How Much Did Mary Know?

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

The other day, my husband and I asked ourselves the question: Did Mary know what she was getting herself into when she said YES? Did she know how much she would suffer?

Thirty-one years ago, I delivered my youngest child. He came two weeks early, on Christmas Eve. That night, I was by myself in the hospital. In our Cuban culture, Christmas Eve or Nochebuena is a big deal. We roast a pork, we have a huge meal with rice, black beans, and yuca (cassava). It’s a huge family affair. My husband brought our other two kids to the hospital so they could meet their baby brother, and then they left to celebrate Nochebuena at my sister-in-law’s house. The hospital had minimal staff. At one point, my baby boy began to cry, and I had a hard time getting up from the bed since I was still recovering from delivering him just a few hours earlier. I called for the nurse, but she never came, so I finally got up, grabbed the baby from the bassinet, and began to breastfeed him. As I looked at his beautiful, innocent baby face, I began to cry. I remember telling him, “It’s just you and me, baby boy. I will always take care of you and protect you, no matter what.” I had no idea what the future would bring him, but I knew that I would always stand by him.

As I think of that day, especially this year that for various reasons I will be by myself once again on Christmas Eve, I have been thinking a lot about Mary. Christmas for her was anything but peaceful. She had to leave her hometown, her family, her friends, and walk 150 kilometers from Nazareth to Bethlehem. If you put this in Google Maps, it will take a whole day plus ten hours to walk that distance. I went to the Holy Land in 2018, and we traveled by bus from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It took a few hours using paved roads and going through many towns. When Mary took that walk, the roads were not paved, she did not have maps nor GPS to guide her, her mode of transportation was a donkey, it must have been very cold since it was winter, and she was eight months pregnant. Bethlehem must have been filled with people, all trying to find lodging. Mary and Joseph were turned away from every door they knocked. “There is no room,” was the answer they received each time. She ended up delivering her baby boy in a manger surrounded by barn animals. It must have been smelly and filled with bugs. I am sure that when the Angel Gabriel appeared, she did not know this is how she would deliver her Baby Boy. But I am sure that she looked down on his sweet baby face, and at that moment the smells and the animals in the barn did not matter. Even if she knew how much suffering was in her future, at that moment she would have promised to protect Him and stand by Him no matter what.

This year has been tough for many people. I hope that this Christmas, whether you are surrounded by loved ones or by yourself, whether you are sick or healthy, whether you have an empty place at your table or your table is full, you think of Mary and realize that Christmas for her was also not what she expected. But in spite of her circumstances, she thanked God for the gift of her Baby Boy, and she spent her whole life giving thanks for her blessings, even in the midst of her pain.

Mary, did you know? Definitely, she knew that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah, but I don’t think she knew the magnitude of how much she would have to suffer. Yet, she surrendered it all to God out of trust and obedience. And that’s what I will do in 2026. This year has been a tough one for our family, mostly for health reasons. Even though we are all apart this Christmas, I have a lot to be thankful for. I do not know what next year will bring, but I will surrender it all to God, and I will wait peacefully for the Baby Boy to be born once again in the manger of my heart.

Copyright © 2025 Christy Romero. All rights reserved. If you thought of someone while reading this, bless them by sharing it with them.