Did Mary Know?
In a recent message at church, the pastor ended with the lyrics of a Christmas song. I don't remember the exact words, but one line in particular stuck out to me; it was something about Mary holding her Child and her Creator in her arms. And I wondered.
How much did Mary know? She knew her Son was different, chosen. She knew He was destined for something, although she probably didn't grasp exactly what. When she laid Him in the cradle, she saw her Son, but she see her Creator? Did she look down on Him and think 'He made the body that carried Him for nine months. He made the hands that hold Him and give Him hugs.'
Because I've lived through seventeen Christmases, and until I heard the words of that song, I never really absorbed the fact that Jesus was carried by someone He created.
It's one thing to build something, say a robot. It's another thing to allow that creation to take care of you, to fully rely on it. Jesus knew we weren't perfect. And yet He relied on this lowly human race to care for Him, raise Him, and befriend Him. For most of His earthly life, He was an average guy. He learned carpentry from Joseph, played with His friends, and got hugs from His mom when He scraped His knees. And I wonder, as Mary raised her Son, from the baby in the stable, to the toddler in Egypt, to the 12 year-old in the temple, to the gangly adolescent, how much did she know?
-Tori