I was driving in the car listening to Christmas music on the radio, and the song "Mary Did You Know" came on. A standard Christmas staple, I've heard the song for many years but today, for some reason, the words not only reached my ears but into my heart...the heart of a mother. The lyric that says, "And when you kiss your little baby, you've kissed the face of God" made me instantly think of my precious baby boy. I love kissing his face, chubby cheeks and all.
I wonder if Mary knew then, everything that was going to happen in her baby boy's life. She knew that he was going to be great and would do great things, how many other babies are welcomed by a choir of angels? But did she truly realize what Jesus would face in the end of his time on earth?
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38)
This young mother would go from watching her beloved first-born child enter the world with great joy and peace, to watching her beloved first-born leave this world in agony and distress. As she watched his death, I imagine that her thoughts went back to the day he was born...holding her son in her arms, smelling his new baby smell, listening to him breathe. And now, all of her hope and love and life was up on a cross to die.
But it never did.
Jesus came back to life. Even in the midst of what she believed to be her greatest pain and suffering, that hope and love and life was now stronger than ever! Not only that, but it was also extended to the entire world. God had a bigger purpose for Jesus' life and death.
In the midst of your suffering, you can have hope and love and life...through Jesus Christ!! God sent His only Son to die so that our sins would be forgiven, so we would never be alone, and to know the meaning of unconditional love.
Mary didn't understand, but in her greatest loss, she received her greatest gift.
In whatever you are dealing with today, know that God has a purpose.
