10.30.2004

Musings: He's My Son, by Mark Schultz

He's My Son - Mark Schultz (Mark Schultz)
I'm down on my knees again tonight
I'm hoping this prayer will turn out right
See there is a boy that needs Your help
I've done all that I can do myself
His mother is tired
I'm sure You can understand
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in to hold his hand
And she tries not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes
Chorus:
Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel all right?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See, he's not just anyone
He's my son
Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep
I dream of the boy he'd like to be
I try to be strong and see him through
But God who he needs right now is You
Let him grow old
Live life without this fear
What would I be
Living without him here
He's so tired and he's scared
Let him know that You're there
Chorus
Can You hear me?
Can You see him?
Please don't leave him
He's my son
(c) Myrrh


The first time I heard this, and actually, most of the times I hear it still, I think of a mother's heart. Not just any mother's, but Mary's. I think perhaps it's written from a father's perspective, but when I hear this, I think of Mary, and the way her mother's heart must have broken as she contemplated the apparent last hours of her son's life. We know that she thought about the future that God had laid out for him; when the shepherds came to greet his birth, telling tales of angels that filled the sky to proclaim his birth, we are told that "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19, NIV). And while I am not catholic and do not hold to many of the opinions of Mary that are attributed to them, I nonetheless am aware that she found herself in posession of a special blessing and a unique burden as the mother of Christ.
We know that Christ agonised in the garden. We don't know where Mary was in those moments, but if she had seen him there, would these words from Mark Schultz have come close to expressing her own despair? We remember at Easter that God gave His only son...and while I would not for a single moment detract from all of the amazing glory of what that means...I do not want to forget either that Mary, with imperfect understanding, needing the salvation He alone could bring, watched her gift from God die. Mothers who have lost their children understand the heartache that Mary might have felt.
I can see her watching her son sleep, maybe after she brought Him home from the temple in Jerusalem, asking these very questions. "Can You hear me? Can You see Him? Let me take His place somehow; He's my son." She would not have understood what she asked for, no more than Peter did when he swore he would go to prison and death with Jesus. But I can hear her mother's heart breaking as she looks at him in his sleep. "Please don't leave Him"...and yet for Him to accomplish what He came for, God the Father would have to leave Him. He had to leave Him when he "who had no sin" was made "to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2Corinthians 5:21,NIV).
As this holiday season approaches, and you do your Christmas shopping, please remember why we call it "Christ"mas. That infant born helpless in a stable and yet announced by a choir of angels and greeted by wise men who travelled far to see him was not born for Santa's sake. That child was born, and His mother's heart broke even as she received her salvation from Him. Christmas would mean nothing without Easter's cross and triumphal ressurrection. I enjoy Christmas...but thank God for Easter and the heartbreak He allowed Mary to experience to save all of our souls, if only we would receive Him.

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