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<div id="AOLMsgPart_2_4c0d2186-e417-4cfe-89b4-b19bc1946a2e" style="margin: 0px;font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;font-size: 12px;color: #000;background-color: #fff;"><pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">THE RESPONSE OF MARY</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"> </span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">Not only are the shepherds models of obedience and transformed people by the birth of Christ, but so is Mary in v. 19. She treasures or holds dear or stores in her mind (συντηρέω - </span><em style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">syntēreō</em><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">) these words of the angel as shared by the shepherds. She ponders (συμβάλλω - </span><em style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">symballō</em><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">) them in her heart. These verbs imply that both her mind and her heart are connected with all that has happened and all that she has heard.</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"> </span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">These words don’t indicate that she necessarily understands everything that has happened. In fact, a literal meaning of συμβάλλω (</span><em style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">symballō</em><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">) is “to throw together”. I would paraphrase it to indicate that she is trying to put all these things together—to make sense of it all.</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"> </span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">CONCLUSION: THE ESSENCE OF THE GOOD NEWS</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"> </span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">It may be that God uses the most unworthy shepherds to prove his point. There are no good reasons why God should have invited shepherds to the birth of Jesus. They are the last group of Jews you would want around at the birth; but precisely because they were not expected, precisely because they shouldn’t be there, precisely because of their bad reputations; God makes his point.</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"> </span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">The shepherds come to Jesus because God extended them an invitation they couldn’t refuse. The shepherds come, not because they were worthy, but because God invited them.</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"> </span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">That is the way the Gospel works. We are not worthy to come to Jesus. We might not be as bad as the shepherds. We have much better reputations than shepherds did. We certainly smell better than the shepherds did; but still, it is only by God’s invitation that we have come to Jesus. It is only through the power of God that we are able to believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We deserve nothing that God has given us; but God has been good to us – amazingly good to us. God not only invited shepherds to see and believe in Jesus; God has also invited each of us to see and believe in Jesus as the savior of the world and our own savior. Then sends us back home changed people.</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"> </span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">Brian Stoffregen</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">Faith Lutheran Church, 2215 S 8th Avenue, Yuma, AZ 85364</span><br style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(96, 96, 96); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">e-mail: </span><a target="_blank" href="mailto:brian.stoffregen@gmail.com" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; white-space: normal;">brian.stoffregen@gmail.com</a>
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