My soul glorifies the Lord
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.

I have always enjoyed listening to the song, ‘Mary did you know?’  I enjoy it musically - just saying, there are some amazing versions out there.  I enjoy that it dwells on aspects of Jesus’ earthly ministry - directing my thoughts to what he did and who he is. And bonus, it’s even easy to sing along to! If you are not familiar with the song, it questions if Mary knew what her baby boy would grow up to achieve.  

Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day walk on water? 

Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy
Has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby
You kiss the face of God

As I said, this song is a favourite in my Christmas playlist, but every time I hear it, I also find myself a little bit torn - DID Mary know? What did she think?

Thankfully, we have Luke’s gospel and what we find in its pages is, while Mary might not have known the specifics of her baby boy’s life, she knew he wasn’t ordinary. His conception might have been a clue! - and (cough) also the angel dropping in. Look at what Mary learned from the angel, Gabriel. Her baby boy would be named Jesus (verse 31) - from Matthew’s gospel we know that ‘Jesus’ means Saviour. Gabriel also says, he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High (verse 32). And as if that wasn’t enough, he will inherit the throne of his father, David - Israel’s greatest king! He will reign over Jacob’s (also called Israel) descendants forever, his kingdom will NEVER end (verses 32-33). After hearing these announcements, Mary visits her cousin, Elizabeth, who prophesies that Mary is blessed among women and blessed is the child she will bear (verse 42).   

Mary’s response reads like a psalm or hymn.  You can almost feel the wonder that pours out of Mary’s heart, as she sings this song of praise.  She glorifies God and rejoices that he has blessed someone as humble and undeserving as her.  Then, she goes on to praise God for his greatness - he is a God who raises the humble and lowers the proud, a God who keeps his promises and is merciful towards his people forever.  

This Christmas, we can still sing ‘Mary did you know’ - if you haven’t picked that up yet, it’s a beautiful song! But as we do, we can be thankful that, more than Mary, we know who that baby she was carrying would grow up to be and what he would do - for us. We can joyfully respond, as Mary did, with wondrous praise that God has blessed us, raised us up. We, who are humble, lowly and undeserving have been raised up by Mary’s boy, the Son of the Most High, King of a kingdom that never ends. 

CAITLIN ORR

Caitlin is married to Lachlan and they go to church at Naremburn/Cammeray Anglican. Everyday life is pretty chaotic trying keeping ahead of her little climber.

Caitlin’s favourite carol, other than ‘Mary did you know?’, is ‘Joy to the World’.