December 25, 2004 Luke 1:46-48
Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.
When the news media showed video tapes of people in Palestine rejoicing at the suicide bombings of 9-11, I was downright angry. The veil was lifted, and their true core was revealed. I thought, there are some people that are just plain butchers. They want nothing more than to destroy America. When I found out that Scott Peterson had dyed his hair and was found with thousands of dollars near the Mexican border, I thought to myself, “he’s got to be guilty.” The same rang true of O.J. Simpson when he was found fleeing from the murder scene.
In all of these cases, I made a judgment on people by the way they REACTED to something. That’s the police constantly do - they examine the reaction of those involved or near a crime. At Christmas, we examine the way someone responds to a gift - do they genuinely seem to appreciate the gift or do they put on a fake smile and say, “oh, thanks,” or do they say nothing at all? Reactions are important to us. They tell us a lot.
Today, we are going to take a look at Mary. She is just given a very wonderful compliment from her cousin Elizabeth - a woman who is much older than she. Usually it is the opposite, but listen to what Elizabeth had to say - Luke 1:42-45 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” Now - we look at Mary’s response. Does she say, “yeah, I know I’m good. Get on your knees woman, I’m the chosen one!” Not exactly. As we listen to her talk about herself, we’ll see that -
Mary’s Response Reflects the Truest Christmas Spirit
Obviously, Mary was excited about not only this greeting, but the whole sum of events that had transpired within the last week. She was going to give birth to the Savior of the world. As if it weren’t enough that she was filled with the Holy Spirit, the Son of God also decided to dwell within her womb as well. Anyone who even begins to understand the magnitude of this message cannot - just CANNOT - sit there with a stone face. I don’t care what memories Christmas brings about to you - the times you had with your grandma, spouse, or children - that may make you sad - there just has to be an underlying happiness SOMEWHERE within you. How can’t you at the very least smile at this message? God decided to become man to live and die for you! Yet there are some - I am afraid many - who don’t rejoice at this holiday - because they didn’t get enough gifts or the gifts they wanted. There are some who are angry and refuse to even usher a smile because they aren’t spending it with their family or because they have to work on this Day. There are some who look at coming to worship on this day as a chore rather than an opportunity. Their response to the message betrays what their feelings are toward God’s Son. They are selfish and self centered godless people who have become accustomed to basing their happiness on the things of this world. Christmas to them is not about Jesus - it’s about whether they have off work or not. It’s about family. It’s about gifts.
Mary’s response reflected the truest Christmas spirit. She said, My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Her response was not just a matter of mouthing words that she had learned how to recite. The whole song is a reflection of her knowledge of Scriptures. It is spoken with words. But it went deeper than her mouth or even her brain. It came from her SPIRIT. Martin Luther said that the Christian is made up of three entities. He compared the body to the Old Testament temple. He said the outer courtyard is equal to the body. The holy place is equal to the soul - where the thoughts and emotions of a person resides. He then compared the Most Holy Place to the Spirit within a person. When the Lord did not reside in the Most Holy Place, as is portrayed in God’s leaving of the temple in Ezekiel, the whole worship was then empty and worthless. The Holy Spirit needs to be present - you need to have the Most Holy Place. That’s what Mary was saying - “I’m not just rejoicing with my mouth over the fact that I’m having a baby. I’m rejoicing in my very soul and spirit - this is a very deep and spiritual thing to me! It has hit me in the inmost place - and I can’t help but rejoice at it.” It reminds me of Jesus’ response to those who told the children and people to keep quiet as he marched into Jerusalem. He said, “if they keep quiet - then the rocks will rejoice!” (Luke 19:40) Mary was so struck on the inside by this greeting and everything that had transpired - it struck to her very spirit within.
That’s what I’m getting at with Christmas. It’s got to get deeper than the gifts and the family and where you are on this Day. It’s got to be a SPIRITUAL thing - a message that goes deeper than potatoes and presents and work. It is a message for that is for your SOUL and your SPIRIT. Get beyond the peripherals and get to the SPIRITUAL aspect of it.
So what did Mary’s SOUL and SPIRIT rejoice in? First of all, Mary said, My soul glorifies the Lord. When I was first installed as Pastor here and being introduced, I was overwhelmed and somewhat embarrassed and somewhat enjoyed the hearty welcome I received. In the spirit of the moment, I committed a terrible sin. I failed to recognize my wife or so much as mention her. She had to insert herself into the scene and tease me about not mentioning her. That response probably said to her, “he is a thankless and self-centered man.” I received the glory for myself instead of sharing it like I should have. Mary did not want the glory. She did not receive it. Instead, her first response was to GLORIFY the LORD. To glorify means to “make great” - to kind of put the spotlight on and magnify it - so that people see it for what it is. It’s kind of sad, isn’t it, that Mary should even have to do such a thing? I mean, anyone with even a slight amount of eyesight would realize that a virgin being with child is a miracle from GOD. An eternally loving, kind, and forgiving God should need no magnifying. His name and reputation should shine forth in our eyes like the sun on a mid-July day. Yet we are so blind and so focused on the things of this world that we need someone like Mary to point our eyes to the skies and say, “hey - look up THERE - look up at the LORD for this one - not me!”
Do you know what’s really interesting about this initial response? She glorifies the Lord just for who He is. She doesn’t start by mentioning ANYTHING that the Lord has done. She is just happy to magnify the Lord for being the Lord. He could be solely a God of wrath. He could be solely a self centered God. But the Lord is so much more than that. He is the Lord - the compassionate and gracious God.
The truest Christmas spirit glorifies God for being who He is. True faith - in keeping with the 1st Commandment - if we had it in the RAWEST SENSE - would be able to glorify God for NO REASONS - even if God were completely separate from us - never in contact with us with any gifts. It is the ability to say, “God, I will magnify you and glorify you because I know you are good - even without any presents - any family - any gifts - or even any Savior or heaven.” Adam and Eve were able to praise and glorify God before they ever needed a birth, death, or resurrection of Christ. Their praise of God by not eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was not based on a reward - although there was one involved. Since they were already righteous and holy and living in Paradise they could simply praise God for being God. We will never have such a raw faith this side of heaven - because we don’t have that raw righteousness - that in-born purity where we can just praise God for being God. Since we are born as sinners and live in a world of sin, we need a God who GIVES us holiness, righteousness and forgiveness. If we don’t have a God who GIVES - then we simply CANNOT praise Him in an acceptable way - and we never can this side of heaven.
Even though Mary’s initial praise of God contains a raw and pure faith, Mary couldn’t praise God solely for this either. She was not born holy - without sin. This is evident as she continues on. And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. The ultimate reason that her Spirit rejoiced was because God had sent a Savior for HER. Mary’s faith lay hold of this Savior and said, “this is also MY Savior. He is coming for ME - to live and die for me! That’s why all of these events mean so much to me.” The truest Christmas spirit needs to take hold of this Christmas message and act as if you were the only person alive in the world - as if you were Mary - and Jesus was being born through you and FOR you. If you can’t put Jesus in your womb - in your inner most being - in your very Spirit and say, “Jesus is MY Savior,” then this Savior will do you no good. The reason we rejoice this Christmas is the Lord was not stingy and judging - as He had every right to be. He was generous and giving - in sending His ONLY Son to live and die for each and every one of us. The Christmas story says that long before Jesus ever entered us, we entered Him - as He put on our flesh and our sins and lived and died with our reputation and salvation on His shoulders. The Holy Spirit is saying to you this morning, “I know that you cannot praise me in the rawest sense. That’s why I came to give you the greatest gift of all - I came to be YOUR Savior. I will accept your praise of Me - in fact - it needs to be because of the Savior.” There is no other praise that is accepted. It has to come through the Savior.
Mary realized that God could have chosen any queen, and well renowned believer in Israel at that time. As she looked at her young age and poverty, she was in awe that God would be so kind to single her out as to honor her with the title of “the mother of God.” So she went on to praise the Lord, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. Now, there are some who would be so blind as to read this as saying, “God was mindful of me because I was so humble.” So they think to themselves, “how can I be as humble as Mary? Perhaps I should take a vow of poverty. Maybe I could walk around with my head down and join a convent called ‘St. Mary’s?” Others think that they can achieve this by sitting in the back of the church instead of the front or by denying themselves a nice car or a tasty donut from time to time. The whole concept shows how ignorant and blind we can be. The very nature of humility is that it doesn’t want recognition - doesn’t expect recognition. So if you go through certain steps to try and be humble so that you will get recognized by God - aren’t you in fact trying to take pride in your humility? How can you say to God, “please look at my humility and recognize how humble I am.”
Mary mentions her humble state AFTER the Lord had given her this gift - not before. She wasn’t expecting it or asking for it or working for it. It simply happened without her asking or working for it. All she was doing was serving the Lord in faith. She would have been happy to continue serving God without being given such an honor. Yet that He minded her - actually thought of HER- made her praise him all the more. The truest Christmas spirit is happy to serve God without expecting any thanks or reward from God or anyone else. When it does happen, we simply thank God all the more.
Bear with me a little more. This text is so full of stuff - it’s a virtual overload. But let me mention one other point. When Mary received God in her womb, she realized that this kind of gift wasn’t something she could keep locked up in her garage. When Elizabeth was pregnant she stayed in seclusion for the next six months until she gave birth. I wonder whether this was to keep herself from pride and not tempt her to flaunt this wonderful gift from God. It kind of reminds me of the farmers back in Norton. Whenever they buy a new truck or combine or something, they are hesitant to bring it out or tell anyone about it. I’m not quite sure why that is - but I think a part of it is they don’t want the other farmers to get jealous over what they’ve got and they don’t want to come off as arrogant. So they keep it to themselves as long as possible, or just don’t buy new trucks so as not to come off as being better than their neighbors. It seems rather ridiculous to a point - almost like a false modesty. If God has blessed you with the ability to get a new truck and you are still generous with your offerings and giving, why can’t you let people see your gift from God? Why can’t you use it? As long as you aren’t arrogant and flashy about it, why not enjoy it? Let them look at it and do the “oohs and aahs.”
Mary realized that there is no way she could keep this gift hidden in a garage - that it wasn’t just a gift for her - but for the world. She had to admit the bare truth of the matter - she had been given a wonderful gift. She said, From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. Soon after she gave birth, she would realize what a PUBLIC thing this was. Shepherds first came and then told all kinds of people about it. So they came and saw the baby. Then Wise Men came some months later. Here she had all these strangers coming in their house and visiting the manger on the same night as the birth, but she didn’t say, “come back tomorrow - I just gave birth for crying out loud.” She knew that all generations would know about this birth, and so she wanted to make sure that they kept the praise where it belonged - to the Mighty One - for doing great things for her. She didn’t want any of the credit.
Luther said, “When men accord us praise and honor, we ought to profit by the example of the Mother of God and at all times arm ourselves with this verse to make the proper reply and to use such honor and praise correctly. We should openly say, or at least think in our heart: ‘O Lord God, Thine is this work that is being praised and celebrated. Thine be also the name. Not I have done it but Thou, who art able to do all things, and holy is Thy name.’ We ought neither to reject this praise and honor as though they were wrong, nor to despise them as though they were nothing, but refuse to accept them as too precious or noble, and ascribe them to Him in heaven, to whom they belong. Luther, M. (1999, c1956). Vol. 21)
That is the truest Christmas spirit. As people tend to thank you for whatever things you do for them this Christmas - remember who gave you the ability to sing, to memorize, to give. It all comes from God - to Him be the glory for all your gifts. The truest Christmas spirit remembers that the greatest gift of all is the blessing that we have through Mary. It’s in the fact that God has let us into the stable with the shepherds to see this thing that has come to pass - that God has blessed our generations through His gift to Mary - that God has done great things for us - in providing us with a Savior. Holy is His name.
When people respond with a knee jerk reaction - it tells a lot about what’s on their inside. If you talk about being strong and tough in a time of trial, but then cry and freak out at an overdue bill, it betrays your lack of faith on the inside. Our responses to both gifts and trials all too often how weak we really are in spirit. Our lack of happiness at Christmas betrays that we don’t have the truest Christmas spirit as we should. Mary was a sinner, yet her response is so much greater than most of us would ever respond to such a gift.
Mary’s response reflected what was on her inside - in her spirit. It reflects a truer Christmas spirit - one that is willing and ready to rejoicing in the Lord and magnify His name for the mighty things He does for us. No matter what you DON’T have this Christmas - remember what you do have all you need - a Savior - He is Christ the Lord. The message of Christmas is for you - weak as you are - sad as you are - sinful as you are - this is YOUR Savior too - because He came to die for the sins of the world. When you have faith in this - no matter how sad or weak you are - you have the Christmas spirit and it still saves. Yet as we look at Mary’s response, we see a reflection of a more genuine and true Christmas spirit which is able to simply say, “my soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God MY Savior.” Oh, that God would make spiritual Marys of all of us through faith in the same Savior. Amen.
