There are some songs with words and music so personally significant, I still remember the first time I heard them.  Mary, Did You Know? is one of those songs.  I first heard it sung by a small vocal ensemble at the water’s edge of a town harbor during an outdoor Christmas celebration ten years ago.

As you listen, the lyrics and music throughout call you to meet and to know the Lord Jesus.  The song’s bridge contains the words that caught me and give music for my heart.  My eyes can still fill with tears for “the deaf will hear, the dead will live again.” Several months ago I mentioned my severe hearing problem.  Those who are handicapped or those who have a chronic illness know the hope of someday never again having to bear up under that weight.

The last enemy that Jesus will abolish is death.  My brother died in 1995.  If someone you love has died in the Lord Jesus, you know the precious, precious value of this promise of once again being with him or with her.

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH
THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM
RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,
AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,
TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:16-21

The video below features Mark Lowry singing Mary, Did You Know? Lowry wrote the lyrics, and the music is by Buddy Greene.

“At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

“Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
Luke 7:21-23

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In the NAS, these phrases in Luke 4 are capitalized because they reference prophecies from Isaiah16:1-2. In the Luke 7 passage, the following phrases were capitalized for the same reason, but I have put them into lower case above for easier reading:  BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT (Isaiah 35:5) and POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM (Isaiah 61:1).