This sermon was delivered Gordon McCulloch to the congregation at Holy Trinity in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 23rd December 2018; Holy Trinity is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
Micah 5:2-5a Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) Canticle 15 Psalm 80:1-7
“Please join me in a short prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
1. Introduction
We have just heard in our gospel reading this morning, the passage of scripture known as Mary’s song, probably better known as the Magnificat … the Magnificat being one of the more powerful songs in our Christian walk of faith.
The late Professor William Barclay once wrote "There’s a loveliness in the Magnificat but in that loveliness there’s dynamite" … and its dynamite because it turns the world’s values upside down. … And I will give you an example; I read somewhere that in the last days of British Raj, there was a Christian community that was regularly visited by the police because of its known sympathies with Indian nationalism, and the then archbishop of Canterbury at the time, William Temple, went on to warn the church leaders not to include the Magnificat in his church services, telling them that "it’s a revolutionary canticle, that could provoke trouble". … So you like me, when we hear words of don’t do something, we have got to ask why; why not, what am I missing?
To understand the Magnificat we have to go back a week or so before it was composed to see its significance … where Mary herself was a simple peasant girl living in Nazareth, looking forward to her big wedding, probably with a gleam in her eyes, and a spring in her step. … She was to be married to Joseph, a respected local carpenter, a master tradesman … but he was also a special man, … a man descended from the royal line of David, and this would have been known.
Her wedding made her all excited, when suddenly she had a visitor … someone she’d never seen before, but someone who filled the room with an awesome presence, making her feel small and afraid. … She’d been visited by a heavenly being, the archangel Gabriel no less.
And this angel said to her in verse 28, “Hail, you are highly favoured, the Lord is with you: blessed art you among women”. … She wasn’t expecting that, eh! Can you imagine someone with that kind of presence and authority appearing unto any of us and saying, “you have found favour with God”? I mean, we would probably say something like, “well I have tried, I have tried very hard in fact”, but deep down, we know that in comparison to what is expected from us, and we have all failed. … And then … could you imagine that same person now treating us, as someone of great importance? … I certainly can’t, but that is what happened to Mary.
And so we can understand a little why Mary became troubled … a few moments ago she the happiest girl in town … and now some stranger, some otherworldly being, had singled her out for something that she was totally unprepared for … to be the mother of "the Son of the Most High", who would be given "the throne of his father David ... and whose kingdom will never end."
This is mind-blowing; it’s beyond her and our understanding, and then … she is told that the “the Holy Spirit will come upon” her, “and the power of the Most High will overshadow” her and impregnated her, despite being a virgin.
Holy Spirit …virgin … impregnated … Wow, this is too much, but Gabriel reassured her that "nothing is impossible with God", and then he went on to announce some startling family news that Mary’s much older cousin, Elizabeth … who had long given up hope of bearing children, was in fact already expecting a baby!
Anyway, with all this going on, Mary had no choice but to go and see Elizabeth, and share experiences, and try and make some sense of it all. … And this must have been so troublesome, as there where implications … because the Jewish Law could be brutal, condemning sex, and even children born out of wedlock.
And to add to all this … every Jew in the nation knew of this promised Messiah and here was Mary … to be his mother … and do you think she had the ability to raise such a child? … I don’t know, but these thoughts must have entered her mind as she journeyed to Jerusalem to visit Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah. And Zechariah by the way, was a priest … who had himself had an unexpected angelic visitation, but a visitation which left him blind. … That in a nutshell is the background to Mary’s Song, and what a background it is, but it highlights two important points, the first being a record of Mary’s personal testimony, and the second a prophetic testimony.
1. Mary’s personal testimony
As a testimony, well … have you ever listen to someone’s account of how they came to lord, particularly someone from a dodgy background. I find these accounts fascinating. I love them because you can actually see God at work in that person, resulting in a drastically changed life … a life of total trust in him. … I mean, the pathways of the individual may have varied, but the end result is the same … that person living for, (or trying their best to live), for the Lord, and him alone.
And in every case, there is confusion and a million questions to be answered … for Mary, she was sceptical at first, “this cannot be, I am a virgin” she said, before adding, I am to bring up the “son of the most high” … but somehow Mary accepted it and moved on, I don’t know how she did but she did … maybe it was because the angel Gabriel mildly rebuked her … telling her, "for nothing is impossible with God" … because she later went on to say in verse 38, "be it unto me according to thy word”.
Mary was now well on the road to faith, and she found solace in Elizabeth, and somehow burst into song, a song of praise to the Lord, the song we have just heard, putting together all she had just experienced; verse 46 … "My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant."
In becoming a believer, it’s not something that we do to be born again … it is an awareness within of what God has done in providing redemption for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the ability to come to Him in repentance and faith … the coming to him in all our weaknesses, knowing that he will forgive us, knowing that he will still love us, and knowing that he will take care of us one way or another, the way that only a believer can.
Mary put it this way, God is "mindful of our humble state" … and when I read that, I was quite surprised to see the word “mindful”, because I thought that was a modern word or expression, yet here is the Lord being mindful of our humble state, in other words he is looking after us, preparing us to meet with him, praise his holy name. … And we can’t contribute to this salvation; … because it’s through His mercy and His grace … that we “pass from darkness to light” … and “become a new creation”.
Mary was utterly amazed at what God was going to do, not only for her as the mother of Jesus, but because her Jesus, was God’s intervention into mankinds fallen state, and who would restore that relationship to God. … What a responsibility, and so Mary knew God was working His redemptive purposes out when she sang verse 50, "his mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation".
2. Prophetic testament.
What a revelation, his mercies endure to those who fear him, but enough of Marys testimony for now as the Magnificat was also and more importantly, a Prophetic testimony, because Mary is inspired by the Holy Spirit to reach back into the story of the human race: verse 51 that God "the Mighty One ... has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts".
And Mary was certainly inspired here, because Mary was thinking of what God had done over the previous millennia. Right back in the formative days of civilisation, where the proud Babylonians tried to dethrone God by building the Tower of Babel … only to find God thwarting their pathetic attempts by confusing their language … and resulting in them being scattered all over the earth.
And many centuries later as well, the Lord had to deal with the stubborn Pharaoh when he tried to prevent the young Israelite nation from regaining its freedom. … Even a series of plagues failed to break this cruel man’s determination to hold on to his cheap labour … but he ultimately met his end in the waters of the Red Sea … when the Jews scattered from Egypt.
And we see man’s arrogance again in 2nd Daniel verse 3 where the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is brought crashing down by the rock that is "not cut with human hands", symbolising the kingdom of God where the proud king failed to learn his lesson and was brought down to the state of an animal, losing his sanity until he repented in chapter 4. … And his son too, Belshazzar, in chapter 5, "was weighed in the scales and found wanting" … losing his throne and then his life. … And so the human story goes on, illustrating Mary’s words in verse 52 that God, "… has brought down rulers from their thrones" … and I supposed just like he has taken down the arrogant dictators and rulers of our modern age.
But Mary’s Song is full of hope for mankind too; it is an account of God’s mercy, love and faithfulness to "the humble" … because Mary tells us why and how it happened and is still happening, verse 54 & 55: "He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, (even as he said to our fathers)." … Mary’s message is that the coming of Jesus into the world is the fulfilment of God’s promises. … And we who believe in Jesus are now the family of God, and we too can call Abraham our ancestor.
And we all know that the Old Testament is full of prophecies about God sending the Messiah. The first veiled prophecy being made on the day of mankind’s Fall into sin in the garden of Eden, when the guilty pair were told that a redeemer would spring from "the seed" of the woman in Genesis 3:15. … And did you notice it was the seed of the woman, whereas one would normally speak of the seed of the man. … This is interesting, as many believe that this is the first confirmation of the Virgin Birth of Jesus, the second Adam, to be born of Mary. … And there are many more such prophetic verses throughout the Old Testament about the birth of the Messiah.
… And one of the greatest covenant promise concerned Abraham, who over a period of many years; set him apart, and started the Jewish nation … and in that context, Mary uses the words, “that he has helped thy servant" … helped thy servant to do the will of God … and that is reassuring for us, too, especially in our failures, as C S Lewis said perceptively: “A Christian isn’t someone who never goes wrong, but someone who is enabled to repent, and begin again after each stumble because of the inner working of Christ”. I like that because we all fail miserably from time to time if we are honest, but we are not to worry, as the Lord will pick us up, correct us and send us on our way.
God’s promises of his redemptive purposes were repeated in similar terms to Abraham’s immediate descendants and demonstrated by the Exodus deliverance. They are reiterated in the Psalms and the prophetic books … but the birth of Jesus did not come to pass until many hundreds of years later … at a time when the Jewish nation and their land had been conquered and trodden down by the great Roman Empire, that God decided to initiate his promises, and that is why Mary said in verse 54, "God is ’remembering to be merciful’ ... He hasn’t forgotten!"
Mary was sure that God had remembered, "to be merciful” ... as God never forgets, he cannot forget! We may pass through wilderness experiences but the Magnificat is a powerful reminder not to despair as God is a covenant-keeping God. In the Incarnation, he has given the final proof that all His promises are sure, that He is faithful to everything that he has ever promised.
And finally, who is to benefit.
And finally, who is to benefit from these "very great and precious promises", as 2nd Peter 1:4 puts it? … Well Mary’s Song makes it quite clear in verse 53 that: "He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty." These are the exact same terms of the Beatitudes, the opening sentences of the Sermon on the Mount; the condemning words spoken by Jesus against those the so-called self-righteousness; that they were the "rich" who were sent empty from which we see God’s values in reverse to those of this world.
Who then are the blessed? It’s those who know they are sinners but nevertheless “hunger and thirst after righteousness”. Even the apostle Paul cried out, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death"? … And then answering this question by saying, "thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" … And this then is the essential message of the Magnificat: that only in Jesus is our salvation complete.
And it’s by believing in Him and trusting in His redemptive sacrifice on the Cross that our sins are blotted out, and the wealth of God is paid into our account.
In this Advent time we can thank God for Mary and her willingness to comply with him, and likewise for us to come to Him in repentance and faith to say, in the words of the apostle Paul, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift", … and to say with Mary, "my soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour."
Amen.
