I've run across a bit of criticism of the song "Mary, Did You Know?" this Christmas, mainly asserting that Mary did know everything the song asks, so the questions in it are silly. This caused me to seriously ask, "Did Mary know?" In doing so, I discovered the answers aren't as black and white as we'd like them to be.
First off, we must start with the context of the song. Our human tendency is to forgo context and interpret things we read or hear without it, but this approach often leads to erroneous assumptions. Context is essential to determining the meaning of something. If we take a look at the lyrics of "Mary, Did You Know?" we observe the song never answers its questions. So on the surface, we don't know if the song means to answer "yes" or "no," even though many seem to assume the song's answer is "no."
In considering the context of the song, we must also consider its author, who wrote the song and is the source of its meaning. I found, in fact, that Mark Lowry didn't pen the questions assuming an answer of "no" to all the questions. Here's what he's said:
"In a conversation with my mother, I remember she said, ‘If anyone on earth knew for sure that Jesus was virgin born - Mary knew!’ That was a profound statement that stuck with me. One thing they couldn’t take from Mary was that she knew her Child was not ordinary. At the cross on Mount Calvary, while Jesus was dying, her silence was a great testimony to the fact of who he was and is. He said to them, ‘When you have seen me, you have seen the Father.’ Of course, for this they nailed him to a cross, and his mother never said a word."
For Lowry, he wasn't inspired by what Mary didn't know, but what she did know. She did perceive some of the profound implications about the baby she had born. He goes on to say that he started to think of questions he would have liked to sit down and ask Mary, to talk to her about what she understood.
So did Mary know? It turns out the answers to the song's questions aren't across the board "yes" or "no." Let's take a look at them.
"Did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water? Did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man? Did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand? The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again. The lame will leap, the dumb will speak." As far as we know, Mary wasn't given specifics about each miracle Jesus would perform, but did she know that he would perform miracles? It's likely she knew he would work miracles, but as the questions in the song are specific, it's unlikely she knew the exact miracles he would perform. The answer could be "No, she didn't know the exact nature of all his miracles" or "Yes, she probably had some idea he'd perform miracles."
"Did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?" Yes, she knew this from Simeon when Jesus was presented at the temple if not before. Though we don't know she understood the how.
"Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb?" Maybe. Once again, we are never told biblically if she understood the exact nature of the how.
"Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? You've kissed the face of God. Did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? The sleeping child you're holding is the great I Am." If Mary understood all the implications of what Gabriel told her, then yes, she understood these things. Did she comprehend in every way the enormity of who Jesus was? Perhaps. We aren't told how deeply she understood.
"Did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?" This one is quite interesting to me because in Mary's day many thought the Messiah would be a conqueror to defeat their oppressors. Did Mary know that Jesus wouldn't rule the nations right then, but in the future he would return to rule? Once again, we aren't told exactly what she thought.
I really like this song because I, like Lowry, would love to sit down with Mary and ask these questions, to hear her say, "I understood this and this. I had a feeling he'd do this and I was sure he'd do this. This never crossed my mind and I was so surprised when he did this." And even deeper, "Here's how I felt about everything my son and savior did."
In conclusion, this song does not deserve the criticism that has been leveled at it. It isn't as straight forward as it seems and it isn't telling us Mary knew nothing about Jesus. It asks us to consider Mary and ponder what she knew and how much she knew. And above all, it reminds us that we do know. We look at the babe in the manger at Christmas and we remember the God man, the miracle worker, the Savior, the one who will return to rule. That is the profound meaning in the song that can strike the heart of all of us.
