Sunday, as part of the celebration of Christmas, a couple of young girls sang a song called “Mary, Did You Know?” The words go through various events in the life of Jesus and after each episode Mary is asked if she knew. That was the part of the worship that the Lord decided to bring to mind as I left the service.
I got to thinking about how much Mary had been told. She had an angel appear to her. She had the statements of Elizabeth. Joseph shared what he had been told. She had a baby knowing she was a virgin. Then you have the shepherds, wise men and angels all coming to pay tribute to this baby. Go forward a few years and you have the trip to Jerusalem where Jesus stayed behind to teach the scholars in the temple. With all that going on she seems to be a bit surprised about how it all turned out. In Mark 3 you see how his friends thought He was crazy and his mother and brothers came to collect him. How could Mary not know?
We see the same pattern with the disciples. Jesus taught them for three years. At the end of that time they still did not have a clue.
Humans have an awesome ability to hear what they want and ignore the rest. We see this with our toddler granddaughter. It is amazing how much she understands. It is just as amazing how she can’t seem to comprehend the simplest words if it does not fit her plans for the next two minutes. At the other end of the spectrum we see it in people who smoke cigarettes that come in packages labeled to inform them that the contents will kill them. Then they sue the tobacco companies when they get sick.
God has this same problem with us. I imagine that when judgement day comes there will be a heartbreaking number of people who will say, “I didn’t know.” They may even believe it. God will know different. He will remember all the times they refused to listen. For us believers He will remember all the times we refused to listen also but will also remember how we eventually came around and got back on track.
One of the great things about our major holidays is that they are times to reflect. We celebrate. We feast. We frolic. We also can use red letter days as days to stop and consider where we are going and how we are going to get there. Thanksgiving is past. Advent is in progress. New Years is approaching. God is speaking. Are we listening?
homo unius libri
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