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Mary Did You Know?

It wasn’t until I became a Momma that I truly appreciated the sacrifices my own Mother made or the depth of her love for me. Nor till I walked the floor long past midnight with a colicky baby or when I later held another young one while she cried over her first broken heart, did I understand that when a child is in pain, the Mother’s agony also runs deep.

Mark Lowry’s phenomenal hit song, Mary Did You Know, is based on questions he plans to ask Jesus’ mother when he gets to heaven. The songwriter questioned whether or not Mary knew if her Son would walk on water, calm the storm, heal the sick, raise the dead and, most poignant of all, “when you kissed your little Baby, you kissed the face of God”.

My questions come from a mother’s heart. Luke 1 says that Mary was “greatly troubled” when the angel appeared out of nowhere and told her she would bear a king. Despite her likely initial shock, this brave teenager agreed to risk her reputation, her engagement to Joseph and her future. Because she believed God’s promise and the angel who proclaimed, “You who are highly favored, the Lord is with you”.

Scripture is limited regarding Mary, but one might speculate if, at such a tender age, she completely grasped the enormity of what she had been asked to do. She had been told that: “(Jesus) will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Did she understand what that meant? Or did she just trust that God was always near?

Exhausted and heavy with child, she might have trudged down into that stinky stable with its hard floor covered only with straw. Did she wonder how this humble place could be fit for the birth of a king?  But soon after – when she and Joseph were running for their lives to keep a cruel monarch from murdering their child – did she wonder if this was just the beginning of a battle over Jesus’ kingdom?

Luke 2:41-52 tells how Mary and Joseph accidentally left twelve-year-old Jesus behind in Jerusalem during their annual Passover trip from Nazareth. When they rushed back for him, they found him in a temple sitting among the teachers and learning from them.

When Jesus asked his parents, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” did the family dynamics change? Did they look at Jesus through new eyes as the young man He was quickly becoming? Did Mary again mull over the angel’s words that her Son would one day become ruler?

Did she watch her son grow and learn and become strong in body, mind and soul? Did she wonder how mastering the intricacies of a saw, a mallet and a chisel would aid him in reigning the nations?

When Jesus performed His first miracle, Mary told the servants at the wedding to, “Do whatever He tells you”. Was she starting to realize – or already knew – that this child she taught to properly hold his first eating utensil was the Messiah.

And as He ministered to people, did you marvel at His heaven-sent power to heal and restore? Or did you quietly get excited to witness His next life-changing miracle?

Did your joy turn to mourning as you viewed in horror as the same citizens who, days before, had worshiped Christ, were now part of the mob who cried, “Crucify Him!” Did you bargain with God to spare His son? Or did you stand, steadfast, in your faith?

And when Jesus spoke to you from the cross (John 19:26-27), how did you feel when He entrusted you into the care of John, the disciple whom He loved “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother”?  Knowing even as He was dying, He still looked out for you, His beloved mother?

And that the cruel crown fixed on His head was never the one you imagined.

You held Him when He was seconds old. Thirty-three years later, as you stood at the foot of the cross, you could no more have abandoned Him then, than you did when His empty little belly cried out for you. It is a mother’s desire to shield her babies, but how did you endure watching Him die by the most savage of means? How did you stand the torment?

Mary did you know your Son would take on the weight of the sins of people you would never know? That the salvation message of your baby Boy would prevail far beyond His time on earth? Even after He left this world two thousand years ago, His power and might continue to expand His kingdom.  Do you at last understand that your Son had only been lent to you for a short time until He could present Himself as a sacrifice to the world He came to save?

As the vessel who delivered Him and witnessed His first and last breaths, Mary, would you still believe the promise, “The Lord is with you” and again respond, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled”?

I think she would.

 

By: Elaine Hall