It’s Christmastime and that means we finally get to listen to Christmas music! There are, of course, songs that are more in the genre of pop, that celebrate silver and gold, silver bells, wanting a human for Christmas (I’m looking at you Mariah Carey), or Santa negligently running over a grandmother. But there are also the songs that celebrate the indescribable: the birth of the Messiah, our Savior, the Son of God and God himself into our world. During the Christmas season we get to hark angels singing during a silent and holy night, get to come with all the faithful to the little town of Bethlehem and experience the Joy that has come to the world.
But one song has always been special to me, and it has sometimes been the source of a small debate among Christians. The song is Mary Did You Know? by Buddy Greene. The debate comes from the title and refrain of the song, “Mary, did you know?” Did she know that her baby boy would walk on water, give sight to the blind, raise the dead— that he was God? Now, if you want to know my opinion on the theology of the song, you can find me at church, but I want to ask a different question to Mary this Christmas— and also to us— and that is, “Mary, would you know?”
Imagine that you’re Mary, living in first-century Nazareth. To say that life isn’t perfect under Roman occupation is an understatement and you, like all faithful Jews are eagerly awaiting the Messiah to come. But things aren’t all bad! You’re recently betrothed to Joseph. You’re doing all the right things. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.
And then, the angel Gabriel appears to you one day and says, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).
Her response might sound comical to us at first, “But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be” (v. 29). Didn’t she just hear what the angel said? She said that she’s highly favored and that the God of her ancestors is with her. How could you be troubled by that kind of greeting and wonder what it means?
But don’t you find her response relatable? Mary may be troubled because she’s having a hard time believing the scary angel warrior guy when he says that God highly favors her. And how many times are we told in sermon after sermon, passage after passage, verse after verse, conversation after conversation that God highly favors us and fail to believe it?
How many times have we experienced God’s call into the unknown and have thought that we are not highly favored and that, though God might think that his plan for our lives is a good idea, we’re not so sure.
Would Mary know that she is highly favored? Would we?
But the angel tells her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end” (vv. 30–33).
Her response?
“How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” (v. 34).
God’s got big plans for her, and she has big questions. Is she questioning God? Is she doubting what the angel is saying? It’s easy for us in the church to think that the ideal of obedience is to have perfect faith and trust and to never ask any questions but simply jump anytime that God commands us to do something. But that’s not real life. God asks us to do something, and we’re scared. God asks us to do something, and we’ve got questions. Mary asks her questions and does so in good faith (notice how Gabriel doesn’t get angry at Mary like he did at Zechariah when he questioned and doubted earlier in the same chapter— vv. 18–20). And Gabriel gives her God’s answer: the Holy Spirit will overshadow her, therefore the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God— because nothing will be impossible with God (vv. 35–37).
Mary, would you know that it’s okay to ask your questions? Dear brother or sister, do you know that it’s okay to ask your questions?
Now, it’s up to her. How will she respond? And here’s where the title of this comes into play, “Mary, would you know?”
What would she know if she said no to God?
She would not have known the discomfort of carrying this baby for 9 months. She would not have known the shame from the people around her that knew that the baby wasn’t Joseph’s or suspected it was. She would not have known the pain of giving birth in a barn. She would not have known the heartbreak of watching her dear Son being tortured to death. She would not have known a lot of pain.
And.
She wouldn’t have known the intimacy of carrying, giving birth to, and raising the Messiah, God of her ancestors. She would not have known what it was to feed him, to carry him, to bounce him on her knee, to teach him, to play with him, to giggle with him until you cry, to hold him. She wouldn’t have known the joy of seeing her Son raised in glorious power and defeat death for her.
She would not have known. She wouldn’t have known that nothing is impossible with God.
“Mary, would you know?”
Dear brother or sister, what would you know if you said yes to what God is calling you to? Would you know the depth of God’s love by saying yes to the adventure that he is calling you to?
I don’t know where you’re at today.
Maybe you need to come to believe that you really are highly favored. If that’s you, my prayer is that you would spend time reading and thinking about God sending Jesus to be born as a baby, to live, to suffer, to die, and to rise, for you. Jesus is the certainty of God’s love for you.
Maybe you feel that God is invading your life somehow and you have some questions. My prayer is that you would know that it is okay to ask your questions, that God understands where you’re at and won’t be mad at you for asking. Ask your questions. Don’t give up until you’ve gotten your answers from God.
And maybe you need to say yes to God. Maybe he is inviting you into his family. Maybe he is calling you into the unknown— into adventure— and you know it. Ask yourself, “What will I know if I say no? What will I know if I say yes?” I promise you, you won’t regret saying yes.
Dear friend, as we ask Mary, “Mary, would you know?” Let’s not skip asking ourselves the same question this Christmas.
