December 28, 2022: Luke 2:33 - Joseph and Mary Marveled
“And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.” - Luke 2:33
As one could imagine, Joseph and Jesus’ mother Mary marveled at what Simeon had just proclaimed about Jesus when they had brought Jesus to the temple to present Him to the Lord. To “marvel” means “to be filled with wonder, admiration, or astonishment, as at something surprising or extraordinary.” (dictionary.com)
It must have been further confirmation to Joseph what an angel had proclaimed to him when his betrothed wife Mary had been found to be with child before they had come together. When Joseph was considering what to do about the matter, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
To Mary, it must have been confirmation of what the angel Gabriel had previously told her before she had conceived by the Holy Spirit, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” The angel Gabriel had also told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
As Simeon spoke to her and Joseph, Mary also may have recalled when she had entered the house of Zacharias to visit her pregnant relative Elizabeth. When Mary greeted her, it happened that when Elizabeth, whose baby would later be the John who would baptize Jesus, heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in Elizabeth’s womb with joy, for he recognized his Savior.
Joseph and Mary may have remembered the prophecy of the coming Messiah as given by the Holy Spirit to Zacharias after the birth of his son John, who would prepare the way of the Lord Jesus:
“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
So here they were, Joseph and Mary, faithful unto God, trusting in Him. Did they know all that would happen to Jesus, the Son of God, to them, the Jewish people, and to all who would believe in Him? No, but they marveled at all that God had done, and they obediently listened to Him, and obeyed His commands. The world they lived in was the same as the one we live in today in one specific way: it was filled with sinners in need of a Savior. Joseph and Mary had witnessed with their own eyes the birth of the Savior, and had seen and heard shepherds who had come from their fields to see Him lying in a manager and praising God for Him, and a devout man come to the temple to see Jesus and praising God for Him.
As believers in Christ as our Savior, let us see and hear Him through hearing and reading His word, praying and being obedient to Him, trusting in Him in all things, even when we don’t understand, and let us marvel at all those things which were spoken of Him and have been fulfilled, and things spoken of Him which are yet to be fulfilled, for He will fulfill every single one of them, and we will marvel at Him. ✝️