Pentatonix has long been known for their unique acapella style of singing and their take on the classic “Mary Did You Know” is stunning enough to send chills down one’s spine.
The original is already beautiful enough but when its sung by Pentatonix, the song takes on a whole new level.
While “Mary Did You Know” is a well-known Christmas song, its background isn’t as known. It was actually written three decades ago in 1984 by Mark Lowry.
Lowry told The St. Augustine Record about what was going through his mind as he was writing the song:
“At the cross on Mount Calvary, while Jesus was dying, [Mary’s] silence was a great testimony to the fact of who he was and is. He said to them, ‘When you have seen me, you have seen the Father.’ Of course, for this, they nailed him to a cross, and his mother never said a word.
“As my mind went back to the manger scene, I began to think about the power, authority, and majesty she cradled in her arms. Those little lips were the same lips that had spoken worlds into existence. All of those things were contained in the young child lying quietly on her bosom. Even now, he was the very one who had given life to his mother, Mary.
“I began writing a list of questions I would like to ask Mary if I could sit down with her – questions such as, ‘Mary, do you know who is in your arms?’
“’Did you know the one who holds creation together, and the one who holds you together is lying helpless in the manger?’
“’Did you know that your baby boy will walk on water, give sight to a blind man and calm a storm at sea with his hand?’”
These questions form the bedrock upon which Lowry built his song and it’s a beautiful act of praise for the Savior.
While there have been many remakes of the song, there is something about how Pentatonix puts it together that just fits with both the message and the mood that the song wants to create.
Just listen to it yourself and you will find yourself closing your eyes just drinking in the sounds of five voice beautifully blending together to give us one of the most powerful messages of the year with the coming birth of Jesus.
Christmas is almost upon us and while most people have relegated it to an event that involves gift-giving and coming together with family, the song reminds us what Christmas is really supposed to mean.