Years ago I stopped on my way home to fill up the car. It was December, the kiosk at the station sold cassettes (remember those?), and I bought a tape called Citgo Country Christmas. We listened to that album until it came apart. Possibly the best impulse buy I’ve ever made. It was through this promo from a filling station that I first heard the haunting modern Christmas hymn Mary Did You Know?

The song references the life of Jesus displayed to his mother. Mary indeed heard of Jesus healing the blind and calming the storm, and followed her son all the way to the cross. But in those first days, nursing her infant boy, Mary can only wonder where this miraculous birth would lead.

A couple of lines stand out to me. First, Jesus is indeed Lord of all Creation: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Then, when you’ve kissed your little baby, then you’ve kissed the face of God, derives from Jesus himself who tells us, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. God lay cooing in Mary’s arms.

Few writings or sermons paint such an alluring picture of this unbelievable moment. Omnipotent God in the arms of a human mother. How much does God love our world? So much so he trusted the life of his Son to a mortal. Mary grew to understand all the song reveals. She kissed the face of God as an infant, through teen-aged years, holding Jesus crucified in her arms, and joyfully after his resurrection.

Mary knows, and now you and I know as well.

Colossians 1:15-16: Revelation 22:13

Photo by Phil Hearing