THE SONG OF MARY
An Orderly Account: Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Luke 1:39-56
THE TEXT:
The text for the sermon today is Luke 1:26-38. Our text can be found on page 856. These are the words of God:
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
RAISE THE NEED, SIGNPOSTS, STATE THE DESTINATION
As we continue through Luke’s gospel account, we come to what the church has traditionally called “The Magnificat.” That title comes from the Latin translation of the first line, “My soul magnifies the Lord…” It’s the song of Mary. Now, if you grew up in the Catholic or Anglican church you more than likely heard musical arrangements of these verse growing up.
Now I want to say that this is one thing the Anglicans get right. They sing the Magnificat. It’s a song. Mary didn’t write sheet music for it, but it’s written in the style of the ancient Psalms of Israel. It’s a song. It’s meant to be sung.
And it’s significant considering what has just taken place. The angel Gabriel was sent to make two birth announcements. John the Baptist will be a great prophet born to Zechariah & Eizabeth, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God will be born to Mary… and the Magnificat is Mary’s response to that terrifying announcement: she sings. This is the first Christmas carol.
So let’s look together at:
- The Song She Sings
- The Reason She Sings
- The One She Sings About
- THE SONG SHE SINGS
Now, I’ve been party to 4 birth announcements. Four children in our home, and with each one when we found out we were expecting there were a variety of responses.
With our oldest, we had just a year earlier lost a pregnancy, so while there was joy, there was also some fear. To be honest, a lot of time has passed since we found out about the second one and I cannot remember our reaction. When we found out we were pregnant with our third, there was a bit of a shock. And finally, with the 4th, and hopefully last child, I just remember us looking at one another and saying, “We’re insane.”
But Mary sings. She worships. She composes a song. It’s a remarkable response, compounded by the fact that Mary was a very young woman. In first-century Judaism you could be betrothed as early as 12. About a year later you would be married as early as 13. She’s likely a junior aged young woman.
Gabriel comes to her and says, “You’re favored of God and have been chosen to conceive and bring his Son into the world.” She says, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” She submits. It’s courageous, far beyond what we would have done.
But, in that moment, this young teenage woman knows that her life has just changed forever. She’s an unwed mother. And no one is likely to believe her story. She’ll be socially ruined. Joseph is sure to annul the betrothal, which means she’ll live with the stigma of divorce under dubious circumstances.
At the same time God has given her a supreme honor and her life just become far more difficult, burdensome, and anxious. She’s going to be the God-bearer, and she’ll be mocked incessantly by neighbors and talebearers.
And friends, sometimes life is like that. It is often the case that the moments a greatest blessing come with great confusion. Life is never uncomplicated. Joy and sorrow flow together, pain and delight are almost always mingled together.
And Gabriel doesn’t explain any more to her. He just gives her a suggestion: “Your relative Elizabeth has also been touched by God. Though she’s old and barren, she’s with child as well.”
This young woman travels nearly 75 miles to visit her elderly, and pregnant cousin Elizabeth in Jerusalem. And as soon as she greets Elizabeth, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. She received a powerful gift of supernatural knowledge and says, “Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Now listen, if you’re a young betrothed Jewish girl in the first century, and you show up to your older cousin’s house pregnant out of wedlock, what kind of reception do you expect? You go in and say, “Let’s get this out of the way… tell me how I’ve messed up…”
But instead of a reprimand, Mary receives welcome and joy and confirmation of the Lord’s plan and purposes. And she sings. At the confirmation of Elizabeth, Mary knows that God truly is working despite all the difficulty that’s coming her way. She knows the Lord is working for the salvation of his people even through the brokenness of a sinful world.
And, as she sings, she sacrifices her own pride. She isn’t living for the approval of family or neighbors, or social respectability. Her heart is resting in what God has done.
In The Return of the King, as the great battle with Sauron is starting, one of the young Hobbits looks at the Wizard Gandalf, and Tolkien writes:
“in the wizard’s face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth.”
I believe something similar could be said of Mary. She wasn’t sinless. She wasn’t immune to the confusion and frustration of her circumstances. But as you look more intently at her, underneath there was great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set the world laughing were it to gush forth.
And for that reason, even though the road ahead will not be easy, she sings. Very practically, before we look at what she sings, let me just say, this is why we sing so much. This is why nearly half of our worship is given to singing.
Because nothing drives truth into your heart and emotions like a hammer driving a nail than songs. Many Christians, at the end of their lives, I’ve sat with them. They forget where they are. They forget their family member’s names. And yet they can still sing the hymns of their youth. So, sing.
- THE REASON SHE SINGS
Now, this is going to seem very unconventional, but the best way for me to explain Mary’s song is to get you to think about another famous theological song. That’s right, we’re going to think about Don McLean’s 1971 hit, American Pie.
If you’ve never heard it, the song is 8:42 seconds long and it’s essentially a history of Rock N Roll. McLean references Bob Dylan, the Rolling stones, The Byrds, and Janis Joplin. He tells the story of popular music’s transition from the benign sock-hops of the early 50’s to the sad use of hard drugs and psychedelics of the late 60’s. And he ties all of that music history together with a single phrase: “the day the music died.”
And, if you’re familiar with the song, you know what he’s saying. When McLean was a 13 year old boy in Rochester, NY, he delivered papers, and on February 3, 1959, he had to deliver papers that said Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper, three stars were killed in a plane crash. And for McLean, that was the day the music died. So the song American Pie tries to explain all that had happened in music history in relation to “the day the music died.” The reason McLean wrote American Pie was to say that Rock N Roll changed after that plane crashed.
Well, something similar is happening with the Magnificat, for Mary composes this song with dozens of references to the history of Israel. In these 10 verses, Mary references around 43 passages from the Old Testament, mostly from the Psalms, Isaiah and Deuteronomy.
We obviously do not have time to read all 43 references. Do that later. Grab a good study Bible, and just follow wherever the cross references take you. But for now let me summarize the reason Mary has written these words. The message of the entire song is:
God has remembered me, and because he’s remembered Mary, he’s remembered us as well. Let’s take just a moment to unpack that:
- 46 – I magnify the Lord. I rejoice in God. But why?
- 47 – “He has looked on my humble estate.”
- 49 – “He who is mighty has done great things.”
- 50 – “His mercy is on those who fear him.”
- 51-52 – “He scatters the proud and exalts the poor.”
- 53-54 – “He fills the hungry and sends the rich away empty.”
- 56 – And he has done all of this because he remembers his covenant promises to Abraham.
The entire song is about God remembering the poor and the weak. And this is Mary. When she says, “he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” She’s talking about her own poverty and obscurity. Mary did not come from a wealthy family. She did not live in a cosmopolitan city. We’ll see in a few weeks that when she and Joseph go to present the baby Jesus at the temple, the sacrifice they bring is two pigeons. It was the offering God allowed for the poorest of the poor.
But not only is Mary acknowledging her material poverty in the song. She’s also acknowledging her spiritual poverty. In v. 46 she says, “My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.”
Now, on the one hand, us protestants are guilty of diminishing the importance of Mary. Mary is right when she says, “from not on all generations will call me blessed.” Mary is a faithful servant of the Lord.
And yet, even Mary recognizes that she needs a savior. She was not sinless. The child that she would soon deliver into the world was sent to deliver her out of her sin. This is the reason she sings. God has remembered her, a poor sinner from a backwoods town in Israel.
You have to wrestle with this: the gospel is not “God helps those who help themselves.” The gospel is God does for those who cannot do for themselves. None of us can by our own actions earn God’s approval. We are spiritually impoverished; spiritually indebted, spiritually bankrupt.
And for that reason, the poor almost always have a better understanding of the gospel message than the rich. Why? Because they know what it is to be helpless. They know what it means to receive mercy.
And the rich are often resistant to the gospel message. Why? Because they are used to paying their own way.
And the gospel says that no one can pay their own way into God’s love. If you think you can pay your own way, God will scatter you, he will bring you down, he will send you away empty.
Listen, the gospel message is like a wind at sea. If you know you are spiritually poor and have nothing to offer God, the wind of the gospel will blow you into a safe harbor.
- If you say, “I’m a sinner,” you’ll be welcomed.
- If you say, “I’m the lowest of the low.” You’ll be exalted.
- If you say, “I’m spiritually starved.” You’ll be filled.
The way down is the way up. Humiliation leads to exaltation with God.
But if you believe God owes you, if you think you can pay your own way, the gospel wind will blow you onto the rocks and sink you to the depths.
- If you’re proud and say, “Look at my righteousness,” all your sin will be exposed by blinding light.
- If you say, “I’m powerful.” He’ll bring you down.
- If you say, “Look, God, I know how to provide for myself, just tell me what to do,” he will send you away empty.
Mary says, “I’ve done nothing to earn this. I wasn’t wealthy. I wasn’t famous. I’m not strong. I need a savior… and he who is mighty has done great things for me.”
But what is the great mercy that God has shown her and us? What is the great thing that God has done?
- THE ONE SHE SINGS ABOUT
One of my favorite Christmas memes is about the song, “Mary, did you know?” The meme format shows Robin, the Boy Wonder, asking “Mary did you know?” And as he is asking it, midsentence, Batman smacks Robin across the face and says, “She did know: Luke 1:51”
What does Luke 1:51 say?
“He has shown strength with his arm;”
When Mary sang those words she was meditating on Isaiah 52:10 which says
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
And then just 3 verses later, Isaiah says this:
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations.
It’s a prophecy of the suffering of Christ. How does God show the strength of his arm? How do we see the salvation of God? In the person of the Son, God takes unto himself human weakness. The Son of God is born of woman.
The gospel message of Christmas is that for our salvation, God the Son willed that he should be born of a poor woman and laid in a feeding trough.
As Luther said, “To me there is no greater consolation given to humankind than this, that Christ became a human, a child, a baby… divinity may terrify man. Inexpressible majesty will crush him…. But who is there whom this sight would not comfort? Now is overcome the power of sin, death, hell, conscience, and guilt, if you come to this gurgling Babe and believe that he is come, not to judge you, but to save.”
How does God bring down the mighty? He who was exalted and mighty, without losing his majesty and might assumes humility and weakness. How does God feed the hungry? The boundless God, without losing his infinity bounty, takes unto himself hunger.
Isaiah says, that at the cross, when Jesus Christ was beaten to a pulp… when you could no longer even recognize him as a human man… that was the moment God was showing his salvation to the world: by pouring out divine justice on our sin so that in turn Jesus Christ could sprinkle and cleanse us.
Augustine put it this way in a Christmas Sermon nearly 1,600 years ago:
Man’s maker was made man that He,
Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread might hunger,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired on its journey;
that Truth might be accused of false witnesses,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might grow weak;
that the Healer might be wounded;
that Life might die.
The Mary who wondered at the announcement of Gabriel, also stood in wonder at the foot of the cross as the child she delivered became her deliverer. Joy and sorrow flowed together. Pain and delight were mingled. Justice and mercy kissed.
As you stand at the foot of the cross, and see the eternal Son of God die for your sins, what can you offer him except your poverty? What can you give him, except your spiritual hunger.
What can you say except:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call us blessed;
For he who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is his name.