So [the shepherds came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.      Luke 2:16-19

The concept of fidelity has been center stage in my thoughts and conversations of late. Fidelity, the quality of being faithful, it seems is not a popular term — unless, of course, you happen to be a member of the United States Marine Corps, then semper fi comes to mind. Or perhaps fidelity is a concept most notable in its absence, when some scandal breaks to offend our moral sensibilities. I cannot help but come to the conclusion that culturally, socially, philosophically, psychologically, practically we may have lost our sense of and ability to act in a life of fidelity. And that means it’s a subject we need to address theologically.

Against this dour sense of fidelity, comes our God, the One who is the definitive covenant maker and promise keeper. The God who keeps faith with “the people of his promise.” Even in the face of this people’s continual in-fidelity, when the covenant is broken by a people whose heart has grown hard, God repeatedly says “I promised to be your God. No matter what, I will be faithful to you. I will make you mine, and you will know me as your God and Lord.” Until finally, in these last days, God’s Word of promise becomes incarnate in God’s own Son, Jesus the Messiah, born of Mary.

And Mary — Mother of Our Lord, Theotokos, the Blessed Virgin, Queen of Heaven, and many other titles — is the finest teacher we could have about what it means to live a life of fidelity.

Mary appears in the genealogy of the infancy narrative in Matthew as the culmination of a lineage of faithful mothers: Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. There is the sense that any of them could have been the mother of the messiah. Yet it is this holy family, Joseph, Mary and Jesus, which is archetype of a wider community, namely “all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” But it is Mary to whom “the angel Gabriel from heaven came down” speaking words of God’s own faithfulness and promise:

Hail, Mary…favored one of God…do not be afraid…the Lord is with you…the Holy Spirit shall overshadow you…and you shall conceive and bear a son…

And Mary complied with all the angel told her; she acquiesced to the demands made on her; she yielded to the angel’s commands — yeah, right…

Here again Mary teaches us a faithful response to God’s own fidelity:

Beyond the fear at the angel’s approach, Mary wants to know: “why me?” She questions whether her life is sufficient to the task; whether her life is one capable of acting in the way in which God is calling. And more, she asks what God has in mind to accomplish all this: “…how can this be…?” Yet in the end, far from mere compliance or acquiescence, Mary takes God’s will in her life as her own: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Mary’s fidelity was a statement of willing acceptance of God’s promise and will for her. She willing accepted God’s promise and plan for her life, including all the inconveniences and risks attached to it. These inconveniences included the possibility that Joseph would divorce her, that her reputation would be destroyed, that she may even be sentenced under the Law, that even if Joseph believed her, their marriage plans and dreams might never come to be. And that her life was now and forever transformed. There is great risk in agreeing to go God’s way, but as the Lord’s servant, she willingly goes.

“One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds. How then can we praise her? The true honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God’s grace . . . Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake of Christ . . . Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God.” (Luther, The Magnificat)

No wonder she has much to ponder as the shepherds depart. She leaves us with much to ponder about her life and choices, and how we too are called to respond in faithfulness to God’s Word of promise for us, so that we may go out faithfully to all the world.

Ponder: to weigh in the mind; appraise; to think about; reflect on; to consider something deeply and thoroughly.