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Luke 1:45 – 55
“He Has!”
Introduction: Protestant churches tend to shy away from Mary at the Christmas season. We what to ignore the unique individual and the unique role she has in history. This is her song that has become known as the “Magnificat.” In this song, she directs our attention to God. She makes 10 “He has” statements, six of them are direct and four are implied. They are an expression of adoration and joy to the work of God in history, the present, and future. Let’s catagorize these “He has” statements.
I. He has seen the need.
A. Mary recognizes that God is at work.
1. The events described up to this point can only happen through divine intervention into human events.
2. The angel Gabriel had announced the Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” [Luke 1:31 – 33]
3. That doesn’t happen every day.
B. Mary remembers that God is at work.
1. What does she see?
a. She sees the historical precedent... God has worked this way before.
b. She sees the current pattern... God is following the pattern of who He is and what He has promised.
c. She sees the future prediction... God is going to continue to work the way He has in the past.
2. Mary see the future as past.
a. Imagine being able to travel into the future and watch the Detroit Lions win the Super Bowl next year. You could confidently be a Lions fan, even though people would think you are crazy. (That’s what John did in the book of Revelation.)
b. What God has promised is a “done deal.” So every time Mary says “He has...” she means God has worked this way before, is working now, and will work this way in the future.
***** Mary is rejoicing because the true need of people everywhere is being met. We talk about “felt needs.” These are the needs that get our attention and sometimes are painful. They are the ones that motivate us through life. However, the “felt need” is seldom the “real need.” We can feel the need to be loved, have more money, be better liked, have more control (like over eating or shopping habits). Those things will make us “feel” better but will not solve the critical issue. You see...
II. He has stepped into the need.
A. God decided to pull three “rip cords” (The cord that opens the parachute so the person does not go “splat” when they hit the ground.) At Christmas.
1. He has lifted the humble [48, 52] (and lowered the proud [51 – 52]).
a. Spiritually we are naturally bankrupt. (Romans 3:10)
b. The only way to lift the humble was to identify with us. This means he became a human, got sweaty, dirty, tired, hungry, thirsty, etc... all this was to destroy the one who holds us in captivity through sin and death [Hebrews 2:14].
2. He filled the needy [53] (and emptied the rich [53]).
a. Spiritually, if you think you can make it on you own... You are not only taking a huge risk, you are absolutely wrong. (Romans 3:23)
b. The only way fill the needy was to give us what we could not have by ourselves. That’s why Jesus shed His blood on the cross.
3. He gives mercy to the desperate [50, 54].
a. Spiritually we are in a “free fall.” (The part where the parachute is not open.)
b. Sin is fun [Hebrews 11:25]... for a season. The problem is that sin always has consequences [Galatians 6:7]... and they are unpleasant [Romans 6:23].
(ill.) National Geographic reported that a 13-foot Burmese python swallowed a 6-foot alligator in Florida . The consequences were lethal, as the gator split the snake open from the inside out, literally. That’s like what sin does to us. We think we have something great, until it destroys us from the inside out.
B. God offers to receive us as His own.
1. He became one of us for a reason.
a. God is not some distant, hands off, don’t care, kill joy.
b. God knows what it is like to suffer when we are tempted [Hebrews 2:18]
2. He makes us an offer that only the willfully stubborn and terminally stupid could resist.
a. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” [John 1:12]
1.) You can become the children of the most important, powerful, loving person in the universe!
2.) It starts with the kind of belief that changes the way you think and do things.
b. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...” [Romans 8:1 7a]
1.) Heirs have certain legal rights... Such as access to the resources of the family.
2.) Heirs have certain standing because of the family name... based on the resources of the family.
***** God knows that we are helpless on our own. So He has done something about the helpless by starting human life as an absolutely helpless baby; born to a poor, unwed, and probably socially rejected/humiliated young woman (possibly teenager) named Mary. He had done this so we can say...
III. He has saved the needy.
A. However, you must react to God’s initiative.
1. Look at Mary’s example:
a. [v 45] Elizabeth points out that Mary “believed.”
b. [v 38] Mary’s reaction to the God’s will for her life was to submit.
(ill.) Someone once said that the most popular prayer in the world is “thy will be changed.” Mary’s prayer was “thy will be done.” Calvin Miller put it this way: “He started the whole adventure of Christianity in Nazareth. Nazareth? Yes, Nazareth. Why Nazareth? Because there He found a women who was completely yielded to His purpose for her life. Great works of God rarely start in big places. Rather, they start in small places -- in some person with a big commitment.” [From “The Christ of Christmas” (Broadman & Holman)]
c. [v 47] Mary was able to rejoice. This was not an easy thing.
1.) Remember she risked Joseph asking for the law to be fulfilled (she would die) or abandoning her.
2.) You can only imagine what her parents thought, said, and did (sort of like what happens now?).
3.) Society does not forgive either... “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary...” [Matthew 13:55a]
B. You must become reverent toward God.
1. God WANTS to work in your life.
a. It was a huge risk to step down from heaven, with all of its good things, to get sweaty, dirty, tired, hungry, thirsty, etc... for people who would more likely than not reject Him.
b. God took the risk because even if you were the only one, you are worth it. (Hard to believe, eh?)
2. God WANTS to extend mercy to you.
a. The fact that you can not save yourself should make you happy... The pressure is off! You don’t have to stress about being good enough anymore. (Nothing wrong with working hard at being good, it’s just it won’t save you.)
b. The fact that Jesus did what you could not do for yourself is humbling. You know what, we all need help sometime...
(ill) I hate to admit it but I actually asked for directions once. I was driving through Chicago and the Interstate was detoured. I ended up who knows where. I think it might have been a place where you have to actually be lost to find. Ok, I admit it... asked for directions twice. The first gas station attendant wasn’t interested in helping me (even though I filled up at his station). The second attendant took mercy on me and gave me directions. Do you know how hard that is for a guy? It doesn’t happen every day. And I had to do it twice! I desperately needed help, so much so that I was willing to swallow my pride, just long enough to get help. I’d still be in Chicago 25 years later looking for a way out of the rat maze... (I can see the rats in lab coats timing me.)
When I finally found the Interstate, I was so happy I ran an “orange” light, wove my way through the half dozen people crossing the road, and set a land speed record getting through Chicago. I was rejoicing that I was finally free of the rat maze....
IV. He has sought rejoicing from the needy.
A. Why not?
1. Have you ever seen a child get a Christmas gift that was their hearts desire (at least for the next couple of days)? They are excited and it is fun to watch.
2. Why can’t we be excited at the this time of the year. We celebrate the fact that God has gotten us out of the rat maze of sin, all it’s confusion, and freed us from the sudden stop at the end.
B. Look at the examples:
1. Elizabeth rejoiced “in a loud voice” [v 42]
2. Mary rejoiced...
C. How about you?
1. You cannot rejoice in the true meaning of Christmas if you do not know Jesus Christ, who was born in a manger.
2. Wouldn’t you like to know what all the excitement is really about? Mary tried to tell us in her “song.”
