¹⁶ So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
¹⁷ When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.
¹⁸ All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.
¹⁹ And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
²¹ When eight days were completed for his circumcision, 7 he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

• Context: this passage completes the birth narrative read on Christmas Eve (2:1-14), where the description of "wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger" was repeated twice in verses 7 and 12.
• v. 16 repeats the "lying in the manger a third time, a sign that Jesus is food to nourish the world. Jesus is said to be "wrapped in a cloth" a third time in Luke 23:53 after his death, so his birth anticipates his death.
• v. 15 "this thing that has happened": can also be translated as "word [that has been] accomplished", signifying a fulfilled prophecy. "These things" in v. 19 can also be "these words" that Mary pondered.
• Mary is the model Christian. From pondering on God's graces/actions/words (2:19, 2:51), Mary would "hear the word of God and do it" (8:21), be "blessed for carrying and feeding God" (11:27), and prays with the Church (Acts 1:14).
• The shepherds represent both the poor and the King David, who had been a shepherd. They listened to the angel, acted promptly, recognized God, glorified God, and evangelized.
• v. 21 To receive a name is an act of submission, as the animals were named by Adam in Genesis 2:18-23.

Those who follow Mary and ponder the simple signs helpless infant of a homeless family visited by poor shepherds, will see the unimaginable Love incarnated.

1. What do I treasure and ponder in my heart, the poor, among whom Jesus dwells, or the world's riches, power and glory?
2. Do I promptly follow God's word? Where does that take me?
3. Do I let God name be my master, give me an identity, claim me as God's own? What name God gives me?

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A synthesis by the Vietnamese Christian Life (Dong Hanh) Community