Mary’s Song
Luke 1:39-56
Mary’s song, known as the Magnificat, is one of three great psalms spoken by women in the Bible. Deborah sang a song of deliverance after Sisera was defeated by the hands of another woman, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Here the words “blessed above women: in Judges 5:24 is echoed in Mary’s song. Hannah sang a psalm of praise when the LORD opened her womb. She started her psalm in 1 Samuel 2:1 with “My heart rejoices in the LORD which is similar to how Mary starts her song of praise in response to the fact that God was using her to bear a miraculous Son even greater than Samuel the Prophet. Mary’s psalm is in many ways similar to that of Hannah’s as the circumstances were similar.
Luke has done a magnificent job maintaining the beautiful poetry which Mary spoke. She probably spoke it in Aramaic, and Luke had to maintain this aspect when he translated it into Greek. We must understand, that beautiful and poetic words indicate that these words were spoken by the Holy Spirit. Oracles from Yahweh were usually spoken in an elegant poetic style. So we must see the Magnificat as an oracle of God.
God had not spoken to His people in this way since the days of the prophet Malachi some four hundred years earlier. Accounts of Israel’s history were recorded in prose. Ezra and Nehemiah speak much about God and His covenant, but not a word from God. We can see God at work, and they are rightly included in the canon, but are rather indirect in their approach.
After 400 years, God came through an angel to Zachariah in the Temple. God spoke His message to Him by an angel and not a human prophet. He and Elizabeth were going to become parents. The word of God was heard again. Truly the word of God, but indirectly. Then the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, truly the word of God, but indirectly. Mary had come to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. When Mary came to Elizabeth, it says she was filled with the Holy Spirit and said “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” which is a fine parallelism typical of fine Hebrew and Aramaic poetry. The fact the Holy Spirit had filled her, and the babe also leaped for joy is confirmation that God had spoken through a human agent. The prophetic voice had returned to Israel, and it returned first through an elderly woman.
The return of the prophetic voice of God by the means of a woman has enormous implications. The voice of God was rare enough for men in Israel, but it was extremely rare for women. This shows that women can be the means by which God speaks. A promise had been given to Eve in Genesis 3:15 that the restoration of humankind would be through the child of a woman. Now this promise was being fulfilled. In addition to this, God chose to initially announce the resurrection through the mouth of women. Peter quotes Joel 2 in his Pentecost sermon the words that “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Even handmaidens were included in this prophecy.
The first spoken words of God in 400 years were spoken by Elizabeth, the mother of the one who would prepare the way for Jesus, the son of Mary, by whom the prophecy to Eve would be fulfilled. Here, the words of Elizabeth prepared the way for the second oracle of God, also given to a woman.
I am absolutely dumbfounded that the lectionary for the fourth Sunday of Advent breaks the passage starting in 1:39 and going to 1:55 into separate passages. I am even more dumbfounded that they left verse 46 out. The song starts with “My soul doth magnify the LORD.” It is in parallel with “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Mary’s song begins with praise, not of herself, but of the LORD. The end of the second line gives the reason for her joy. God has delivered her. It starts with her personal affirmation. She goes on to show her servile status. She saw herself as being of littlw notice in this world. But all that mattered is that God had noticed her anyway. Because of the LORD her status was changed for ever. Everyone would take notice of her and called her blessed. Others had risen from obscurity before to great status for a season. But Mother Mary has endured the test of time. Even Muslims and unbelievers praise her to this day. It takes great faith to go from Mary’s self assessment before to being blessed by all generations. But this has indeed happened.
Mary goes on to acknowledge that this was happening because of the LORD’s strength and not her own. She did not have the power to change anything. Until the visit of Gabriel announcing that she would be the mother of the Savior, I wonder if she though her fortunes would ever change. Joseph seeme to have been a godly man, but, he too was poor. There would have been a few good times, I am sure, but prospects were that their life would have been hard in Roman occupied Palestine. The One whose name is Holy cared about her, and had elevated her. This is certainly something to be praiseful for.
Mary then expands her song to include others, especially those who had lived like her in humble surroundings. He had also come to show mercy on all who have feared Him from all time. It is important that we see that we are blessed to bless. Mary’s child was not her own. The Savior wasn’t just her Savior, but the Savior of all who would believe in Him.
A dichotomy between the rich and the poor is next mentioned. God has a special love for those who are poor and contempt for those who are rich or make too much of their supposed elevated status. God by His power to scatter the imaginations of the proud. He puts them down from their high and mighty seats, and instead exalts the humble. Those who think themselves rich would leave empty, but the poor would be filled with good things.
Finally her song expands further out to include all Israel. He had helped Israel in the past, and He was come to help her now. God had promised this to father Abraham and his descendants. So in like manner, we are blessed and lifted up to bless our brothers and sisters in the LORD, and finally to spread this blessing to the uttermost parts of the earth.
When looking at the song of Mary, we see allusions to Isaiah 40 which promised the deliverance of Israel from exile. The crooked was to be mad straight. The mountains were to be lowered and the valleys filled. That which was rough would be made plain. This is how Israel was to prepare. Luke is especially sensitive about the themes of what we would call “economic justice.” In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus simply says: “Blessed be the poor.” Part of the idea of restoration of Israel was to level the playing field, with economic justice being one of the major themes. The rich tend to hoard money and abuse the poor. Money is the means to power in this world, but not in the Kingdom of God. The Old Testament ideal was all had equal share in the land of Canaan. The Law was addressed to deal with the inequities that would result. And result they did. Even David, the man after God’s own heart, took Uriah’s little ewe land, even though he already had many wives and then killed the man to cover it up. Ahab had many vineyards but desired Naboth’s, then killed the man and took his vineyard. The Old Testament is full of these things. These things were not going to continue in His Kingdom. These things will be realized in Heaven as all will walk down the same golden streets.
In saying these things, are we calling Jesus a “Socialist?” Many have though this to be the case and thought Jesus the prophet of the New World Order. The difference between Jesus and the Socialists is that Jesus did not try to implement His kingdom by force at this time but by humble service. The Socialists want to impose this new age by force of law, and whiled denying God entirely. So Jesus and the Old Testament prophets have been ripped out of context, a context where the Lord is King and put it in one which imagines themselves to be lord and king. They have made gods of themselves. But this song says that God opposes such hubris. He casts the ideas of men down and makes them utter foolishness. What is the result of “socialism?” the rich get richer, and everyone else is equally poor. Or as Orwell states in the conclusion of Animal Farm:” All animals are created equal, but some animals are created more equal than others.”
The church needs to follow the LORD in humble service. No greater act of humility can be found than it the words: “And the Word became flesh.” Jesus did this willingly, even though He was rightly the King of Glory. Humility cannot be forced on others. Forcing others into humble status is called “humiliation” not “humility.” True humility must come from within, not from without. God lifted two women up out of servile status and elevated them to great and eternal purpose. Are we lifting up the humble and meek or subjugating them in church. We should be enablers. God show here that the Word of God does come to women, and that they can become prophets. So why do some areas of the church hold them down? It seems that one who speaks the Word of God is one who is filled with the Holy Spirit and not whether they are male or female. It is unfortunate that some women have left preaching the Good News and preached some feminist gospel which is not good news at all, not even to women. The feminists are all to often interested in levelling men rather than equality. They want to humiliate men. But many men have also left the preaching the gospel as well. Does that disqualify all men because some were rotten? Women need to be held to the same standard.
Whether we are male of female, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, we must strive to be humble and meek in our service. And this must be from the heart. These are the people God raises to do great things in His Kingdom. We should not seek after the best seats in the church or the best title. Will these things impress our Heavenly Father? The world might praise you. The world praises the proud and oppresses the humble. Someday we might find out just how empty these man-made titles are. Would it not be better to just trust God to place you. If you are found faithful, you might be trusted with greater things.
