MARY’S SONG OF FAITH

Text: Luke 1:46-55
Reading: 1 Samuel 2:1-10, Luke 1:1-55
Theme: Mary responds to God’s work in her with a song of praise that recalls God’s blessing to her and to his people.
Purpose: To encourage you to respond to God’s gift of his Son with humility and praise for who he is and what he has done in Christ.

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No doubt in the weeks leading up to Christmas you will have heard many Christmas carols. You have probably heard them played in the supermarkets and in the shopping malls. Perhaps you have played CDs of Christmas music at home. And, of course, our Advent and Christmas services provide us with the lovely privilege of singing many of our favorite Christmas hymns. So many Christmas carols have been written that we would be here a long time if we wanted to sing them all! 

As we remember that God gave us the gift of his Son the most appropriate response is to praise him in song. When people are happy, they sing! When the people of God are happy, they sing! When we think of the coming of God’s Son it is natural and fitting that we should sing his praise; it is right and appropriate. 

Mary certainly thought so; and so did many others around the time Jesus was born. In these opening two chapters Luke records four songs of praise to God in response to the coming of the Messiah: the song of Mary (1:46-55), the song of Zechariah (1:68-79); the song of the angels (2:14), and the song of Simeon (2:29-32). 

Mary’s song drew on the OT Scriptures. 

It is similar to the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 when she presented her son Samuel to Eli and to the Lord at the place of worship. 
But Mary drew on many passages in the Old Testament, especially from the psalms. Her song is saturated with the language of the Scriptures. She obviously knew them very well and they flowed out of her in prayer and praise. 

This reminds us of how important it is for us to know our Bibles. In this book God speaks to us, and he teaches us how to speak to him. The better you know your Bible the easier it will be to pray. The prayers of the Bible, and especially the psalms, guide us in the language, vocabulary, content, and the practice of prayer. Mary could pray like this because she knew her Bible. 

Mary’s song began with praise.

Her song is generally known as “The Magnificat” which is the opening word in the Latin Vulgate translation, which was used throughout most of the Middle Ages. Magnificat means glorifies. 

She had gone to visit her relative Elizabeth and when Elizabeth heard her greeting her baby leaped in her womb. When a woman is carrying a baby at times she can feel the baby moving around – sometimes it feels like he is doing somersaults or playing football! 
Elizabeth felt her baby do an extraordinary movement and, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she exclaimed; “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear.” (vs 42)

In response Mary herself, also under the inspiration of the Spirit, burst into a song of praise to God: “My soul glorifies the Lord, 
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (vs 46-47)

Today, as we think about the birth of the Lord Jesus we too want to thank God for the gift of his Son; we want to praise him for his goodness; we want to rejoice together in this salvation!

We have been doing that already in our singing; let’s also do this as we consider what Mary sang. 

1. First of all we will see that Mary praised God for what he had done FOR HER (vs 46-49)

She thanked the Lord for this unique position the Lord had given her. 

The angel Gabriel had told her that she had found favor with God. The Holy Spirit would come upon her and the Most High would overshadow her. She would bear a son, Jesus, who would be called the Son of the Most High. (Luke 1:30-35) She would bear a child who would be fully God and fully man – one person with two natures.

She was amazed and humbled that God would give this great honor, especially to one who was in such a humble social position. 
She declared; “From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me.” (vs 48-49)

Today we honor Mary for her role in bearing the Son of God. However, we do not worship her, nor do we pray to her, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches people to do. That is to give to a human person what only belongs to God. 

Rather, Mary praised God for the privilege of bearing his Son into the world. 

Today we praise God for his Son, our Savior. 
God blessed Mary, but he has blessed us even more richly with all that Jesus has done for us and given to us. 
If you believe in Jesus as God’s Son and as Lord you can be sure that your sins are forgiven, you have been made right with God, you are gathered into the church of Christ and adopted into God’s family, you are filled with the Spirit, and already now you can begin to experience the joy and fullness of eternal life! 

Mary concluded the first part of her song by acknowledging; “the Mighty One has done great things for me.”

Faith in God is a personal matter. Every one of you here today needs a knowledge of God that is personal; you need your own conviction that the Bible is true; and you need to trust in Jesus for yourself. Faith must be individual. 

Entrance into the kingdom of God is like those turnstiles into show grounds or amusement parks that allow in only one person at a time. Jesus said, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to eternal life” (Matt 7:14). Faith in God must be personal. 

But faith is God is also communal. Believers in God in the Old Testament were gathered into the people of Israel; believers in Christ in the New Testament are gathered into the church. The Scriptures do not picture Christians on their own, as isolated individuals; rather believers are part of the covenant community, we are incorporated into the communion of the saints, we make up the people of God. 
If you claim to be a Christian you need to be part of a church – a living and active member of a local body of believers. 

2. Mary praised the Lord for what he had done for her, but she looked beyond that to what he had done for HIS PEOPLE.

As she spoke about this she kept her eye on God. The Lord was central in her thoughts. She recalled what God had done for his people and reflected on some of his attributes, his perfections, his characteristics. 

She declared, “Holy is his name.” (vs 49b)

The word holy means “set apart”. God is separate from anything that is evil. He is exalted over all things. He is above and beyond this world. He is supreme over the universe. 
Over and over God called his people Israel to be holy, “because I am holy.”

God’s holiness does not get much publicity today. People will say, “God is love”, and that is true. But you don’t often hear, “Holy is his name!” But this is just as true of God. 
Mary was deeply impressed by the holiness, the greatness, the supremacy of God. 
Are you also acknowledging the holiness of God?

She was also deeply aware of his mercy (v 50); “His mercy extends to those who fear him.” 

God’s mercy is his kindness to people who don’t deserve it, his goodness to sinners, his pity and compassion to people in need of help. 

He shows that to those “who fear him”. The fear of God is a mixture of love for God and a deep respect. It is to take God seriously rather than lightly. 
Do you fear God? Are you taking him seriously? Do you love and respect him?

Mary also recalled God’s power; vs 51 – “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm.”

God does not always exercise his power as we might expect. 
You may have heard the expression; “God helps those who help themselves.” Many might think that is a quote from the Bible. Not so! It does contain an element of truth because God wants us to make good use of the time and talents he has given us. But it is false if it is read as a self-help scheme. 
Mary declared; “God has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.” (vs 51b) God opposes the proud. He does not help those who think they can do it all on their own. He is against those who are proud of their own achievements. He will refuse entry into heaven for those who have pulled themselves up by their own bootlaces. He rejects those who think they can make it to heaven on their own good works. 

Instead God exercises his power on behalf of the humble and the poor. He “has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things.” (vs 52-53) He listens to the prayers of those who cry out to him out of a sense of great need and helplessness. 

Jesus often spoke about these things:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek,
For they will inherit the earth.” (Matt 5:3f)
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matt 9:12f)

Jesus came to set up a kingdom. That kingdom is the opposite of the way things usually are in human society. 
Normally it is the proud, the arrogant, the wealthy and the powerful that do well and are recognized and rewarded.
In the kingdom of Christ it is the humble, the meek, the poor and the powerless that are recognized and rewarded. 
Jesus told his disciples; “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43ff)

In her song Mary acknowledged God’s attributes: his holiness, mercy, and power. The son that she carried had all these same perfections – he too was holy and merciful and powerful. He had these because he too was fully God, the second person of the trinity, the eternal I Am. 
Many of those who heard him and saw him believed that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Is that what you believe about him?

By faith Mary saw that the child she carried would continue this work of God and fulfill the promises he had made to his people. 

As she concluded her song she looked back to the promises God had made to Abraham and his descendants. (vs 54-55)
God had promised Abraham that through him all the nations would be blessed and that he would have many descendants. (Gen 12)
Through Moses God had promised a great prophet. (Deut 18:17)
To David God had promised a house and kingdom that would last forever. (2 Sam 7)

All of these promises were fulfilled in Mary’s son, who would be the seed of Abraham, the great Prophet, the Son of David. He came as Emmanuel, God with us, the Morning Star, the Mighty God, as the Prince of Peace.

Today, like Mary, we celebrate his coming. 
We have done that by singing the words of these familiar and beautiful Christmas carols. 
We have done that by listening to the word of the Holy Spirit as it came through Mary. 

Do you believe that Jesus has the same characteristics as God because he was and is God? 
Will you respond to him, like Mary, in humility, faith, and in obedient service?

Amen.