I Dropped Baby Jesus

Friday, Dec 11 - What Do I Know?
I continue to think about Mary...and I keep wondering about what the Lord God opened her eyes
to understand. I went back to read Isaiah 53. It's all in black and white. Yet, the teachers of the
law seemed to miss it. God the Father had allowed their eyes to be blind to the idea of His Son
being the Suffering Servant, in order that His plan of salvation be fulfilled. So, I'm guessing Mary
didn't know on the day her son was born what was in store for the Messiah, this wee babe. Isn't
that a good thing, though? What mom wants to see her newborn son shadowed by a cross over
his cradle? (That's one of the great gifts of God...He often shelters us from the KNOW until
we NEED TO KNOW!) So, it was a gift of grace these words weren't ringing in Mary's
ears that night in the manger:
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows,
best friends with grief.
He was one from whom men hid their faces;
He was despised and un-esteemed.
He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrow;
Yet He was stricken,
and afflicted,
Pierced for our transgressions;
Crushed for our iniquities
Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace!
His wounds healed ours.
He was oppressed,
like a lamb led to the slaughter....
(Isaiah 53:3-7, paraphrased)
I'm so VERY thankful this was God's plan. There in the
midst of anguish is the gospel. God's Good News for mankind. He was pierced, crushed,
chastised, wounded...that I might be made whole, healed, set free, and given
peace....through His so-great-a-salvation!
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He
came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who would receive Him,
who would believe in his name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born,
not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. So the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:10-14)
Mary may not have known that night in the Bethlehem stable, but Mary was a ponderer. Mary
had a teachable spirit. As her child grew, and she began to see things, and hear more things, I
have to believe the Lord opened her eyes slowly to His PLAN for ALL MANKIND. The pieces of
the puzzle began to come together. Grief and hope mingled...with peace. I have to believe that
as Jesus grew, Mary DID KNOW that her Son would soon Deliver her; and, in the midst of life,
Mary surrendered her son to death.
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