Mary Did You Know?

One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Mary Did You Know?" ...although I first heard it sung from an itinerant minister at our church during non-Christmas season. I didn't realize it was a Christmas song until I started hearing it on radio stations who only play Christmas music for the month of December.

It is Christmas time and I am pregnant, so I began to wonder as I drove home from my Doctor's appointment (which was yesterday, BTW) about the song. I believe that Mary must have known what a special event had occurred (see Luke 1:46-56), because first she was visited by an angel, overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and conceived the Saviour of the World, then her once-barren cousin turns up pregnant and her cousin's husband was able to speak only after writing "his name is John" after being unable to speak for nine months. I mean, call me crazy, but those are some seriously supernatural events for Mary not to understand the gravity of the situation. Still, I like the song.

My thoughts then went to Mary's pregnancy. Did she show right away? Did she have morning sickness? Cravings? Hemorrhoids? Gas? Heartburn? What was it like to carry Jesus? I don't mean that from a "Mary did you know" standpoint, I mean what kind of baby was Jesus in her womb. Did he kick? Did she have trouble sleeping at night? How often did she have to go to the bathroom? And how on earth did she ride a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem right before she gave birth!?!

The Bible mentions in Luke 1:41 that John leaped inside of Elizabeth when she heard Mary. Elizabeth was 6 months along by then. Even if Jesus had leaped, Mary would not have felt him because she was only a week or two along. That is all the Bible tells us about her pregnancy, except that she was "great with child" (Luke 2:5). Okay, so maybe she gained a little weight, but other than that...what was it like?

Part of me suspects it was a great pregnancy, and that she had that pregnant glow, because Jesus was all God. The other part of me thinks well, he was also all man, so it must have been just like yours and mine, with lower back pain and the works. I mean, as a Christian I have God on the inside of me, but I still have heartburn with my baby. But, maybe it is different when the baby IS God.

Not that I'm really that curious, or Catholic for that matter, but I thought it was interesting fodder.