The Downfall of the Mighty
Luke 1:50-52
INTRODUCTION: Be truthful - you sometimes root for the underdog, don’t you? Whether it’s football, baseball, or basketball; whether it’s college ball or professional players, you root for the underdog, don’t you?
I do too. Except maybe if it’s the home team. These days it seems like if we’re rooting for the underdog we’re rooting for either the Chargers or the Padres. I know that’s the way last season’s Padres were - underdogs. And this season’s Chargers are also the underdogs, even when they’re favored.
I don’t know why you root for an underdog, but I know why I do - I can identify with the underdog. Aren’t there times in your life when you feel like the champion teenage underdog, David, going against the champion ‘most-favored-to win’ giant, Goliath of Gath?
There are times when I root for the underdog because I want to see a giant toppled; when the New England Patriot’s were having such a good season in 2006, winning every game and leading the race for the Super Bowl, didn’t you want to see the Chargers be the ones to knock them off? They didn’t that year, but they have the last two years.
Whenever I watched the Padres last season, I wanted them to win in the worst way so they wouldn’t be last in the division or even last in all of major league baseball. Well, they weren’t last - only third from the bottom.
Mary continues her praise song to God in our verses today. In these verses she describes how God has the upper hand, how in His mightiness he brings down those leaders over nations and exalts the humble, the underdog. Let’s root along with her for the underdog.
I. THE FEAR OF THE LORD
“He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear Him.” (Luke 1:50)
This sentence, restated another way says: “Those who fear the Lord receive His mercy.” The opposite would also be true in that those who do not fear the Lord cannot receive His mercy. A necessary quality in the life of a servant is to fear the Lord. This is true of the earthly master who has servants in his employ as well as the heavenly Master who has you and me as His servants.
David said in Psalm 111:10 - “The fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.” We can be peppered with sayings and scriptures pointing us to the necessity of fearing the Lord, but it won’t happen in our lives unless we first change a few behaviors in our lives.
How do we gain great joy in the Lord? Jesus tells us in John 15:9-17. “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.” We have joy in the Lord when we remain in Jesus’ love. Only believers can do this.
“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in His love.” (15:10) Remaining in Jesus’ love means being obedient to God. How do you know if you’re being obedient to God? Read His word, the Bible, and see if you’re being obedient or not.
“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.” (15:11) It’s not a secret - everybody knows what it takes to be filled with the joy of Jesus.
“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” (15:12) This maybe the point we start having trouble being obedient to God. Jesus tells us in the next verse what it means to love others as he loves us.
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (15:13) You have to be willing to lay down your life so that someone else can live. This is the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate example of selflessness. It’s like signing up to be a Secret Service agent and being assigned the Presidential detail. Everyone Secret Ser-vice agent on that detail is willing to “take a bullet for the President of the United States.” If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be there.
“You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.” (15:14-15) Here is where our position changes - where we go from being servants to being joint heirs of the kingdom with Christ. He’s confiding in us, telling us the secrets, the things of the kingdom that we need to know to please God. And it all begins with obedience.
“You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name.” (15:16) I thought I chose Christ when I accepted him as my savior. No, he chose me. And appointed me to go and produce fruit. Are you producing fruit as the Master commands? If we love people as Jesus loved people, we would be going and producing fruit.
“This is my command: Love each other.” (15:17) Jesus repeats himself, which is his way of strengthening the command to love one another. Have you ever found yourself saying something like this: “I love everybody, but you know ‘so and so?’ - they’re really hard to love like Jesus wants me to love them.”
No qualifiers - love each other. No exceptions. No excuses. If we really fear the Lord, if we’ve really received his mercy then we will be obedient to His commands. Even the ones we don’t like.
II. HIS MIGHTY ARM
“His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.” (1:51) The power which God showed at the Exodus is now demonstrated in the birth of the Messiah. Do you recall the mighty things the arm of the Lord did in Exodus? Recall Moses, the representative of God to the court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Every time Moses stretched out his arm to bring about one of the plagues, it was as if the arm of God was being stretched out in order to bring the plague upon the Egyptians. The final outstretched arm was at the Red Sea. “Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind....When all the Israelites had reached the other side, the Lord said to Moses, ‘Raise your hand over the sea again. Then the waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians...’” (Ex. 14:21, 26)
But salvation also implies judgement, and so God is said to scatter his enemies. These enemies of God are infused with pride and self-confidence in themselves and not in God.
Did you read about the Pope’s passing forgiveness on John Lennon’s famous statement when the Beatles were climbing the ladder of popularity and success in the ‘60’s? He forgave John for claiming that one day the Beatles would be more popular and famous than Jesus Christ. Well, the Pope may have forgiven John but I’m not sure the Lord did. John Lennon has already been judged and removed from this life - a life without Jesus Christ. I suspect he’s still suffering for his ill-pronounced claim.
III. HIS EXALTATION OF THE HUMBLE
“He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.” (1:52)
The overthrow of rulers who do not obey God’s will is a sign of his power at work in history. The overthrow is here ascribed to the hand of the Messiah. It was God who had been the judge of Israel and the nations that they conquered and that conquered them. Now it is Christ who will judge, who will depose princes from their thrones.
By way of contrast, now that the mighty, the proud, the haughty, and the princes are overthrown, the humble will be exalted. And you need to understand that God is not limiting his exaltation of the humble among Israel but will exalt the humble of all nations. He will lift up the minorities who suffer oppression at the hands of the former rulers.
Just before Jesus begins his condemnation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23, he cautions his disciples about comparing themselves to the Pharisees ands warns them not to emulate their behavior. In verse 12 he states, “But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
In Mary’s song, she seems to be historical. In verse 49 she talks about what God has done in her life. In verse 50, 51, and 52, she lists the things that God has done in the past to show himself strong to the leaders of nations - including Israel and Judah - by deposing despots and lifting up the humble.
I’m reminded of what happened during the time of the Babylonian captivity, when the nation was ruled by King Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 4, the King has a dream. In the dream, which is interpreted by Daniel, he learns that he will undergo a period of insanity because of his pride and arrogance.
“But all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve months later he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the royal palace in Babylon. As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.’
While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called down from heaven, O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you. You are no longer ruler of this kingdom. You will be driven from human society. You will live in the fields with the wild animals, and you will eat grass like a cow. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.’” (4:28-32)
Then, in verse 34, we see that Nebuchadnezzar finally under-stands who has placed him on the throne of Babylon. “After this time had passed, I Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned and I praised the worshiped the Most High and honored, the one who lives forever.”
Mary knew who was responsible for the ruler being on the throne, any throne. The Bible teaches us that God works in two ways to put a leader on the throne of a country.
One way that is most obvious because it happened for several centuries in the Old Testament times, is that God names the ruler and has him anointed. David’s son, Absalom, didn’t like this plan - he wanted to rule Israel and Judah. When it became clear to him that he wouldn’t be succeeding his father, he plotted a coup and overthrew David. He ruled for a while, until God’s servant, Joab, defeated him in battle and had him killed.
The other way God acts is through elections. You do realize that God is responsible for giving us our President every four years, don’t you? You may not like His choice, but it is His choice. So, pray for him, pray for wisdom in his decision-making, in his appointments, in his leadership. Pray that he will acknowledge God’s hand in his winning and not be prideful or arrogant enough to claim the victory as his own.
How about you. Do you find yourself exalting yourself or humbling yourself? Are you proud of your accomplishments, where you stand in this world’s scheme of things? Or are you like Mary - quick to praise God and give Him the credit for the way he has moved all the way through recorded history to bring down the exalted and to lift up the humble?
Let’s pray.
