Mary Did You Know? Why Yes, I Did

Long before I heard the word “mansplaining,” I had a vague dislike of the song “Mary Did You Know.”

I can’t be the first to point out to the song’s (male) composer what the angel said to Mary in Luke chapter one:

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed^[a] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”^[b] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² 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 father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”^[c]

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born^[d] will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant^[e] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I can hear the conversation between Mary and songwriter Mark Lowry now.

“Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?”

“Yes, that’s almost exactly what an angel told me. So, yes.”

“Mary did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?”

“Well since he’s the ‘son of the Most High’ it doesn’t take much imagination to guess that. Also, angels have trodden the earth, so, you  know, haven’t we all.”

“Well, did you know that he’s come to make you new?”

“Listen, have you ever had a baby? Have you ever known a woman who had a baby? It changes your life even if you have a run-of-the-mill baby. Women don’t tell men this because we don’t want you to be envious and because you probably wouldn’t believe it anyway. So, yes, I knew. Yes.”

“Well did you know—”

“An. Angel. Talked. To. Me.”

“Okay, okay, forget about the song. Hey Mary?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know you were blessed.”

“Yes. Also, I knew you were going to say that.”

“You did?”

“Yes. Read Luke 1:48.”

 

Manhater

Today chef Mario Batali stepped away from his job after allegations arose about his sexual misconduct. One of the tweets about him simply said “I hate this world.”

The tweeter was a man.

I replied, “You don’t have to hate my half.”

Yeah, yeah, women are guilty of sexual misconduct, too, but one gender is grossly abusing its power and hitting the news in hordes lately, and it’s not women. So I suggest that this tweeter does not hate the whole world. I suggest that he’s realizing he hates MEN.

Men, if you are starting to “hate this world,” and have ever accused a woman who complains about her lot in this misogynistic life of being a manhater, I want you to take a good hard look in the mirror. You might be looking at a (gasp) manhater. You don’t hate all men (and neither do women “manhaters,” that’s my point) but you hate that you’re starting to wonder which man will be next. I bet you didn’t expect Dustin Hoffman. I bet you’re starting to wonder about even your most beloved actors.

Welcome to our world. Women have pretty much NEVER been surprised when a man hits the news for molesting an intern. We half expected it. We know that a promotion that didn’t come our way may very well have not come our way because we were a woman, and we had no way to prove it, and suggesting it made us a manhater.

Look in the mirror again. What you see is a face that understands reality a little bit better today. If understanding reality makes you what you always thought was a manhater, congratulations, and welcome.