But....did Mary REALLY know?
The following does not follow the usual theme of "WOW! New life in Japan!" that is usually woven through the blog and was the purpose for STARTING the blog in the first place. But...it's my blog! So I'll do what I want! (I'm a middle child, can you tell?)
We are in full Christmas Season swing, amiright? The shopping, the decorations, the baking, the wrapping, the music on the radio, it's everywhere, and I, like many others, LOOOVVVEEE it. But wheeeewwwww buddy, if there is one song that has polarized the entire nation (or so it seems), I'd have to say it's "Mary Did You Know."
For reference, the following is one of a gazillion versions of the song on YouTube:
Now, What I am typically seeing as far as people speaking out on this song, are the folks who HATE THIS SONG with every fiber of their being. So I kind of assumed everyone hated it. But then, ya know, I looked, and this particular YouTube video has been viewed more than 2.7 MILLION times, and has 2 MILLION likes. So....SOMEONE likes it.
I mean, my own household is divided. Andrew doesn't like it. He says it sounds like the writer of the lyrics was "trying to hard". I, however, really like it.
Do I like you less or more depending on how you feel towards the song? NO! Not at all. I just thought, perhaps, I would give a different perspective on the song. I hope you don't feel the need to unfriend me over this, but if you do, I get it. You have to stay true to who you are.
Here are some of the things posted by those who dislike the song:
**It's worth mentioning that while we don't know Mary's exact age, we (and by WE I mean, historians that have published their work for me to read) do know that according to the ancient Jewish customs of that time as well as apocryphal accounts, Mary was likely somewhere between 12 and 14 years old when she was betrothed to Joseph, which she was at that time. This will be useful supplemental information.
Ok, back to Luke. This is the King James version, BTW.
Luke 1:27--To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
Ok, so I guess her name wasn't worth mentioning until AFTER Joseph's because he is the man. Which irks right? But again...ancient Jewish customs and tradition, not the more progressive customs of 2021. Keep reading...
28. And the angel came unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
PAUSE!!!!! Think for half a second. You are at home, washing some dishes or doing some light cleaning (JEWISH TRADITION, PEOPLE!!!) and all the sudden a REAL....LIFE....ANGEL appears to you. Oh, and you are 13 years old. WHAAAATTTTTTTTTT!!!!???????????? Do you think at that point you are thinking clearly and focused perfectly on what this angel is saying? Maybe YOU are, but me? My mind would be racing!
"Oh my gosh, what did I eat? Is this real? Is this a JOKE? WHAT THE HECK!?"
moving on
29. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
(so basically...I was right in my assumption that she was a titch surprised).
The following 4 verses are the ones typically cited at the argument that Mary knew all along that her baby boy would ________________ (insert quote from song here).
30. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
(the angel senses her astonishment, fear, surprise, and is reassuring her, yes?)
31. And behold, thou shalt conceive in they womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
.........
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......................................................................................................................
Say WHAAATTTTTTTTT?!?!?!?!?!
First off, not a lot of DETAILS given here.
Ok, yes, again Jewish tradition, girls married significantly earlier than the current 2021 typical age of marriage. So, at this point, Mary knew where where babies come from, and that...THAT RIGHT THERE, is what she focuses on.
34. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
(biblical term of "knowing" someone is...well...ya know....the official WAY that babies are made. Sex, guys. If you are confused as to what I'm talking about you probably should go ask your parent or guardian as it's not really my place to educate you on this. Also, it's worth mentioning, when I was 13 [Mary's approximate age here], I got giggly and embarrassed at the slightest mention of S-E-X.)
So basically she says, in common language, "Ummmm...what? I've never even had sex, how is that possible!?!?!"
And I imagine, that her mind is continuing to race because premarital sex at the time was a biiiiiiigggggg BIIIGGGGGGGGGG no-no. Especially for females. So again, I'd imagine that she's starting to wonder what people are going to think about her, even though she hasn't even actually ever "known" a man!
35. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Process, process, process, process. I'm thinkin', and maybe I'm totally out of line here, but...I don't actually think I am, I'm thinkin' Mary was not right now focused on the majesty of the child she was going to bare. I'm thinkin' she was inwardly freaking out about how the !@#$%^& this is actually possible, and AM I DREAMING HERE????? I'M ONLY IN THE 7TH GRADE!!!!
But, she is humble, and wonderful, and favoured of the Lord and Lordess (I imagine that our Heavenly Mother was pretty hands on in this whole process seeing as Jesus was her son). So believes, she accepts, and she goes to live with her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant as well with John the Baptist.
So she has several months to wrap her head around what is ACTUALLY happening here. So maybe during THOSE months she fully KNOWS all of what is going to happen? She knows the great and terrible things that will happen to her and her family, most specifically to her child who she is carrying and will soon raise.
I mean, if we keep reading in Luke, Mary tells her cousin, Elizabeth,
46. ...My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour.
48. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55. As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
So...she knows. She has been told, she has been prepared for what the role of her son will be. She knows.
But let me ask you this.
What is something you have been told, you have been taught, something that has been explained to you, perhaps even multiple times, that you now knew. But you then experienced it. And then....THEN you REALLY knew. Like, on a completely different level, you knew.
An example: losing a child in a public setting.
If you have children, you can probably imagine that this would be incredibly scary, not knowing where you child is, where they have wandered of to, and where to look for them.
But then....then one time you ( or...I....perhaps...) are at the zoo on FREE day, and it is PACKED. Like...more packed than you've ever seen anything, anywhere, except maybe that one time when you were at a train station in China during rush hour. I digress.
You are trying to go from exhibit to exhibit with three small children all wanting to go in different directions. Suddenly, you can't see the 5 year old. She is with her cousin, and the cousin is gone as well. Everyone starts looking, sure you will find them within a minute or so.
You can't find them.
Minutes pass, you look everywhere nearby that you think they would be. You can't find them. You start to spread out. Everyone that is with you is either searching for the 2 lost girls, or watching the other children. You all decide to head in specific directions. When you meet back....no one has the girls.
It's now been 30 minutes. Even though you are a fairly calm person in situations like this, you start to feel yourself panicking. You know your child, you know she is pretty carefree, and could literally have gone anywhere, including outside of the park.
You go, for a second time, to the office to see if anyone has seen them, and finally, this time, after nearly 45 minutes....yes....45 frightening minutes, they say that the girls are with a zookeeper near the lions looking for their moms.
You sprint, as fast as you can to the lions and find the girls there, scared but confident with the zookeeper at their sides.
Did you know it would be scary to lose your child? Yes. Of course. But did you KNOW? Naw, not in the least.
Compare this to Mary, when for Passover, she and her family traveled to Jerusalem with a large caravan of others. And on their way back home she discovers Jesus is not with them. She knows who Jesus is. She knows he has a work to do. But in that moment, in that moment all she REALLY knows is that her 12 year old boy was not where she thought he was, and she has NO IDEA where he is at all. THAT'S what she knows. THAT'S what she is feeling.
Another example:
For anyone that has kids (obviously most of my trauma surrounds the existence of my children so forgive me if you do NOT have kids!!), how many times BEFORE you had kids were you told that the sleepless nights with a newborn and infant would just be unimaginable? People love to tell soon to be parents the horrible parts of having babies. Especially this one. So obviously, the logical brain would tell you that yeah, duh, if you are waking up every 2 hours to feed a baby for at least half an hour, then you are going to miss a lot of sleep and you are going to be super tired. But like, in college I'd regularly stay up till 3 am, then get up at 6:30 for a 7am lab, so..I'm well aquainted with tired. I'm good with tired.
And then the baby is born.
Suddenly, the exhaustion, the fatigue, it's like nothing you have ever experienced before in your life. It's inexplicable, it's debilitating, you can't think straight, you can't see straight, you can barely remember to eat, yourself. You wonder if you will ever get to sleep again. The sound of the baby crying, instead of bringing feelings of joy and love, bring anxiety and dare I say anger, because you Just. Want. To. Sleep.
Did you know you were going to be tired? Sure! Mathmatically it's the only thing that makes sense. But did you KNOWWWWWWWW you were going to be tired? No. No you had no idea.
So let me ask you, those of you who hate this song on the premise that, "DUH OF COURSE MARY KNEW! The Bible tells us so!" Is it possible that while she knew because she had been told, she didn't actually....KNOW....because she had not yet experienced all of it?
Just the first line of the song:
"Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?"
I mean, if I'm getting really snotty, we could say perhaps she didn't know this particular event would occur, but even if she did. Don't you think when she got word of it she'd go, "Oh SNAP! He did it. Like, he actually did it!"
The entire life and mission of Christ is both so complex, and so simple. We don't totally understand all that went on, and is still going on in relation to his life, death and resurrection. So, I'm willing to bet that Mary, as pure and wonderful and highly favoured as she was, was still subject to some surprise. Some, "Oh dang, so that's how that was going to go down?"
Now, don't misunderstand me. "Mary, Did You Know?" Is not my favorite Christmas song. I'm not here to defend it to the death. I'm simply trying to add a perspective that perhaps has been overlooked. The possibility that she, in fact, did NOT know how it was all going to happen, and more importantly how it was all going to FEEL is, at least in my opinion, very likely. Not because she wasn't capable, competent or smart, but because she's human.
Solid reasoning Brittany.
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