Luke 1:46-55 | Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
Let’s open the Bible now to Luke 1:46-55.
We’re looking at Mary’s song, known as the Magnificat. Magnificat is a word we don’t use very often. It’s a Latin word that means “magnifies,” which is the first word of this passage in the Latin translation of the Bible. It’s a fitting title. In this song, Mary magnifies the Lord.
The song comes after the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would bear a son by the Holy Spirit. In response to that unbelievable message, she asked, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Gabriel said the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and she would be the mother of the Son of God.
Gabriel then added additional confirmation that nothing is impossible with God when he told Mary that Elizabeth, her much older relative, was also pregnant. So, Luke says, Mary went in haste to Elizabeth. When Mary arrived, she didn’t even have to tell Elizabeth what happened. She already knew, and she cried out. “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist, and Mary was pregnant with Jesus Christ. They were joined by a common situation, which itself is a wonderful gift of grace to each. Elizabeth’s words confirmed what Mary had heard from the angel. She wasn’t crazy. Elizabeth didn’t downplay what was happening in Mary’s life. She magnified it, which might be one reason why Mary then magnified the Lord through song.
Mary’s song is the first Christmas carol, and as we will see, it’s the best one too. Let’s read it now.
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.”
This is God’s word.
INTRODUCTION
Buddy the Elf said, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” Mary knew that, too. Now, this song wasn’t a performance. Mary didn’t write it for a crowd. She wrote it as a response to God for God. It’s very personal and real to her, but God has used it to spread Christmas cheer for 2,000 years.
Her song is in the form of a Psalm of Thanksgiving. She begins by thanking God and then tells why she is thankful. It’s highly theological and worshipful. It’s amazing that a woman so young as Mary could have composed it, and some commentators think it must have been a later addition written by someone else. It would be quite amazing if an American girl wrote a song like this today, but our day of biblical illiteracy was not the norm in Mary’s day. Every young Israelite would know the great songs of the Old Testament by heart. They would know the great story of God’s redemptive work by heart. They knew the Bible very well. Mary knew it so well that commentators have pointed out the song either quotes from or alludes to verses from Genesis, Deuteronomy, 1 and 2 Samuel, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Mary knew her Bible.
But what else did Mary know? There’s a song we sing this time of year that asks that question. People have strong feelings about that song because people have strong feelings about everything. But feelings aside, I do think the question is a good one for our text today. What did Mary know?
Her song tells us she knew at least three things.
1. The Wonder of Christmas
2. The Purpose of Christmas
3. The Faithfulness of Christmas
THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS
A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Mary’s song shows us what came into her mind when she thought about God.
Look at the opening in verses 46 and 47. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” By “soul” and “spirit,” we aren’t to take that as two separate parts. It’s parallelism. She’s saying the same thing twice. She’s talking about the deepest core of her being. Her innermost self. Her heart. She’s been touched by, moved by, and captivated by God deep inside. Her soul magnifies, and her spirit rejoices. Her heart worships God.
In verses 48-49, Mary tells us why she sings. “For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
Here’s where this song starts to get really convicting and really remarkable. Mary knew who she was. She wasn’t a big deal. Later, when Mary sings about those of humble estate in verse 52, she means those like her at the bottom of the social order. She was a nobody from nowhere. She knew she wasn’t perfect. That’s why she calls God her savior in verse 47. She wasn’t deserving of God’s attention. But God looked down upon her with mercy and grace. She had a deep sense of wonder over this. She wonders, “Why would God do great things for me? Why would he care about me? Why will all generations call me blessed?”
Mary’s response to the news of Christmas was, “Why me?” Isn’t that amazing? Now, if something bad happens to me, I ask, “Why me?” You probably do, too. But when this wonderful thing happened to Mary, that’s when she asked, “Why me?” She made no assumptions about her relationship with God. She did not assume she was deserving. She did not think to herself, “Well, of course, I would be the mother of God.” No. She didn’t think that at all. She is a great example of the kind of humble amazement that should mark every Christian.
Mary shows us what true Christianity looks like. True Christianity is a humble faith. It’s not something done by you; it’s something done for you. I like how Tim Keller puts it.
What is Christianity? If you think Christianity is mainly going to church, believing a certain creed, and living a certain kind of life, then there will be no note of wonder and surprise about the fact that you are a believer. If someone asks you, ‘Are you a Christian?’ You will say, ‘Of course I am! It’s hard work but I’m doing it. Why do you ask?’ Christianity is, in this view, something done by you—and so there’s no astonishment about being a Christian. However, if Christianity is something done for you, and to you, and in you, then there is a constant note of surprise and wonder…
So if someone asks you if you are a Christian, you should not say, ‘Of Course!’ There should be no ‘of-course-ness’ about it. It would be more appropriate to say, ‘Yes, I am, and that’s a miracle. Me! A Christian! Who would have ever thought it? Yet he did it, and I’m his.’
Christianity is a religion of utter shock. It’s all grace. So here’s what this means in light of Mary’s song. If you are in Christ, Mary’s song is your song, too. Yes, she was blessed in a unique way as the mother of Jesus, and maybe you think, “Well, you know, it’s not hard to praise God when you’ve got Jesus inside you!” But don’t you, Christian brothers and sisters, have him inside you, too? Doesn’t the Bible tell us that? The apostle Paul spends a lot of ink saying we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Colossians 1:7—one of my favorites—“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
The hope of Christmas isn’t for Mary only. It’s for you, too. Every Christian is like Mary, and Mary is like every Christian. Mary’s song is your song if you are in Christ. What moved Mary to sing was not so much the physical reality of Jesus, the baby, in her womb as it was the spiritual reality of Jesus, her savior, looking upon her with his grace and mercy. We have been recipients of the same grace and mercy. Her song is our song.
There are basically two ways to think of God. We can minimize him, or we can magnify him. Mary shows us the kind of people that magnify the Lord. They ask, “Why me?” in humility and wonder. They praise him for his work in the world and in their lives. That’s not to say it’s easy. Think of Mary’s situation. Without her doing anything but receiving the grace of God, she became a pregnant, unwed virgin. She was young. She was not socially well-off. The situation could have sent her through a break-up, a scandal, and a life of exclusion and derision. Her life could be ruined by this news. But instead of spiraling downward, she looked upward. Isn’t that amazing?
The opposite of magnification is minimization. We minimize God when we ask, “Why me?” in a despairing way, in a way that looks for a way out of the situation he’s put us in, where we just can’t seem to trust he has anything good in this for us. We minimize him when we let our circumstances get bigger in our minds than God. We minimize him when when we consider our feelings as greater than his purposes. We minimize him when we don’t factor him into the moment-by-moment events, thoughts, and realities of our lives.
Isn’t Mary’s way the better way? Isn’t it the biblical way? Isn’t it the way we most long to live? How can we get there? We get there the same way Mary did—by standing in awe of God, by being captivated by him. That’s not an automatic thing. Not for sinners like us. But that can be our reality if we open our hearts to God, moment by moment.
Francis Schaeffer used a great phrase for this: active passivity. Active passivity is putting yourself in the path of God’s grace and letting him do his work in your life. It’s active in that it’s a conscious effort with the help of the Holy Spirit, and it’s passive in that it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. It’s our faith in his work. It’s an active looking to him, moment by moment, like Mary did, receiving moment by moment all that he is. Isn’t it freeing to know that God is not asking us to save ourselves? He’s asking us only to receive his salvation. Mary did that, and she stood in awe and wonder. “Why me?”
Mary sang because God had done great things for her. He has done great things for us, too, has he not? Shouldn’t we respond like Mary? “Why me?”
Now, Mary’s song starts out with a lot of personal pronouns—“me” and “my.” I think it has to. There is a very personal element to faith. But faith leads us on to consider God’s grander purposes, which is our second point.
THE PURPOSE OF CHRISTMAS
By faith, Mary was caught up in God’s grand story. By grace, she had a role to play. That grand narrative is where Mary takes us next. She extols God’s work in the world. What he is doing for Mary is what he has been doing for all like her throughout history. It’s the normal way God operates in the world.
Look at what she says in verses 50-53. “And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”
God’s mercy isn’t for everyone. Who is it for? Look at verse 50. “His mercy is for those who fear him.” The word fear means reverence. Those who revere and honor God as holy and look to him by faith are the recipients of his mercy. And the wonderful thing is it’s not limited to a certain era. This offer of mercy extends “from generation to generation.” All God asks of us is that we treat him as God and receive his mercy in humility. The bar is really so low, but our pride can get in the way.
These verses help us see how God relates to the proud and the humble.
God humbles the proud. Verse 51, “He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.” Verse 52, “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones.” Verse 53, “The rich he has sent away empty.” I think of the traditional American folk song, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” You can run on for a long time, but sooner or later, God’s gonna cut you down. History shows us this. All who set themselves against God end up scattered. He brings down the mighty from their thrones, and by thrones, Mary means those actually ruling. Think of the examples we see of this in the Bible. Pharaoh. Nebuchadnezzar. The Assyrians. The Babylonians. Where are they now? When God comes in judgment, he scatters. He did it at the tower of Babel. He did it to the armies that faced Israel in the Promised Land. He still does it today.
On the other hand, God exalts the humble. Verse 50, “He has mercy on those who fear him.” Verse 52, “He has exalted those of humble estate.” Verse 53, “He has filled the hungry with good things.” Think of Joseph in Genesis. Think of David and Goliath. Think of Job in his suffering. Think of Daniel in Babylon. Think of Mary at Christmas. Think of Jesus in his resurrection after the cross.
When God comes in judgment, he scatters. When God comes in salvation, he gathers. What is true for us depends on our willingness or unwillingness to receive the reality of Christmas. Jesus came to save sinners. Are you sinful enough for Jesus?
Do you feel a need deep in your heart for forgiveness, for mercy, for grace, for a new start? Jesus has come for you.
Do you feel like you’ve ruined your life, and you’re not sure where to go next? Jesus has come for you.
Do you feel like you’ve blown it, and there’s just no hope left? Jesus has come for you.
Do you feel trapped by your own sin? Jesus has come for you.
On Andrew Peterson’s amazing album, Behold the Lamb of God, there is a haunting song called “Deliver Us.”
Our sins, they are more numerous than all the lambs we slay
Our shackles, they were made with our own hands
Our toil is our atonement and our freedom Yours to give
So Yahweh, break this silence if You can
Deliver us, deliver us
Oh Yahweh, hear our cry
And gather us beneath Your wings tonight
Christmas tells us that Yahweh has heard our cry, and Jesus has come to gather us beneath his wings tonight.
Jesus is not asking for any sacrifice from you. He’s already provided that on his cross. All he’s asking for is your empty hands of faith. He’s asking for you to accept his sacrifice and to fall into his arms and find rest. Christmas tells us God is not silent in the face of our deep despair. To the humble of the world, to the poor in spirit, to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus has come to gather you!
In your fear and longing and despair and suffering and sins and all the rest of the terrible, horrible things that frighten you and wound you, Jesus has come to deliver you. Your sins are your shackles, but Jesus came to set you free. If you want him, and you’re willing to lay down your weapons of sin and rebellion, if you’re willing to be weak enough to accept his salvation, to humble yourself before him, he will gather you into his arms where there is safety and refuge forever. You cannot be too low for Jesus. He came all the way down here to get you.
But if we don’t want that. If we refuse him. If we set ourselves against him and do all we can to minimize him, he will have his glory anyway. All that you work for will be for nothing in the end. He will scatter you. And, you know, perhaps that’s exactly what you need to be humbled enough to come to him. I don’t know, but he does. If it takes scattering to gather, there is mercy in that, too.
These verses are not just comfort for the humble; they are also a warning to the proud. Heed both.
It’s not too late to make a change. Mary sang these verses in the past tense, but commentators point out that based on the grammar, Mary is also being prophetic. These words are true not only of history but also of the present. The comfort still stands. So does the warning. Jesus came to live and die and rise again. Will you accept mercy from the Savior’s crucified hands?
If we will, God will be faithful to have mercy on us. Christmas shows the faithfulness of God, which is our final point.
THE FAITHFULNESS OF CHRISTMAS
Mary ends her song by looking back to the very beginning in verses 54 and 55. “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
In the book of Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham. In Genesis 15, God and Abraham perform a covenant ceremony. In those days, two parties would cut animals in half, and each party would walk through the separated pieces of flesh as a way of saying, “If I break my promise, I’ll become like these animals. Torn apart.” It was an agreement to uphold their end of the deal or die.
But something interesting happened during this particular ceremony. The Bible says that God put Abraham in a deep sleep, and at the time when both parties would traditionally walk through the separated flesh together, God walked alone. God was saying, “If the covenant is broken by either of us, I alone will be torn apart. You, Abraham, are not held responsible for this promise. This is mine to bring about, and I will do it.” God’s covenant doesn’t depend on us; it depends all on him, on his faithfulness to bring it to completion.
Two thousand years later, Jesus came and said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” Jesus came to pay the covenant penalties on behalf of the party who broke it. We deserved death. But God made the promise alone, and he bore the penalty alone. Jesus died so that we might live. He came to make peace with God on our behalf. The hopes and fears of all the years were met in him that night. Jesus will gather us beneath his wings. We are safe in him. Always. God is faithful. Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday prove it.
When Mary looked at God’s promise to Abraham, she knew it was a promise beyond Abraham. It was a promise to his offspring, from generation to generation forever. Abraham lived inside the story God was creating for his people in the future. Mary did, too. In a sense, we all do. The promises of God are guarantees sealed by the Spirit of the weight of glory that is to come when Jesus returns. And he will come again because God is faithful. No one can defeat his plans.
Mary shows us that God’s story is an everlasting one of his Never-Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love. It’s a song for all who are weary and need rest, for all who mourn and long for comfort, for all who are anxious and yearn for peace, for all who fail and desire strength, and for all who sin and need a savior.
This is your gift from your Heavenly Father. Will you take it and enjoy it?
Let’s pray.
