary knew. A sword will pierce your soul. That sword was the torture and murder of her son. With everything else that Jesus was, He was also Mary's child. Her firstborn. Her miracle. His entrance into the world had shaped and changed her life. And now she was losing Him. A sword will pierce your soul.
Mary's story tells us something- being used greatly by God will cost us greatly. God used Mary to bring the Savior of all mankind into the world. She was trusted by God to love Him, raise Him, and ultimately, to let Him go. She has a place of honor in the redemptive plan of God. But that place came at a high cost to herself. A sword pierced her soul, and swords always leave scars.
But Mary's sword, the death of her Son, brought her the greatest joy and blessing- the salvation of the world. Including her own salvation. Bringing joy from grief, redemption from loss, beauty from ashes, is the divine paradox. It is our greatest pain that God uses in the greatest way. It is the swords that pierce our souls that bring us closer to Him, that God uses to shine light into a fallen world.
I'm sure you've experienced losses that have pierced your soul. If you haven't, you soon will. Here's the only encouragement I can offer you for when a sword pierces your soul: Allow it to pierce. Allow it to hurt. That pain will drive you to the feet of the only One who can bring you through it. And when He does, you will be stronger- stronger in your faith, stronger in your ability to love, stronger in your ability to trust. You will be able to say with Job "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You." (Job 42:5)
God does not waste our pain. He intends to use it first to shape us, then to impact others and glorify Himself. That impact may be the ability to say to someone else, "I understand. It gets better." It may be an opportunity to share how God guided us through the darkest night of our souls. It may even result in someone coming to know Christ as Savior.
The sword that pierced Mary's soul brought salvation to the world. God does not waste our pain- He uses it to sow redemption.
