A gentleman wrote an article in a newspaper recently complaining about the lyrics of the vastly popular Christmas song, “Mary Did You Know,” whose lyrics were written by Mark Lowry. The Lyrics are below as they appear in the song:
Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you
Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy will calm the storm with His hand?
Did you know
That your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?
Oh Mary did you know… Ooh Ooh Ooh
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
The dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of The Lamb
Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your Baby Boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?
The sleeping Child you’re holding is the great “I am”
Although I only heard about the article from those who had read it, his premise was that of course Mary knew. She knew all of these things. But did she really?
When an angel suddenly appeared to her, she was at first frightened, but he calmed her and “Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 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,” (Luke 1: 30-33).
Consider what she was told. 1. She would have a Son whose name she was to call Jesus.
2. He would be great and God would give Him the throne of his ancestor, David.
3. He would reign over the house of Jacob forever and there would be no end to His kingdom.
Mary was only a teenager, and while she was betrothed to a carpenter, a craftsman whose place in society would have been higher than that of many, it must have been difficult for her to understand what the angel had told her. Yes, she was to have a baby. But to imagine that even the son of a carpenter could become great and sit upon the throne of David must have been so hard to comprehend that she assumed the last phrase meant that his progeny would succeed Him as kings from then on. How could she possibly comprehend that the Son of God, a part of the triune God-head was being given to her in the form of a baby to raise to adulthood?
But do the scriptures further suggest her lack of understanding? I think they do. When the angels sent the shepherds to worship the baby Jesus following his birth, we are told “ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart,” (Luke 2:19). She thought about what had happened and wondered what it all meant. A few days later, she and Joseph took the baby to the Temple in Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord according to the Law of Moses. There they encountered a devout and godly man named Simeon who had been promised that he would see the Messiah before he died. As soon as he set eyes on Jesus, he said
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss[d] your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him, (Luke 2:29-33).
Had Mary and Joseph really understood that they held God in their arms, that one day He would heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, walk on water, and save the souls of all those who believe in Him, they would not have been the least surprised by the words of Simeon. But they did not understand. And for good reason. Jesus needed to be raised like the human child He was, for only a human being, a perfect human being could bear the sins of all mankind on the cross. Yet at the same time, He was divine, for only God can be perfect and without sin.
So,
“Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
That your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your Baby Boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?
The sleeping Child you’re holding is the great ‘I am?’”
No, Mary did not know. Even as she watched him die on the cross, weeping as only a mother can at the death of her Son, she did not know He would rise again on the third day. She was not divine. Only her Son was. She loved Him, she marveled at His miracles, yes.
But she never knew that the sleeping Child she was holding [was] the great “I am!”