How much did they really know?

I wonder how much Mary and Joseph really understood of the journey that lay ahead of their newborn son. When his birth was proclaimed by heavenly messengers to the inhabitants of the earth they must have had some inkling of his importance to the world. Or when 3 men traveled from parts unknown to worship the child that even as a child he roll was clear.

But did they understand the requirements that were laid at his feet from the day he was born? Did they know that they were preparing him for the perfect life he was to lead? Traveling from place to place, proclaiming his Father, healing the sick as he went and preaching repentance to the sinners? Did they know as they raised him the faith he would need to call people forth from their tomb and it be done according to his command?

Did they know that he would be despised by the wealthy and educated throughout his entire life? That he would live a life of selflessness and self control, the likes that this world has never and will never see again? That he would be hated by many, shunned by those that should have embraced him and loved only by the sinners, the poor and the humble?

Did they know as they held the infant baby Jesus in their arms that he would one day bear the weight of the world's sins on those tiny shoulders? That he would suffer at the hand of those he came to save and give everything he had to help them? And that he would one day willingly give he last thing he had left, his life, to save those he came to serve? That they would some day see this infant child lifted up by men to suffer a death meant reserved for the worst people?

I don't know if they knew all of this when they were raising the Son of God for his mortal ministry, but I do. I am grateful of the miracle of his life from the humble beginning down to his final act of selflessness. He has given us a better gift than we will find under any tree. The miracle of his birth, the example of his life and his sacrificial death have freed us from the bonds that we could not overcome ourselves. For this I am truly grateful.

God Bless Us Every One