Walking in Mary's Shoes

Carefully consider the words to Mary Did You Know, and take a moment to put yourself in Mary’s shoes. If you’re a woman, and an angel had told you that you were going to have a son, but you were still a virgin, how much faith and courage do you think it would take to tell your fiancé? If you’re a man, and your betrothed came to you with this, would you believe her? Just the simple act of telling Joseph put her very life at risk because she could have been stoned to death according to the Law. Mary stepped forward on faith that God had given her a special child for a special purpose. Could she have possibly comprehended just what that purpose was? Could she have ever got her head around the concept that her child was fully man, yet fully God? That He was, indeed, God in the flesh? Sure, she saw him growing up, teaching in the temple at a young age, amazing the temple leadership with his knowledge and understanding of the Scripture He Himself spoke into being. She saw the miracles He performed. She saw Him turn water into wine, restore sight to the blind, heal the lame, cure lepers, raise the dead back to life; but did she know her Son would have to give His own life? Did she understand that He was God’s perfect sacrificial Lamb? Many Jews believed the Messiah would be a military ruler that would defeat the Romans and liberate them from their human bondage. Little did they understand that Messiah was coming to deliver them from the spiritual bondage of sin. Can you imagine what must have been going through Mary’s mind as she saw her Son beaten, tortured, humiliated, and finally executed on a cross? Was she waiting for a miracle, like an army of angels or something, to stop this from happening? How could God let this happen to her promised Son? Imagine her anguish as she saw her Son, beaten to a bloody pulp, laid to rest in a borrowed tomb. For three days she grieved, until she saw her Son resurrected from the grave. Was it not until then that she understood that the Son she delivered came to deliver her? Was it then, after enduring unimaginable grief, that she finally knew it was all part of God’s plan? Truly, Mary was blessed among women. Moses got but a glimpse of God, but Mary was entrusted to give birth to His earthly form, raise Him as her child, hold Him, nurse Him, and love on Him. Any mother will kiss her baby, but did she know just how privileged she was to literally kiss the face of God? Unlike any other, God found favor with her, indeed.