What Mary Didn’t Know…About Mary
by Joe Leavell
Most everyone these days has heard the song, “Mary, Did You Know?” Written by Mark Lowry and originally recorded by Michael English in 1991, the song quickly became a Christmas staple on Christian radio and secular stations alike. Hundreds of artists have recorded covers of this song including renditions from Dolly Parton to R&B rapper, CeeLo.
What captivated the imaginations of so many with this song is the reflective way it directly asks Mary what she may have known about Jesus’ future as she cradled him in her arms on that first Christmas. Did she truly grasp who this little baby was and what he would do in coming to die for the sins of the world?
Since its release, many have given pushback, indicating that, yes, Mary indeed would have known who Jesus was because the angel Gabriel told her. She also would have known the Scriptural prophecies concerning Jesus as well. However, there are many specifics in the song that Mary could not have known, of course. She would have no way of knowing that Jesus would one day walk on water or that he would ‘calm a storm with his hand.’
The song has a narrowly detailed focus in view of what Mary would have known about Jesus, and what would happen to him. Yet, while she had a rough outline of who her son would become, and what would happen to him, the truth is, little was told by the angel about what would happen to, well, Mary.
So, what did Mary know about Mary?
Mary’s Experience
Think about what it must have been like for this young Jewish girl, living in Nazareth in the 1st century. Living in a poor community under occupied Roman rule, Mary would have had little expectation of a glorious life. Her existence was to be a wife to a local carpenter, bear him children, and live out her days in relative poverty, continuing to await God’s promise of the Messiah and his coming kingdom.
When the angel Gabriel appeared to her, he found a young woman who readily received the promise of the Savior. She never once asked about her own future. She accepted his words that the Lord was with her, that she had found favor with God, and that she would bear the Messiah. Even though she was a virgin, she accepted that the one who came from her would fulfill God’s promises to Israel for the King who would sit forever on the throne of David. What an honor to be the mother of the Christ himself!
But what would happen to her, beyond knowing that she had been greatly honored to be entrusted with this task? Beyond understanding that this humble servant in a tiny village in northern Israel would be called “blessed” by all generations for being the mother of the Messiah, Mary was virtually clueless about how her own life would turn out. She simply accepted the angel’s word in faith and prepared herself for what was to come.
Faith in the Middle of the Unknown
Mary didn’t know what would happen with Joseph. She was a young woman, betrothed to be married to this carpenter. She was left with no assurance that she would be spared the shame of being judged an adulteress by her betrothed. What would Joseph do? He would surely break off the engagement and break her heart. But Mary didn’t know if he would go farther. What if he exposed her to scandal, becoming a societal outcast when he told the community that he was not the father of this child? Would he have her publicly stoned?
What of her parents when they found out? Scripture never says what happened there one way or another. Was Mary expelled from her home and exposed to shame and ridicule? Did she hide the pregnancy as long as possible? Scripture says that Gabriel told her of her cousin Elizabeth’s miraculous conception of John the Baptist, so Mary went there for three months. Why? Because she knew that one miracle would believe another. But would her parents reject her or believe her when she told them what the angel had told her? Mary didn’t know, and we do not know either.
She didn’t know about the coming census that would require her to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem to give birth there. And what about the actual delivery of Jesus? She obviously could not have anticipated giving birth in a stable, but did she know if it would hurt or not? She likely assumed it would, and had no reason not to think otherwise. She had no promises that she would be spared the pain of childbirth simply because she was bearing the Christ child.
Mary didn’t know that she would have to flee with Joseph to Egypt within two years because King Herod was determined to kill off what he perceived was a rival to his throne.
Mary would not have anticipated that she and Joseph’s other children wouldn’t believe in Jesus until after His resurrection. She wouldn’t have known the heartache of family strife that she would have to endure since her children did not believe in him. Did she know the heartache she would feel from raising children who would have likely believed she had gotten pregnant with some other man than their father, Joseph?
Most of all, Mary didn’t know the unimaginably excruciating pain of the heart that she would feel to witness her first-born son be nailed to the cross to suffer for the sins of the world nor the unbelievable joy of the resurrection.
God’s Care for Mary
While there were so many unknowns, Mary’s faith was truly remarkable. Not knowing what would happen to her did not stop her from willfully giving herself over to God’s use. Rather, she magnified the Lord for the blessing of lifting his lowly handmaiden to a place of honor. For her, in her worst-case scenario, she would be stoned for adultery. Yet somehow this baby would be born, so the better outcome would be to give birth to Jesus as a societal outcast, all alone, forsaken by her family, by her fiance’ Joseph, fighting to bring this child up as a single mom. And she was willing to face it anyway.
God was gracious to spare her that pain.
He gave her Joseph.
Mary couldn’t have known that God was also sending Gabriel to her betrothed in order to assure him that the child was of the Holy Spirit and that he was to marry and care for his young wife. She couldn’t have anticipated how honorable of a man he was, joining her in her mission to care for a son that was not his.
God gave her the experience of marveling shepherds and the gifts of wise men for the young King. From the turning of the water to wine at Cana, the firsthand miracles that Mary saw and experienced in her life as the mother of Jesus would have been incredible!
Mary didn’t know that even from the cross, the Son of God Himself would take time to ensure her future protection by telling the Apostle John to care for his mother. The one she herself had cared for and protected throughout her virgin pregnancy and all through his earthly life, in turn, ensured that she was taken care of in the very moments of his death. In Acts 1, the Bible included Mary with the number of the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and according to tradition, John would care for Mary until her death some years later.
Pain Mixed with Care
Mary's story is one of great significance and the miraculous in the middle of the narrative of an otherwise inconsequential and ordinary life. The truth is, Mary was just a normal, lower-class, 1st-century Jewish girl that we would never have known existed otherwise. The mother of Jesus could have been anybody, but God chose her! While no direct promises were given to her of what would become of her life beyond bearing the Messiah, God extraordinarily blessed her by being the first to experience “Emmanuel” (God with us) from the nearness of her own womb.
While she experienced the worst sorts of burden and pain, she also experienced the Son of God’s personalized care in a way that no one else in history will ever fully realize. Her life was marked by both the joy of God’s faithful presence, as well as the weight and grief of being the mother of the Man of Sorrows.
A Story Not Unlike Our Own
As we reflect on the Christmas story this year, take some time to ponder on Mary’s faith in the middle of the unknown. While the details of her story are unique, it also entails many similar details to every believer. We each have responded by faith to Christ, not fully knowing how things would go for us, but simply believing in who He is and what He will do.
Like Mary, none of us are guaranteed freedom from the pains of this life just because we believe in the truth of who Jesus is. We don’t know how long we will live, or what our experiences in this life will be. Sometimes our lives become even more difficult because we responded in faith to Christ. Some of us have had family members disown us because we believed in Jesus. In others, God has led us through seasons of physical pain from which following him has given us no immunity. Subsequently, there are real evil people in this world who do us real harm. This life as a Christian in a sin-cursed world can be very difficult!
Yet, God has not left us alone. The Messiah truly did come! Like Jesus personally cared for his mother, the Lord cares for each of us personally throughout our years of life. We get a front-row seat to watch what he is doing in our own lives and the lives of others! This Christmas, may Mary’s story of faith and obedience in bearing the Messiah through her own unknowns give us comfort that he will guide and care for us through all of our future unknowns.
If we can be of help walking alongside you in the love of Jesus through your difficult unknown seasons of life, our team would be honored to be of help.
Now, who's going to turn this question into a new Christmas song?
For Further Reading:
Christmas in No Man's Land — Biblical Counseling of Arizona (biblicalcounselingaz.org)
