THE MAGNIFICAT
The Magnificat is one of the most beautiful songs of the Christian faith - it’s Mary’s Song. William Barclay writes: "There’s a loveliness in the Magnificat but in that loveliness there’s dynamite." It’s revolutionary because the world’s values are turned upside down. I read that in the last days of British India a Christian community was sometimes visited by the police because of its known sympathies with Indian nationalism. The then archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, warned the church leader not to include the Magnificat in his church services, telling him, "It’s a most revolutionary canticle!" We shall see.
To understand Mary’s Song we have to go back a week or two before it was composed to see it’s significance. Mary was a simple peasant girl who lived in Nazareth. But there was a gleam in her eyes and a spring in her step as she was looking forward to her wedding day. She was already engaged and soon would be married to Joseph, the local carpenter. But not only was he a solid craftsman, he was rather special because he was descended from the royal line of David, the great king of Israel of a thousand years before.
I wonder if you’ve had the experience when quite alone and suddenly being conscious that someone is there? It can be frightening! That happened to Mary. She had a visitor, someone she’d never seen before. The ordinary little room was filled with an awesome presence making her feel small and insignificant and afraid. She’d been visited by a heavenly being, the archangel Gabriel.
"Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). She was troubled! Why did he address her as if she were someone of importance? A few moments ago she had felt herself to be the happiest girl in town - she was going to be the bride of the man she loved. But now some strange otherworldly being had singled her out for a role that she was utterly unprepared for. "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God." He went on to tell her that she was going to have a baby, but no ordinary baby. She was going to give birth to "the Son of the Most High." He would be given "the throne of his father David ... his kingdom will never end."
This was something mind-blowing; it’s beyond her understanding. We can imagine her asking anxiously, "How will this happen? I am still a virgin." The answer was quite clear: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Gabriel reassured her that "nothing is impossible with God" as he announced some startling family news: Mary’s much older cousin, Elizabeth, who had given up hope of bearing children, was in fact expecting a baby! There was only one thing for Mary to do - to go and see Elizabeth. What a wise decision that was!
Human beings are not self-sufficient. Especially in the crises of life, it’s wise to have someone to turn to for advice. Let’s face it, we’re all going to meet some dilemma when we’ll feel confused and uncertain. Of course we’re still responsible for our own decisions but it’s often beneficial "to bounce off" ideas and problems with an experienced Christian, someone who may well have trodden the same path in their own spiritual pilgrimage and who can stand back and appraise the situation and give confidential advice. Nowadays this person is often known as a mentor, a spiritual director, and could easily be a pastor or elder.
Mary certainly had a lot to talk over with Elizabeth. She’d been told she was to have a child but Joseph, her fiancée wasn’t to be the father! What would be the implications? The Jewish Law was quite explicit in condemning this. Every Jewish girl knew of the promised Messiah. But such thoughts were not remotely part of her agenda. Why should she be the one to be the mother of the Messiah, and especially in these extraordinary circumstances? And so Mary journeyed south to Jerusalem to Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, a priest who himself had had an unexpected angelic visitation.
That’s the fascinating background to Mary’s Song, the Magnificat. In thinking about it, there are two important aspects. The first is that it’s a record of Mary’s:
PERSONAL TESTIMONY
Listening to someone’s account of how they came to faith is most interesting and instructive. The end result, the reaching of the goal of trust in God, is the same, but the pathway varies with each individual. There are often stages to be passed through. When Gabriel made his announcement to Mary, quite frankly, she was incredulous; she was sceptical. The thing was so staggering, so amazing that she couldn’t receive it. She began to question the archangel, "How will this be...?" she gasped. In fact, she virtually suggested that what he was saying was quite impossible.
Mary had good reason to do so, for she completed her question by stating categorically, "since I am a virgin. It’s impossible, how can I bear a child? I’m not married, I’ve never known a man." Her relationship with Joseph was pure and undefiled. Matthew’s Gospel that also majors on the Incarnation bears witness in delicate but unmistakable terms that when the girl "was found to be with child ...His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together" (Matt 1:18). I think it’s sad that some liberal theologians have taken it upon themselves to take wholly unwarranted liberties with the sacred text in denying the Virgin Birth of Jesus. Of course, everyone is free to make his or her own assessment but one day will have to account for it.
So we see that Mary’s first reaction was questioning, even doubting. I don’t think that God is worried when we have serious questions to ask about faith. It’s been truly said that "Christianity is the most amazing system of truth in the world or that the world has ever seen." It’s God’s truth so it’s no wonder that human minds are often baffled. God knows that we’re fallen beings. But the important thing is that we should be open to and respond to God’s revelation and like Mary to move on. Gabriel mildly rebuked Mary in her doubting mode, telling her, "For nothing is impossible with God."
Mary accepted the revelation as she acknowledged, "I am the Lord’s servant ... May it be to me as you have said." She was on the road to faith, perhaps not quite there, but willing to learn and understand. There’s an important lesson here for all Christians. We’re not always clear as to what God is doing with our lives. His ways are mysterious and sometimes perplexing or even painful, yet we’re called upon to submit to His "good and acceptable and perfect will" (Rom 12:2). Mary was progressing in her spiritual pilgrimage. But it doesn’t matter if our understanding is immediate or over a period of time – it’s the end result that’s important.
I read a story which illustrates this. There were two men going on a journey, walking along a road, but at a different time of the day. When the first set out there was gentle drizzle that kept on throughout the journey and he arrived at his destination wet through. The other man set out in glorious sunshine and it kept fine almost the whole of the journey but suddenly the sky darkened and there was a cloudburst. In a few moments he was soaked to the skin. They both arrived at their destination thoroughly wet. It took a long time in one case; it happened suddenly in the second. That’s a little parable of coming to an understanding of God’s truth. Sometimes it can take a little longer for "the penny to drop." It doesn’t matter how or when: the vital question is, has it happened to you?
The wonderful truth of the Incarnation dawned on Mary when she heard the words of Elizabeth, the expectant mother of John the Baptist. She saw it and burst out in a song of praise to God, "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’s an awareness of what God has done in providing redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s coming to Him in repentance and faith.
In the terms that Mary used, it’s becoming "mindful of our humble state." We can’t make any contribution to our salvation. It’s all of His mercy and grace. We pass from darkness to light (1 Pet 2:9), becoming a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Mary was utterly amazed at what God was going to do, not only for her, for she was to be the vehicle for God’s intervention into mankind’s fallen state.
Perhaps Mary only had a glimmering of the coming Redeemer in Jesus, but she knew God was working out His redemptive purposes when she sang, "His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation." The Magnificat was her Personal Testimony, but it’s more than that, because it’s also a:
PROPHETIC TESTAMENT
Mary is inspired by the Holy Spirit to reach back into the story of the human race: "(God), the Mighty One ... has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts." Just think of what God had done over the previous millennia. Right back in the formative days of civilisation, the early Babylonians, in their proud hearts, had tried to dethrone God by symbolically building the Tower of Babel. But Jehovah thwarted their pathetic scheming by confusing their language, resulting in their being scattered over the earth.
Many centuries later 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 source of cheap labour. Ultimately he met his "Waterloo" in the waters of the Red Sea. It’s true to say "Man proposes but God disposes!" Psalm 2 asks "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ... The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them" (1,3).
We see man’s arrogance rearing its ugly head in Daniel where the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is brought crashing down by the rock "not cut with human hands" (2:34), symbolising the kingdom of God. The proud king failed to learn his lesson and was brought down to the state of a brute animal, losing his sanity until he repented (ch 4). His son, Belshazzer, too, "was weighed in the scales and found wanting," losing his throne and his life (ch 5). And so the human story goes on, illustrating Mary’s words, "He (God) has brought down rulers from their thrones." He always has the last word – still in the 21st century. In our lifetime we’ve seen many dictators arrogantly strutting the world stage but eventually they are discredited and topple from power.
But Mary’s Song is full of hope for mankind. The second part of this Prophetic Testament is an account of God’s mercy, love and faithfulness to "the humble." Mary tells us why and how it happened and is still happening: "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. We who believe in Jesus are now the family of God, and can call Abraham our ancestor.
The Old Testament is full of prophecies about God sending the Messiah. The first veiled prophecy was made on the day of mankind’s Fall into sin when the guilty pair were told that a redeemer would spring from "the seed" of the woman (Gen 3:15) – incidentally, notice it was of the woman, whereas one would normally speak of the man. This is a clear confirmation of the Virgin Birth of Jesus. But the great covenant promise concerning redemption was made in its most explicit form to Abraham. This founding father of the nation of Israel went much through the same process as Mary in coming to a realisation of what God was going to do in and through him.
In Abraham’s case it was over a period of many years from his being called to leave his Chaldean homeland to emigrate to Canaan. Abraham’s spiritual pilgrimage was by no means straightforward, for he often stumbled in carrying out the vision God had given him. But God remains faithful to His promises. This comes out in the words used by Mary: "He has helped his servant." How reassuring for us, too, in our failures and falling short of God’s standards. C S Lewis said perceptively: “A Christian isn’t one who never goes wrong, but one who is enabled to repent and begin again after each stumble because of the inner working of Christ.”
God made a tremendous statement to Abraham at the commencement of his journey: "I will make you into a great nation ... and you will be a blessing ... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:2) and it was reinforced years later. He called Abraham one night and said "Come out of your tent; stand here, look at the stars in the heavens: can you count them? Imagine that you are looking at the sand on the seashore: can you count the individual granules?" "Then he said to him, ’So shall your offspring be’" (15:5). The writer of the book of Genesis was inspired to write, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (15:6). The same words were quoted approvingly by the apostle Paul (Rom 4:3). For many years it seemed impossible that the promise would be fulfilled but eventually Isaac was born, and so the route map of salvation history was confirmed.
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. Of course many hundred of years elapsed and the Messiah hadn’t appeared. At the time when Mary was visiting Elizabeth the Jews and their land had been conquered and trodden down by the great Roman Empire. Had God forgotten his promises? Mary says "No! God is ’remembering to be merciful’ ... He hasn’t forgotten!"
God’s timing doesn’t coincide with our expectations. It’s foolish to judge God in terms of our calendars. The apostle Peter admonishes his readers for despairing as to God’s ultimate establishment of His Kingdom: "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise" (2 Pet 3:8,9). He knows exactly what He is doing. The first coming of Jesus was: "When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman" (Gal 4:4), and the same principle applies to the Second Coming of our Lord.
Mary was sure that God had remembered "to be merciful ... even as he said to our fathers." God never forgets, he cannot forget! We may pass through wilderness experiences but the Magnificat is a powerful reminder not to despair. 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 He has ever promised.
But who is to benefit from these "very great and precious promises"? (2 Pet 1:4). Mary’s Song makes it quite clear: "He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty." These are exactly the terms of the Beatitudes, the opening sentences of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus condemned those who thought that, by their own actions, they merited God’s praise. In fact their so-called righteousness was fatally flawed; they were the "rich" who were sent empty away. God’s values are in reverse to those of this world.
Who are the blessed? It’s those who know they are sinners but nevertheless hunger and thirst after righteousness. We can’t make ourselves righteous. Perhaps the world’s most famous Christian, the apostle Paul cried out, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" He gives the answer: "Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom 7:24). This is the essential message of the Magnificat: that only in Jesus is there salvation. It’s by believing in Him and trusting in His redemptive sacrifice on the Cross that our sins may be blotted out. It’s then that the wealth of God is put to my account. "He has filled the hungry with good things" - clothed with the righteousness of Christ, filled with a sense of peace towards God.
In this Advent time we can thank God for Mary and her willingness to hear and obey Gabriel’s message of the coming Messiah. He has come. It’s now left to us, having come to Him in repentance and faith to say, in the words of the apostle Paul, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift" (2 Cor 9:15) and to say with Mary, "My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(The preparation of this sermon was assisted by reference to "Christmas Sermons" by D Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Bryntirion Press, 1998, ISBN 1 85049151 8)
