It wasn’t until I was expecting my first child, our son, that this song really touched me in a special way. We were singing it in our choir’s cantata, and I began to think about my own little boy who was yet to be born. With all the joy and happiness surrounding his coming birth and all the hopes and dreams I had for him, I couldn’t imagine having to give him up for anyone. I also couldn’t imagine my son bearing the weight of the whole world on his shoulders: The Savior of the world.
When we read what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in Luke, he actually speaks wonderful things about her son’s future: “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:31-33
Wow, what an amazing future for her son! Furthermore, when the shepherds came to worship Jesus, they told everyone what the angel had proclaimed to them out in the field, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ, the Lord.” Luke 2:10, 11 But Mary didn’t have much to say considering the matter. For verse 19 says, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” I don’t blame Mary! I would have been speechless too. How could this be? She was just a simple girl. Now she had given birth to the Savior of the world!
Mary did not know in the beginning what amazing things her son would do: Walk on water, heal the blind, deaf and lame, calm a storm with just 3 words, raise the dead. Did she consider that her son would save her family, her descendants and even herself? That he had walked where angels trod, that he would rule the nations, or that he would be heaven’s perfect lamb sacrificed for the entire world? All the power of the Great I Am wrapped up in a little baby. It was far too much to comprehend.
Mary was a Hebrew girl who had found favor with God. She must have honored and loved God to have found such favor that she would be the mother of the Son of God. Mary had most likely heard about the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Now God had told her through his angels that this miracle that had been prophesied throughout history was becoming reality, and it was physically starting with her.
Being a mother, I want the best for my children. I want them to be successful and happy. When I sing this song about Mary being the mother of the single most important person in history, my heart gets weak and my throat closes up. To imagine Mary cuddling her sweet baby who would be the Savior of the world, THE one true and living King of Heaven and earth, it’s difficult for the words of the song to come out. So, since becoming a mother, I cannot get through this song without tears in my eyes.
Listen and imagine the enormity of the words. The power of the Great I Am!