Mary didn’t know

Twice in recent weeks I’ve heard two tenors sing the Mark Lowry song “Mary, Did You Know?”

Hearing the song back-to-back two Sundays in a row got me to thinking. Did she know?

I’ve read a couple of commentaries by writers who dismiss the song as trivial because, they say, of course she knew.

I find their arguments thoroughly unpersuasive.

Mary did not know. How could she have known?

How could she have begun to grasp the magnitude of the commitment she was making when she said “yes” to the angel Gabriel?

The story is told in Luke 1:26-38.

Gabriel tells her she will bear a son and name him Jesus, which means “God saves.”

He promises: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

There’s a lot there to ponder. Essentially the angel is telling her that her son is God’s Messiah, or long-promised king.

He also says that her son will bear the title “Son of God.” But be careful reading Trinitarian theology into that statement. Before the birth of Jesus, it was a high honorific title that was applied to royalty without implying that the king was divine.

I think Mary might have known that she would be called Christotokos (Mother of the Messiah, or Christ). But I don’t see how she could have anticipated being called Theokotos (Mother of God), as she was from at least the Council at Ephesus in 431 CE.

Let’s look at the song more closely.

Did you know, Mary, that your son would one day walk on water? Or that that he would give sight to a blind man or calm a storm with a gesture of his hand? How could she have even imagined those things?

Did you know that he would save all humankind? Well, his name suggests that, doesn’t it? But what kind of salvation could she have envisioned? In her song of praise known as the Magnificat (Luke 1:47-55), she declares that God delivers on ancient promises. That’s suggestive, but only suggestive, of what the apostles would proclaim soon after Jesus’ death.

Did you know that he had walked where angels trod? Presumably this means that he walked in heaven, where God abides with the angels. This line has a certain rhetorical force, but I’m not sure how to interpret it. Does it mean he walked with God before his birth?

Did she know that kissing her baby would be kissing the face of God? It’s a brilliant rhetorical line, but it may be pushing too far ahead theologically. How could she know that her son is Lord of all creation? That’s a proclamation the world won’t hear until the opening of the gospel of John. And it’s a far greater thing than merely ruling the nations.

Did she know that her baby is heaven's perfect Lamb who would die for the sins of the world? Most unlikely. That’s a conclusion it took Jesus’ disciples far too long to grasp.

Finally, did she know that the sleeping child she’s holding is “the great I AM.” Did she know her son would be not only king of Israel but also is, literally, Son of God?

She was not only Chistotokos, mother of God’s Messiah. She was also Theotokos, mother of God. Not that she was mother of the Eternal One. But that she bore God in human form in her womb. She gave birth to God incarnate.

I don’t know how she could have known what it took the deepest thinkers of the Christian church centuries to figure out. We have to beware of reading their thoughts back into a story written ages before.

All we can know for sure is that God asked Mary to step out in great faith to do something she could not begin to understand. And she took that step of faith. Praise God that she did!

It’s not what she didn’t know that matters. It’s what she did know. She knew that God is faithful. That was enough for her. Praise God that it was!