The season of Advent immediately precedes Christmas and represents a time of preparation and anticipation when Christians await the incarnation, or the coming of Jesus into the world. In some traditions, people mark the days before Christmas with an advent calendar like the one depicted in Christmas Vacation where one opens doors each day to reveal something to help them reflect on the coming Christmas holiday. Sometimes, it is a picture of a Christmas-themed symbol. In others, it is a tiny gift, like chocolate or a small toy, though modern advent calendars provide such extravagances as wine, beer, coffee, or tea. These blog posts serve as an advent calendar of questionable Christmas songs.
Advent wreaths started as another home devotional where a series of four candles are progressively lit on each of the four Sundays prior to Christmas to symbolize the coming of light. Some churches also display advent wreaths and the hymns and readings during the Advent season express this period of waiting and preparation. Isaiah’s prophecies are recalled as is the story of John the Baptist(izer) while songs like O Come, O Come Emmanuel are sung. Readings for Advent 4, or the Sunday immediately preceding Christmas, typically revolve around Mary the mother of Jesus either telling the story of the Angel Gabriel’s announcement that Mary shall conceive Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, a pregnant Mary visits her very-pregnant cousin Elizabeth, or Joseph’s dream of the Angel Gabriel bidding him not to abandon Mary.
Today is Advent 4. Obviously, we plan to discuss that much contested Christmas song…
Mary, Did You Know?
Written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene, Mary, Did You Know? was first recorded by Michael English in 1991 and reached number six on the Adult Contemporary chart for CCM Magazine, an online publication specializing in contemporary christian music. It has been heralded a modern Christmas classic and has inspired a musical of the same name and covers by many popular artists. Jordan Smith, winner of The Voice, recorded the most successful version of the song thus far; his 2015 recording peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number 2 on the Billboard Holiday 100 chart on the week ending January 2, 2016.
Ok, kids. Pack up the donkey and grab some myrrh. We gotta lotta ground to cover.
Let’s start with the obvious. This song poses a series of rhetorical questions to a pregnant Mary (though the baffling lack of consistent verb tense brings the time period into question) about Jesus, his miracles, and his status as savior of the world. Interesting concept.
What is beyond bizarre is that anyone with even some passing knowledge of the Gospels knows the answer to the questions is a resounding “YES!”
Repeat after me…
Mary knew!
Ironically, Mary, Did You Know?, which has been touted as the most biblically-illiterate song of all time, was written by members of the Gaither Vocal Band, a southern gospel group whose music is often played in contemporary worship settings. These are people who claim to know the Bible intimately…
Mary, Did You Know? has also been awarded the parenthetical title The Mansplaining Carol mainly because it’s true. For those not paying attention, Merriam-Webster refers to mansplaining as “what occurs when a man talks condescendingly to someone (especially a woman) about something he has incomplete knowledge of, with the mistaken assumption that he knows more about it than the person he’s talking to does.”
Is Mary, Do You Know? an example of mansplaining? Well, let’s see. The lyrics written by, you guessed it, a man. First performed by a man. The musical was conceived and produced by two men. The most successful recording of it was sung by (I think you can see where we are going here) A MAN!
Now let’s see what the scriptures have to say about what Mary knew…
Let’s open our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1 (yes, right at the beginning), and let’s start with verse 26. If you are using the New Revised Standard Version like I am, you can easily find the passage under the heading The Birth of Jesus Foretold.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
Let’s take a look at what Gabriel said to Mary about the child she was about to bear:
- He will be great
- And will be called the Son of the Most High
- And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David
- He will reign over the house of Jacob forever
- And of his kingdom there will be no end
- The child to be born will be holy
- He will be called Son of God
Gabriel spilled a lot of tea about Jesus here. From our Biblical History, let’s remember that the Jews were living in Roman-occupied territory. Gabriel’s message portends the birth of the Messiah, as Son of God is basically code for the Christ. Spiritually, this translates to the incarnation of a being simultaneously fully human and fully divine. Politically, it meant the person who would deliver Israel from her oppressors (“the throne of his ancestor David”) by throwing off the yoke of Rome. Mary would have been aware of both meanings, and would have seen the consequences meted out on would-be messiahs crucified by Rome.
Such news would have been terrifying to a normal person. Let’s see what Mary did. From where we left off…
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:39-45)
Imagine Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, a very pregnant aged relative who was thought to be barren. Theologians credit Elizabeth and her unborn son, John the Baptist(izer), as among the first to recognize Jesus’s divinity. And how does Mary respond? With perhaps the most subversive text in the Bible and the longest passage attributed to a woman in the New Testament: The Magnifcat – the Song of Mary.
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. (Luke 1: 39-56)
Mary begins the Magnificat by glorifying God and thanking God for choosing her to be mother to the Messiah. Her tone then changes. This young, unmarried teenage girl from a small poor village speaks of God overthrowing the rich and powerful oppressors and the human rulers of her time. Mary’s status in society as a poor woman with little to no personal agency make her the symbol of the downtrodden.
And yet, realizing the sheer potential of the child growing inside her, Mary shares with Elizabeth her joy in carrying the Son of God and her revolutionary hopes for an upheaval of the current system. In her beautiful canticle, Mary reveals why she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. Seeing her first-hand bravely and joyfully espousing seditious talk shatters all the Christmas Carol images of a maiden meek and mild.
Certainly, Mary was fierce.
The Magnificat should be the leading carol of the Advent and Christmas seasons. It foretells not only the coming birth of Jesus but also his ultimate victory over the powers of this world. It far outshines the meatless pablum of Mary, Did You Know? Plus, it stands as proof of how Mary inwardly digested Gabriel’s message into her own words, her own “fight song.”
In other words, Mary knew.
Yet these 21st Century contemporary christian singers felt the need to write this lukewarm floater of a song where they explain to Mary what she already knew and expressed in a far better manner two millennia earlier.
Sounds like mansplaining…
If anyone asked me, I would love to stage a version of Mary, Did You Know? with a small ensemble singing the awful song on one end of the stage, while on the other end, a surly teenage girl dressed as Mary glares like Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation. Maybe she’s texting. After every question, she leans in with her mouth nearly on the microphone and says, “Yes.”
Best. Rendition. Ever.
But no one asked me. Yet.
Let’s go through the lyrics of this piece of tripe. I can’t even with the sanguine melody… Bonus points if your eyes don’t roll.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary. did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?
I will contend that it is quite possible Mary did not know the specifics of each of the miracles Jesus performed. On the other hand, Mary is the one who prompts Jesus into performing his first recorded miracle in the Gospels: changing water into wine at Cana, even though he chides her “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:1-10). Mary’s awareness of Jesus’s miraculous abilities is evident.
Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?
Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?
The Pentatonix version includes this overlapping section where everyone sings “Mary, did you know?” at different times. Ugh. And it repeats at the end.
The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The dead will live again.
The lame will leap. The dumb will speak the praises of the lamb.
By this point in the song, I usually choose to mangle the lyrics a bit, singing “The blind will hear. The lame shall see. The deaf shall walk again.” Meanwhile, my husband goes full-on “Mangia!” regarding “the praises of the lamb” and usually makes a joke about mint jelly. It’s a lousy bridge. We need something to get ourselves through.
Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?
That sleeping child you’re holding is the great I Am?
Singer, did you ever read the first chapter of Luke?
Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?
Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?
ARGH!
I didn’t think it was possible for this song to get any more condescending until I heard a country version on the CMA Christmas Special.
Mary knew.
Birds on Sticks 