Theme: Songs after Silence
Text: Luke 1:46-55
Greetings: The Lord is good and his love endures forever.
Introduction: Everyone loves to listen to Christmas carols. Carols make the Christmas season so special and memorable.Can you imagine Christmas without Christmas carols? There was around four hundred years never heard of joyful celebrations, continuous daily sacrifices to the LORD. There was not an organised worship of YHWH.
400 years of Silence: The inter-testamental period between the Old and New Testaments are the years of Silence. It commenced with the end of the book of Malachi and concluded with the ministry of John the Baptist. The years of silence began in 420 BC ended at 20 AD. The Jews believe prophecy ceased at this time.
Illustration: I have two daughters Shammah and Rhema. Shammah is Old Testament name and Rhema is New Testament name. My professor asked me, where is the inter testament baby?
During this period, Israel was being conquered and reconquered numerous times. It was the Second Temple period, rebuilt after the exile, and destroyed in 70 AD. During this period the Hebrew Bible (TANAKH)was translated into Greek by the Septuagint (70 Writers) because of the Hellenistic Greek culture. The Maccabean revolution in 168 BC was a notable event. Judas Maccabees (“The Hammer”) established the Hasmonean dynasty, not of the Davidic line. There were several Groups emerged among Jews such as, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots.The book of the Jubilees like Rabbinic literature were written. The Jewish commentary tradition known as the Midrash had begun during this period. The Romans Empire brought an end to the Hasmonean kingdom, and installed a puppet kingdom with an Edomite named Herod. The greatest lesson is we have to be faithful even when we feel like God is silent.
Five Songs of Luke: The Gospel of Luke is the longest and most comprehensive of the four Gospels has several features which the other Gospels do not have. One such a uniquefeature is the three canticles of Mary’s Magnificat, of Zechariah’ Benedictus, and of Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis. Luke records five songs in his first two chapters. Two by women, two by men, and one by the heavenly angels. Henry Burton, A Poet, says, ‘these two chapters are the entryway tothe grand cathedral of the Gospel. As you enter the doors to this cathedral, the first thing you encounter is glorious music.’
Mary’s Magnificat: The song of Mary is found in Luke 1:46-55. Mary’s song is called ‘The Magnificat’ meaning “my soul magnifies the Lord” in Latin. Mary’s song is all about magnifying Jesus Christ as Lord.
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings. . . . This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols.”
The Mary’s Magnificat teaches us that Our Songs must be have Scriptural Focus, Spiritual Focus, and Societal Focus.
1. Songs with Scriptural Focus
Mary’s Magnificat profoundly teaches us our personal walk with Christ is more powerful. Her song is “saturated with Scripture.” Her composition of this song has the words drawn from Genesis 12:1-3; 17:19; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14, Psalms 22, 44, 103 and 1 Samuel 2:1-10.
Rev. Dr. Judith Jones (Vicar of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Churches, USA), compares the life of Mary and Hannahfound in Luke 1:46-55 & 1 Samuel 2:1–10. He says, “Both Hannah and Mary praise God for overturning society’s structures by bringing down the powerful and lifting up the powerless. God fills the hungry not only with hope, but with food.”
Mary’s Magnificat has lots of Scriptural quotes including the theological understanding of the promises of God to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:19; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). We can understand that If God does not fulfil His promises to Israel, He might not even fulfil His promises to none. God always fulfils all of His promises. Mary praises the Lord in this song that God chose her to be the instrument of His saving act, to be the mother of the messiah. The song relates her to the experience of God’s salvation, mercy, deliverance, and hope in the fulfilment of His promises. Mary magnifies the Lord.
‘Mary provides a template for prayer, certainly not of wishful thinking but of faith, through it we see God’s promise fulfilled for Mary and consequently for all of Israel through the birth of her Son, giving readers consolation in the reality of God’s love and mercy having the last word’ (Andrea Vasquez, University of Dallas).
The words of Mary’s song certainly are “God’s Word” as we read in Luke 1:48: “From now on all generations will call me blessed”? Mary’s blessedness is not like the “Blessed” of our generation which means living a life of privilege and comfort. Using the term has become a way of celebrating those moments when everything is going well and all seems right with the world of an individual.
These words certainly are prophetic, and they have been fulfilled. Mary could have safely anchored her faith in the deduction in theology connecting to the angel’s annunciation. Mary knew that God had blessed her, chosen her to be the human vessel for the eternal Son of God who would incarnate through her. Mary understood in her spirit that she would be forever known as blessed for this singular role she played in God’s plan of salvation. (Curtis A. Jahn, Joint Metro-North and Metro-South Pastoral Conference).The role we play may not be appreciated immediately but remembered by God’s people for generations.
2. Songs with Spiritual Focus
The Magnificat of Mary consists of Four Stanzas. The first Stanza Praises God (Luke 1:46-47), Second focuses the Personal Benefits she received (Luke 1:48-49), third focuses with the Public Benefits (Luke 1:50-53), and the fourth recallsthe Abrahamic covenantal Benefit to Israel (Luke 1:54-55). However, Mary’s Magnificat ended abruptly.
The abrupt end of the Magnificat is purposeful. It serve as afirst Stanza of millions of Carols to follow down the centuries. Now we have more Hymns, songs, choruses added, and being added. Mary could had sang many more stanzas throughout her life, and the men and women of God throughout generations used the words of Scripture. Your life is a stanza in the greatest song ever written. You are part of a divine symphony (Jeremy Myers).
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”. The soul is the root and seat of our emotions. It refers to our inner self, our emotional centre (Psalm 6:3; 10:3). It is through our souls that we relate personally and emotionally with other people. The spirit is not our emotional side. It relates to God. It knows who God is, what He is, what He wants from us, what God he has done for us, and all that He has given to us.
Some scholars would like to say that the Mary’s Magnificat could be the Elizabeth’s Magnificat. ‘They compare Hannah and Elizabeth who shared the same context and challenges. They have been childless for a long period of their married life; both dedicated their child as a Nazirite; both bear a child who will “anoint” a future king’ (Andrea Vasquez, University of Dallas).
True worshippers worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). True worship based upon the foundation of the Word of God, their emotions and feelings of the soul get involved.True worship of God does not focus on feelings, but on what God has done for us, and what God has given to us. Worship must be inclusive of class, gender, and race, without diminishing personal and national identities and integrity. Worship leads people to a vision of an inclusive and just community and a full life in Christ.
3. Songs have Societal focus
C.S. Lewis called the Magnificat “a terrible song”. He meant it in the deeper Latin sense of the word terribilis, meaning something awe-some, awe-inspiring, chilling, and terrifying in its vision of God’s rebuking the proud, the powerful, and the rich in favor of exalting probably many of the very same people who had previously been exploited by the proud, the rich, and the powerful.
“Mary’s song functions as a prelude to the Lucan theme of reversal, the gospel itself hinging on the reversal of life over death and the Magnificat thus giving us a foretaste of the greatest reversal of all, Jesus’s resurrection,” “Hannah too dedicated the majority of her song to contemplating and delighting in the reversals that characterize God’s might and mercy.” (Andrea Vasquez, University of Dallas).
Ashley Hooker, a writer, “Mary’s song has strong moral, social, and economic threads throughout. It is woven within her powerful words as she praises God for the blessing he has bestowed upon her.” Firstly, it conveys a moral revolutionary thought, “He has done a mighty deed with his arm, he has scattered the proud.” (Luke 1:51).Secondly, it is a social revolutionary frame of mind, “He has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly” (Luke 1:51). Lastly, it’s an economic revolution, “He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:53). That’s why Simeon told: “This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel … and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34–35).
Rev. Dr. Judith Jones, Vicar St. Stephen’s Episcopal Churches, USA: Mary’s Lord lifts up the lowly and grantsthem dignity and honor, a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation. God shows strength by disrupting the world’s power structures, dethroning rulers, and humbling the mighty.Our society puts a lot of importance on prestige and wealth. The more we have the better we are. God is proving that the world’s labels and prestige are not important to him. He is looking at the heart of a person, as he did with Mary.
Kairos Centre published article states that the Government of Guatemala in 1980s banned any public recitation of Mary’s Magnificat due to the subversive nature of Mary’s Song.
Conclusion: What about our carols, do we aim at something? Are our selection of songs have scriptural values, spiritual focuses and social appeals? In our days we have folk (Gana) singers charge the listeners with lots of sensation, thinking, revolutionary thoughts and disturbances to the societal structure to have a positive change. May our songs, carols bring new enthuse, new life, Amen.
