My Spirit Rejoices in God My Savior

Luke 1:46–55 – Advent: Come Light Our Hearts
Third Sunday of Advent – December 12, 2021 (am)
  

There are times when you just need to sing! The need usually arises when something remarkable has happened—something grand, overwhelming, captivating.

On Christmas Eve, 1914, during WWI, the calendar took precedence over the conflict; the fighting ceased for the evening. And during that window, the German troops sang Silent Night and the Brits responded with The First Noel.

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, remember our congressmen singing God Bless America on the Capitol steps?

In less treacherous battles, soccer fans worldwide are famous for singing their support throughout their club’s games.

Musicians often write songs at the birth of their children—John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, and many others.

We sing to celebrate. We sing to commemorate. We sing to comprehend. There are times when we just need to sing!

It should come as no surprise, then, that Luke’s narrative of Jesus’ birth is punctuated with songs. These days, for some reason, they’re most often remembered with Latin titles—the opening words in the Latin translation of the Scriptures. There’s the Benedictus, sung by Zechariah (1:68-79), the Gloria (in altissimus) of the angels (2:14), and the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s song (2:29-32). But first and foremost among them is today’s passage, Mary’s song, the Magnificat (1:46-55).

Let’s immerse ourselves in her story one more time. Let’s enter into her worship, which also gives words to ours.

The angel Gabriel (26), one of only two named angels in the Bible, was sent by God to Mary, a young peasant girl no more than fourteen years old, and probably younger. She was from Galilee (26), a region not held in high regard. And worse, she was from Nazareth, the most despised of the Galilean towns. Mary was a nobody from a non-place (Hughes 50).

But God had an assignment for her. The angel Gabriel said to Mary: 31 … behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.  

After he explained the pertinent details of what we call the virgin birth, Mary accepted the job God communicated through Gabriel. 38 And [she] said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word. … She was God’s servant! If He needed her, she was available, for anything! Kent Hughes called this passivity: receiving God’s assignment without straining against it—calm reliance (43) where you stop seeking his approval and just rest in His grace. He described this as a necessary step before the active obedience and worship we see from Mary in her trip and in her song. Hard steps of obedience must always begin in the heart!

There had to be some uncertainty, though, even as she demonstrated her confidence and trust in God by hurrying off to see Elizabeth (39ff.). We see a vivid contrast in Mary’s outlook from v.38 to v.39: she passively received this bewildering assignment from God, then she went with haste to Judah to visit her aging relative. What moved her so? Well, there must have been an element of relief at the thought of not hanging around Nazareth as her pregnancy began to show. But there also had to be some anticipation of the relief, fellowship, guidance, reassurance she would receive from spending time with a godly, older woman who walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord (6).

Is there an older believer in your life—someone who knows the Word and loves the Lord and walks with God in a way you aspire to walk with Him? How much do you treasure that person? Almost certainly a godly young woman like Mary would’ve felt quite similarly about a godly older woman like Elizabeth. And Mary had several days of travel to think about all she wanted to say to Elizabeth, and about how Elizabeth might respond.

As a faithful Jewish girl, although she was probably illiterate, Mary would’ve had large portions of Scripture memorized, so she was likely pondering them as well. She would’ve known the Psalms of David, and the songs of both Deborah and Hannah (Hughes 47-48). And it seems like the latter was on her mind as she traveled because the first words recorded for her after arriving in Judah bore a striking resemblance to 1Sa.2:1-10.

Before she uttered those words, though, and possibly before she was even prepared to, she listened to the prophecy of Elizabeth. She listened to the blessings pronounced upon her and her newly conceived child (42). She listened to Elizabeth’s humble amazement that the mother of [her] Lord should come [visit her] (43). And she listened to a reminder that they are blessed… who believe that what the Lord [speaks concerning them will be a fulfilled]! (45)

The conspicuous silence from Zechariah’s temporary curse stood as a dramatic contrast to all this verbal blessing. But Mary was now full. She was full to overflowing! She had been [humbled] by the angel’s exalted greeting, and now she had been exalted by Elizabeth’s humble blessing! And she was overwhelmed at the deliverance of God! Let’s walk through the three parts of her song.

Mary’s Personal Reflection – 46-49

46 … My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior—beautiful Hebraic parallelism. In the depth of her inner being she swelled up with joyful worship at the salvation of God. That word magnifies is a good one. It means to enlarge, to make great, to make conspicuous (lws). Clearly this is not suggesting that somehow God in Himself is increasing in greatness, but that He is being magnified and enlarged in Mary’s own soul, in her spirit. The [magnificent] work of the Lord in His deliverance of His people, including her and Elizabeth, and their place in the plan and purpose of such a great, saving God, is so overwhelmingly astounding to Mary that the immense and omnipresent God is growing even larger in the imagination of her heart, in the depths of her inner being. She was breathless in worship.

Why, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call [her] blessed. This great God has looked on [her], a nobody from a non-place! And because of that she would now be known and recognized as blessed by everyone, everywhere, for all time—blessed by this God!

Why else, 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for [her], and holy is his name. This mighty God has done great things for [Mary]! It’s not like He’s just chosen to exalt her and make her known for no good reason—like she’s just won some sort of cosmic lottery! But this Holy God had purposed to use her, a humble [bond-slave], to place her in a leading role in His grand plan to rescue all who believe! What great grace! And what glorious [humility] God displays through this lump of clay we call Mary! What might He display through each of us? If He could use her, He could use anyone!

Mary’s Theological Reflection – 50-53

Here we see that it’s not just Mary who benefits from God’s work through her: 50 … his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. God is abundant in mercy; this word is used four more times in the remainder of Luk.1. Lam.3 says: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning…. His mercy is abundant! Every day it’s fully replenished! God is rich in mercy! (Eph.2:4) But His rich mercy is not equally distributed to all. This saving mercy that Mary is celebrating is reserved for those who fear him (50), those who [reverence] him, those who delight in him and worship him as she’s doing here.

In the next three verses (51-53), and actually the next five (51-55), Mary captures some of the manifestations of God’s mercy, and the grammatical construction is interesting. She used past tense verbs that usually refer to particular, past events. But it seems like she’s looking forward more than back—looking to future events so certain they’re as good as done!

Now there’s no doubt that we could find prominent events in Israel’s history where 51 [God] has shown strength with his arm…—say, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt—or where 51 … he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts—I’m recalling the destruction of Sennacherib’s army (2Ki.19:35), 185,000 Assyrians struck down overnight by the angel of the Lord. 52 [God] has brought down the mighty from their thrones— remember the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar? (Dan.4:28-33) 52 … [A]nd [God has] exalted those of humble estate—how about David, Jesse’s youngest son, the shepherd, anointed king by Samuel (1Sa.16:13) to replace Saul?

Each of Mary’s descriptions could point to past events. But I don’t believe that’s what she’s referring to here. I believe she’s looking to the future, to all that would be done through the work of her Son, through the coming of the promised Messiah. All these manifestations of God’s mercy and judgment will be ratcheted up as we move forward in His plan of redemption, all the way to the point where His children are fully and finally delivered and His enemies are fully and finally defeated!

We can see one manifestation of this in the humbling of Herod in Act.12:23, an event still future for Mary. As the people were ascribing deity to Herod, immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

And in the last days all the arrogant world powers will be finally brought down by God just as John describes in Rev.17-18.

Another thing is clearly communicated here in Mary’s song, as well. There’ll be a great reversal of values! A reversal of fortunes in Messiah’s economy! Hannah also spoke of this (1Sa.2:8). It won’t be those who’re perceived as privileged here and now who’ll be the recipients of God’s deliverance. It won’t be the proud or the powerful or the prosperous. It’s the humble who’ll be honored, the lowly who’ll be lifted up, the famished who’ll be fed. And Mary is speaking primarily in moral, spiritual terms here, not economic or sociological. The economically poor can be just as proud and self-sufficient as the rich. Mary is speaking of the pious poor, as one writer put it (Bock 67). She’s speaking of those who recognize their need and are thus less reluctant to turn to God. She’s speaking of the same ones Jesus will address when He says: Mat.5:3 Blessed are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn…. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Mary’s Historical Reflection – 54-55

Mary continues this thought even as we move into the final section of her song. All of this blessing and judgment and raising up and bringing down will be accomplished without reshaping or retooling or compromising any of the promises God has already made to His people.

He will remember… his mercy to Israel (54). He has helped them, and He will help them still. This word help is well-translated, but it also suggests the idea of laying hold of something, of holding fast to it, embracing it, even devoting oneself to it (LWS). No matter what happens, then, God won’t let go of Israel! He’ll keep His Word 55 … to Abraham and his offspring forever. But remember, by faith [we] are also Abraham’s offspring! (Gal.3:29)

Conclusion

What a beautiful and explosively joyful passage this is—these personal and prophetic ponderings of a young teenaged girl on the ways and means and manifestations of God’s mercy and grace in His provision of a Savior! And it’s more than just a history lesson! It gives words to our own praise and rejoicing in God’s provision for our salvation! In fact, one of the keys to the meaning of this text is the realization that Mary’s hymn is a story not only about herself but about all those who fear God and are the object of his mercy and grace (Bock 67). This means that a joyous [magnification] of God should swell up in our inner being as well! Our mighty God has also looked on our humble estate and has granted us salvation such that all generations will also call (us) blessed! Jesus said: Mat.25:34 … Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. John wrote: Rev.20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in this first resurrection! And Paul tells us that we’re blessed, we’re highly favored by God in Christ (Eph.1:6), and this is the only other time this particular word is used in our NT aside from Gabriel’s greeting of Mary (28).

Is this the way you view your own salvation? Is it astounding to you that the great and holy God of all creation would be mindful of you in your low estate? We spend most of our time trying to convince ourselves that we’re of pretty high estate, deserving of others’ respect. But if any human being is ever going to be deserving if high estate, it’s only one to happen through the gospel! That’s why I love Augustine’s words. They help us get to where Mary was in her appreciation of God’s mercy. He wrote: For those who would learn God’s ways, humility is the first thing, humility is the second, and humility is the third (Hughes 51).

That is what we should hear this Advent Season! Humble yourself before God. Ponder the glory of a God Who saves, of an omnipotent Monarch Who yet humbles Himself to achieve the deliverance of His people! This is actually a God who [works] for those who wait for him! (Isa.64:4) Marvel first at that thought! Then marvel again at the [magnificent] thought that He’s included you in His plan, in His great salvation work! He’s redeemed you, gifted you, used you, and then rewarded you! He’s blessed you! Now Mary, His mother, has given you the words to respond!

So, I must ask, do you have a song today?

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Resources Cited

Hughes, R. Kent. 1998. Preaching the Word. Luke, Volume 1. Wheaton: Crossway.

Muck, Terry, ed. 1996. The NIV Application Commentary. Luke, by Darrell Bock. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

LWS – Logos Word Study. Consulted resources include Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, Friberg, Friberg, Miller; The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, Zodhiates; A Concise Dictionary of the Words of the Greek Testament and the Hebrew Bible, Strong; Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains, Swanson; Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, Strong; Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, Newman; A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Arndt, Bauer, Danker, Gingrich; Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, Louw, Nida; A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Eynikel, Lust, Hauspie; The Lexham Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament, Brannan; New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries, Thomas; The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Kittel, Friedrich, Bromily

NEXT WEEK: Because of the Tender Mercy of Our God, Luke 1:68–79