The Magnificat

And before we sing, I'm going to read the passage from which David is going to come and preach to us tonight.

The passage is Luke 1 verses 39 to 56.

Luke 1:39–56

Okay, this is God's holy word.

And Mary said,

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he's 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.

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's brought down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of humble estate.

He's filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He's helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy,

as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever.

And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her home.

Amen.

Well, we turn this evening to those verses that Chris read for us just a moment or two ago,

and our focus on verses 46 through 55.

Advent, Christmas are a time for singing, perhaps more than any other time of the year.

Music and song fill our cultural horizons.

Christmas music dominates the airwaves.

At this time of year, you can't switch on a radio, go into a shop,

without your eardrums being assaulted by all kinds of strange and sometimes esoteric tunes,

singing of Christmas favorites, white Christmas, jingle bells, winter wonderland, Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.

In many churches, we have the singing of Christmas songs, carols, focusing on that first Christmas,

upon the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago.

And here, in the opening chapters of his gospel, Luke introduces us to the very earliest Advent or Christmas songs.

There are four of these, each often known by the first word in the Latin translation.

We have this evening, Mary's song, the Magnificat.

Then we have the words of Zechariah, that God willing, we'll look at next week, the Benedictus.

And then we have the song of the angels in Luke 2, 14, the Gloria.

We also have the words of Simeon, Luke 2, 29 through 32.

That's known as the Nunc Dimitis.

We won't actually get to that, so we'll just be looking over the next few weeks at the first three of these songs.

And the first one that we turn our attention to this evening, the Magnificat, Mary's song.

One of the most famous songs in all of Scripture.

A song that's been whispered in monasteries, chanted in cathedrals, recited in churches, set to music with trumpets and drums by Bach.

But it was a song first sung by a young Galilean Jewess called Mary.

And strangely, perhaps from the perspective of her Jewish culture and society, she was someone who didn't really have a lot to sing about.

She was probably, in her teenage years, maybe 14, 15, 16, she was engaged, she was unmarried, and she was pregnant.

Her character tainted and stained, really, by sexual scandal.

She was facing the ignominy of public shame and disgrace.

And nevertheless, she is determined to sing.

And in this encounter occasioned by a meeting with her relative, Elizabeth, she finds a song to sing.

And this song is occasioned by Elizabeth's spirit-filled outburst.

We have that in verses 42 and 43 of Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, she exclaimed with a loud cry,

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?

Mary is perhaps the most well-known Christian woman in all history.

In some traditions, she has been almost deified, the Queen of Heaven.

In much Roman Catholic tradition, Mary has been elevated and exalted far beyond the position given to her in Scripture.

And while we must be careful not to follow suit,

nonetheless, we mustn't overlook and downplay the unique role that this young woman played in the history of redemption.

And Mary's song is, quite literally, a shout of triumph and joy and delight in God.

In who God is, and in what He has done, and what He is going to do.

In this song, Mary reflects upon what is happening to her,

and what that will mean for her people, Israel, and beyond Israel for the whole world.

Elizabeth's words bring home to Mary the awesome reality and responsibility that is hers.

God has broken into her life in an unprecedented way.

And through this young girl, He is invading His world,

and taking to Himself our own flesh and blood.

And it's as if the reality of this is driven home to Mary's heart.

And she responds by lifting up her voice to God in prayer and praise.

A long time ago, when I was a wee boy in Sunday school,

we had a couple of songs that we sang almost every week.

At least, I think we sang them every week.

One was known as, there were actions to these songs,

but I'm not going to do the actions too much.

But one was called Wide, Wide as the Ocean.

People of a certain generation will remember these songs.

The other one was called Running Over.

Running Over.

Running Over.

My cups full and running over.

I can still remember the actions.

Since the Lord saved me, I'm as happy as can be.

My cups full and running over.

And here it's Mary, in a sense, whose cup is full and running over.

It's an exuberant song of joy that kind of bubbles, overflows,

with a spirit of thanksgiving and worship.

Not without good reason that the old Belgic Confession,

in its first article, calls God the overflowing fountain of all good.

So much of God in this song that it kind of spills out in effervescent power.

A reflection on the amazing character and ways of God.

And in these verses, we're invited, I think, to share Mary's experience

and to sing her song.

Part, actually, part of what it means to be a Christian.

Like Mary, we too are called to rejoice in God our Saviour.

John Calvin wrote,

The more we see how great God is,

the more we will sense our own sinfulness,

which will lead us to magnify all the more

his abundant mercy towards us in Jesus Christ.

And I think that's something of what we see here in Mary's song.

And for just a moment or two this evening,

I want to reflect on that.

And what this song's overflowing praises

tell us about the God of the Bible.

That we too might rejoice in God as our own Saviour.

So, three things, as is my custom.

The first, praise the God of saving mercy.

Look at verses 46 through 50.

Mary said,

My soul magnifies the Lord.

My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

Behold, from now on,

all generations are going to call me blessed.

For he who is mighty has done great things for me.

Holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

I think one of the fascinating things about this song

is the spirit of humility that pervades it.

Mary has no illusions about who she is before God.

And indeed, though this is an intensely personal expression of gratitude to God,

there is in fact very little of Mary in this song at all.

It's all about God.

She magnifies and glorifies the Lord.

She looks away from herself to him.

And the reason she does this

is because we're told earlier in the chapter,

in verse 28,

that she is a woman who has found favour with God.

She's received this incalculable blessing

to bear the saviour of the world.

This is why future generations will call her blessed.

Because God has chosen her

for this special and unique task.

He has done great things for her.

In his grace and in his mercy,

he has seen her and chosen her

for this unique role.

And yet, though her experience is unique,

there is a sense in which her experience can be ours.

Because one of the ways, of course,

in which the New Testament speaks of being a Christian

is having Jesus Christ to what?

To come and to live within us.

Remember how Paul talks to the Colossians

of Christ in you, the hope of glory.

And this is what happens when someone becomes a Christian.

In the power of the Holy Spirit,

Jesus Christ comes to dwell within us.

And we too, like Mary,

find favour with God

when Christ breaks into our lives.

Notice how Mary speaks here.

She speaks of her spirit rejoicing in God,

my saviour.

She speaks of God doing great things for me.

Christian faith is always something personal.

Mary doesn't speak about God

in a kind of abstract or impersonal way.

She's awed and amazed by God's grace to her.

And she says, and she acknowledges,

that this is not of our own making.

This is something that God has done.

It's all of his mercy.

And she confesses that it's God alone

who's our saviour.

It's God alone who saves.

And the reason that I rescue is needed

is revealed in verse 49.

Holy is his name.

That's why salvation is required.

That's why a rescue is needed.

God is holy.

The root of that,

the idea of that word holy

is this idea of cutting

or making separate or being distinct.

refers to everything that makes God

distinctive and different from us.

All that sets us,

sets him apart from us.

All that sets him above us.

All that sets him against us.

It's a reference to the otherness of God,

his moral majesty.

He is a God who,

by his very nature,

has set himself against all that is evil,

all that is wicked,

all that is sinful in our lives

and in this world.

Because we ourselves are sinners,

he has set himself against us.

Remember Paul's words to the church in Ephesus,

Ephesians 2, 3,

we were by nature

children of wrath.

Because of our rebellion against God,

we are under his just judgment.

Our lives are not centered

around the living God.

Our lives by nature are centered

and revolve around ourselves.

And that's why a rescue is needed.

That is why an intervention is needed.

And that's why it's a rescue

that only God himself can accomplish.

He alone is a God of saving mercy.

That's why Jesus came into the world.

That is why, in fact, Matthew tells us

he was given the name Jesus.

He will save his people from their sins.

And this is what Mary is rejoicing in.

God in Jesus Christ,

drawing near to rescue

and to save and deliver

a holy baby,

come to bring us to a holy God.

Mary knows herself to be a sinner.

A fallen daughter of Eve.

She is no semi-deified Madonna.

She is no immaculate co-redemptrix.

She stands along with us

as one who needs the redeeming work

of the Son she is going to bear.

And it's clear as we read the text

that Mary is someone

who's tasted something of God's mercy

for herself.

She exults in it.

She rejoices in it.

Let me ask you tonight,

what are you rejoicing in?

What are you celebrating?

Are you rejoicing in God

as your Savior?

Are you rejoicing in his saving mercy,

in his amazing grace,

that Christ is in you,

the hope of glory?

Paul writes to Titus,

Titus 3, 4 and 5,

when the goodness and loving kindness

of God our Savior appeared,

he saved us,

not because of works done by us

in righteousness,

but according to his own mercy.

Christian salvation is all of God's mercy.

It's all of God.

Not because of anything we've done,

because of our good deeds,

or good life,

or religious devotion,

morality,

church going,

not because of anything we've done,

but only because of what Jesus,

the Savior,

has graciously done for us.

Christianity is all about praising

the God of saving mercy.

Praise the God of saving mercy.

That's our first point.

Second point,

verses 51 to 53,

praise the God of revolutionary power.

Look what it says.

He has shown strength with his arm,

scattered the proud

in the thoughts of their hearts,

brought down the mighty

from their thrones,

exalted those of humble estate,

filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich is sent away empty.

So Mary continues to reflect

on the ways of the God of the Bible.

Not only a God of rescuing mercy and love,

he's also a God of revolutionary power.

And through the prophet Isaiah,

God says,

some of you will remember this text,

Isaiah 55, 9,

as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Here is the God who is beyond us.

Here is the God who turns things upside down.

The God who upsets the values

and the ideologies of this world.

He's a God of power.

Scattering the proud,

bringing down the mighty.

We've been thinking that in our morning services

as we look through the book of Daniel.

The God who exalts the humble,

feeds the hungry,

sends the rich and the wealthy

away empty-handed.

You see, he's a God of great reversals.

That's what we see in these verses.

And when we look through the scriptures,

it's exactly the kind of God

that we are confronted with

on page after page after page.

This God of revolutionary power.

I think John F. Kennedy was once asked

why he wanted to be in the White House.

Because, said Kennedy,

this is where the power is.

He couldn't have been more mistaken.

The power does not reside in Washington

or Moscow or Beijing or London or Brussels.

The power does not rest in the hands of media moguls

and faceless multinational corporations.

The power lies with him

whose arm is mighty to save and to deliver his people.

He opposes the proud and the arrogant.

Proverbs 15, 25.

The Lord tears down the house of the proud

but maintains the widow's boundaries.

Isaiah 2, 12.

The Lord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up,

and it shall be brought low.

James 4, 6.

God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.

He brings down the mighty

and the powerful of this world.

Remember Isaiah's words.

He brings princes to naught,

reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

No sooner are they planted,

no sooner are they sown,

no sooner do they take root in the ground

than he blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

He's the God who sends the rich away empty.

There's a parable that Jesus tells later on in this gospel,

the parable of the rich fool.

Remember how the man amassed a fortune

and then sat back to take life easy,

to eat, to drink, and to be merry,

and God spoke to them.

These words to that man,

you fool,

this very night your life will be demanded of you.

Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?

Jeremiah 9, 23,

The God who exalts the humble,

and fills the hungry with good things,

the God who satisfies his people,

the God who is everything to his own.

Nothing compares to him,

not money or position or power.

All of these things pale in comparison to the living God.

Later on in this gospel,

Jesus will say,

reclining at a Pharisee's table,

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

After that famous story of the Pharisee and tax collector

going to the temple,

Jesus concludes with these words,

I tell you,

this man,

the tax collector,

the one who cried out for mercy,

went down to his house justified,

rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

That is the revolutionary power of the gospel.

Those who think they have everything in the eyes of this world,

those that are full of themselves,

their own achievements,

those that think they have absolutely no need of God,

or who think that God owes them,

they are brought low and sent away empty.

D.L. Moody once said,

Christ sends none away empty,

but those who are full of themselves.

It's those that have nothing

that God calls and invites.

We say it often, don't we?

All you need is nothing.

Nothing, we sing the words, don't we?

Nothing in my hand I bring,

simply to thy cross,

I cling.

It's believing in Christ alone,

out of a sense of our need,

our unworthiness,

our moral bankruptcy,

that indicates we've truly understood

and experienced the power of the gospel in our lives.

The gospel of Jesus Christ

is the power of God

for the salvation of all who believe.

In that sense,

it is never for the strong and the wise

and the powerful and the proud,

because in their strength and wisdom

and pride,

they cannot see the living God.

He's the God who quite literally

turns the world upside down.

He reverses the values

and expectations of this world.

And here his power is being made known

in this young Jewish girl,

in a baby born in the squalor of a Bethlehem stable.

Indeed, a power that will be made known

at the end of this gospel,

in the weakness and brokenness

of a bloody crucifixion.

For ultimately,

it is at the cross

that we come to truly see

and experience

the revolutionary power of God,

the power of his love,

the power of his forgiveness,

and the power of his grace.

Again,

do we know anything of that power?

Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth,

he says,

the word of the cross is folly,

foolishness,

to those who are perishing.

But to us who are being saved,

it is the power of God.

So many look at the cross

and shake their heads.

They laugh.

They mock.

It means absolutely nothing.

Utter foolishness.

Friend,

what do you make of it tonight?

Is it for you the power of God?

Have you encountered for yourself,

like Mary,

the God of revolutionary power?

Well, time's disappearing.

Praise the God of saving mercy.

Praise the God of revolutionary power.

Thirdly, finally, quickly,

praise the God of covenant faithfulness.

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.

One of the key features of Mary's song

is the way in which it draws so heavily

from the language of certain Old Testament passages.

Commentators believe there are around

15 direct Old Testament references

in just these few verses.

And perhaps the most notable

and significant of these

is Hannah's song

that we find in 1 Samuel chapter 2

1 Samuel 2:1–10

verses 1 through 10.

There's a very strong correlation

between the two.

And Mary's language here

is informed and shaped directly

by the Old Testament scriptures.

Her entire view of God

is not surprisingly rooted firmly

in that revolution

that we have in the Hebrew Bible.

And these final verses

of the song are no different.

She reflects on God's covenant faithfulness.

The God who has committed himself

to his servant Israel.

The God who's always true to his word.

We've been working through Hebrews 11

in the evening

and this theme is just repeated again

and again and again.

Here is the God who remembers

the promises he made to Abraham

way back in the book of Genesis.

Here is the God who does not forget.

And what were the blessings

of that covenant

that God offered to Abraham?

Well beyond the promises

of people and the land

God offered Abraham

a relationship with himself.

I will be your God.

You will be my people.

All of the history written

in the Old Testament

is a consequence of these words.

Showing us what it is

for a people to have

the living God,

Yahweh,

as their God.

And that is at the very heart

of the Abrahamic covenant.

It lies at the very heart

of God's covenant of grace.

He will be God to his people.

It lies at the heart of the gospel.

Heart of the Bible story.

At the heart of the Christian faith.

It's about coming to know God

for ourselves.

Sinful, broken human beings

being brought to the living God

to worship him,

serve him,

and enjoy him forever.

And yet,

there was something more

in that covenant

with Abraham, wasn't there?

It was that all the nations

of the earth

would be blessed

through him

and his descendants.

Abraham and his seed

would be a channel

and blessing,

of blessing and salvation

for the whole world.

This intimate knowledge

of God

is for all the peoples.

Because God is calling,

gathering a people

for himself

from every tribe,

people,

nation,

and language.

He's building his church.

He's true to the promises

of salvation

and redemption

made from of old

to Abraham

and his descendants.

And now all the nations

of the world

will be blessed

through Abraham's family,

because now

the promised saviour

has arrived.

He's drawn near.

Because it's in Jesus

that those,

God's ancient covenant promises

find their fulfillment.

It's in Jesus

that God's revolutionary power

is experienced.

It's in Jesus

that God's saving mercy

is made known

to the world.

And so it's no coincidence,

I think,

that in the Bible,

God's people are called

to be a people

of praise.

Jesus.

In his first letter,

the Apostle Peter

describes the calling

of the church

in just those terms,

doesn't he?

To proclaim

the perfections

or excellencies

of God,

the God

who has brought us

from darkness

into his marvelous light.

And actually,

that's not a bad description

of this song.

It's a proclamation

of the excellencies

of God's character.

Yes,

it's Mary's song.

But through faith

in Jesus,

it can be ours as well.

And it becomes ours

when we see

that his mercy

is for us,

for people like us.

And we come

to surrender

our lives

to him.

And so we're able

to rejoice

in Jesus

as our Savior

and our King.

There's an old

Scottish paraphrase

of Luke chapter 4

Luke 4 · chapter mention

that begins,

Hark the glad sound.

The Savior comes.

The Savior promised long.

Let every heart

prepare a throne

and every voice

a song.

The old Swedish proverb

says,

Those who want

to sing

shall always

find a song.

And here in Luke 1

we have the song

who wants

to sing it.

Let's pray.

Lord, our prayer

this evening

is very simple.

That we would

know you

as our God.

that we would

know you

as our Savior.

And that we

would be counted

amongst your people

declaring

your perfections

and excellencies

for you have

brought us

by your grace

and mercy

from darkness

into your

marvelous light.

May that be true

for each one of us

this evening.

As we pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.