Mary’s journey was not just to Bethlehem. It was a journey that stretched all the way to the cross and beyond.

When we picture the nativity, we often stop at the manger: the shepherds, the angels, the joy of a child born. But Mary’s story didn’t end there. She was there when her son was crucified. She was among the disciples when news came that Jesus had been seen alive, that He had risen from the dead. She was part of the early church, the living witness who carried these stories and passed them on.

That perspective, the mother who saw it all, was something I wanted to explore in Thorns in the Straw. For Mary, the story was both sweet and bitter. The joy of new life mingled with the pain and shame of what her son would endure. Out of that contrast, pain and glory, sorrow and triumph, came this song.

There’s one line in particular that has always stayed with me. Whenever I sing Thorns in the Straw, and I still do at any time of year, I feel it deeply when I come to these words:

“And when the miracles began, she wondered, who is this man, and where will this all end?”

Every time I sing that line, I feel a shudder, a chill down my spine. Because that question, “Who is this man?” lies at the very heart of the gospel. It’s the question each of us must answer.

If He truly is the Son of God, then what are we going to do about it?

That’s the challenge and the invitation woven through Thorns in the Straw: to look again at the manger and the cross, and to see not just a baby born in Bethlehem, but the Saviour who came to redeem the world.