Christmas Carols - Luke 1:46-56

Introduction

There’s only one season of the year that has its own songs — Christmas. I know that some of you likely have a love-hate relationship with Christmas music, especially if you’re a music person. Over the years, the songs have become more and more trite and weird. But, it’s also true that some of the richest, most glorious theology that the Church sings all year long is during the Christmas season.

Songs about who Christ is:

“Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come, offspring of the Virgin's womb: veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th'incarnate Deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel.” (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, verse 2)

Songs about what Christ was born to accomplish:

“No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found” (Joy to the World, Verse 3)

Come on, yall! Find me words the pack more punch with more beauty than those! You see, you don’t just tell your family that your baby has been born. You exclaim it! You don’t just tell your best friend that your engaged. You shout it! And, you don’t just say that God was born as a baby to save you. You sing it! Some things are just too great, too wonderful, too magnificent to merely say.

God’s Word

This morning, we turn to the original Christmas carol. The very beginning of the rich history of singing of our Savior’s birth. And, it’s his mom, Mary, singing to God about the Savior growing in her womb. It’s known as the Magnificat, and it’s a great place for us to think about Why We Sing: (headline)

We have “seen” God.

Handel’s Messiah is among the most significant musical compositions of the last 500 years. In it, he arranges Biblical passages from Isaiah and the Gospels in musical form so that your heart soars when you hear them. It provides both an explanation of Christ and a response to Christ in a way that provokes emotion and awe. That’s really what Mary is doing here. Mary quotes or alludes to no less than a dozen OT passages. And, it’s both to further explain what’s happening and present a response to it by arranging these passages so that they provoke praise and awe. I mean, she’s pregnant with the Son of God. You can’t just say it!

So, she sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord!” She’s saying, “I see the Lord. I really see Him! I see Him at work by using me, and I see him at work by fulfilling his promises!” There are two ways to “magnify”. You can use a microscope to make something tiny look big, or you can use a telescope to make something that is enormous but appears small because of distance appear as it actually is. That’s what Mary is doing. She’s using her telescope to see God better.

And, what she sees is Good News.

When God is bigger, “problems” are “smaller”.

Luke 1:46-47 “And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”

There’s a lot going on in Mary’s life. She’s got real problems to deal with. She’s an unwed mother betrothed to a man whose not the father in an honor/shame culture. Yet, she sings, and she shows how we can sing when we’re tempted to be overwhelmed by life. Mary has her telescope aimed at God so that she can see that her world revolves around him. In fact, God-centeredness is a major theme for Luke in his gospel. In Matthew the words “God” and “Lord” are used 59 times. Luke uses them 194 times. Especially notice the juxtaposition between “Lord” and “Savior.” It’s a parallel; so, it’s two words that mean the same thing. So, she could be tempted to look to her sin, and think, “There’s no way I’m up for this. It’s too big.” But, instead of seeing her sin, she looks at God and sees her Savior. Her problems are melted down to size.

Corre Ten Boom says, “Look around, and you’ll be distressed. Look within, and you’ll be depressed. Look at God, and you’ll be at rest.” Train your telescopes on him, brothers and sisters.

When God is bigger, “joy” is “greater.”

Luke 1:46-47 “And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”

Art’s richest history is decisively Christian. Why? God is more than our words can articulate. God is beyond our imaginations’ ability to elaborate. God is deeper than our philosophies can explicate. That’s how art helps. Art is what we use to attempt to express the inexpressible. Hans Christian Anderson said: “Where words fail, music speaks.” That’s what Mary does. She magnifies God, and her heart overflows with joy that has to be expressed.

We can rejoice in God by magnifying him. One way to see this as a cause and effect: She “magnifies” and then she “rejoices”. We see him as He truly is and suddenly our problems shrink and our burden lightens and our heads our lifted. We rejoice. But, check this out. These words are meant to be interchangeable too. That is, another way to see this is as a statement and elaboration. Not only do we rejoice in God by magnifying him, but we magnify God by rejoicing in him. When we see him so clearly that our hearts are filled with joy, God is properly seen and exalted. And so, magnifying leads rejoicing, and rejoicing leads to magnifying. It’s the beautiful cycle of worship that keeps our hope fresh, our problems small, and our joy big.

So, singing exalts God, and it shrinks your problems. And, the more you exalt God, the more your problems shrink, and the more you sing. That’s why we sing.

God has “seen” us.

Tolstoy once said, “Music is the shorthand of emotion.” It provides an outlet for that which we feel most deeply. There’s deep emotion in what Mary is singing, and behind it is overwhelming, indescribable thankfulness. Verses 48-49 are really a personal testimony for Mary. She’s trying to tell God how thankful she is for what He had done in her life, and music pours out of her soul. It’s breathtaking.

There are two particular statements of a thankful heart that she makes that can produce the same thankfulness in us. She says:

He “saw” even me.

Luke 1:48 “for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;”

Servants are supposed to be like furniture. They’re there, but no one notices them. They’re not friends that you share stories and memories with. They’re to do their job quietly, and they’re only noticed when they make mistakes. And, that’s how we’re tempted to feel about God if we believe in him — like He only notices us if we mess up. That’s what’s beautiful about Mary’s praise. She didn’t just see God. He saw her — even though she was peasant girl living in Nazareth, even though she didn’t move the needle. He “looked” upon her in a way that said, “I love you. I cherish you. I’ll care for you forever. The baby in your womb is the proof. The baby in your womb is the way.”

Mary recognized that God loved her in a way that she didn’t warrant, and her humility cultivated profound gratitude in her life. She had a lofty view of God and lowly view of herself. Humility cultivates thankfulness and haughtiness crushes it. Pride produces jealousy and discontentment. Humility produces amazement and wonder. Pride can’t believe God would expect so much from you. Humility can’t believe we can expect so much from God. “God sees even me! God loves even me! God has been good even to me!”

That’s how pride is an obstacle to singing, and humility is a fountainhead. People don’t sing because they think: “How could God expect me to make such a fool of myself?” People sing because they think: “I’ve received too much to be quiet!” That’s why we sing.

She also says:

He “blessed” even me.

Luke 1:48-49 “for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

Mary’s idea of “blessed” is different than ours. We think of “blessed” as being able to retire to a mansion on the beach with nothing to do but what pleases us. Mary thinks of “blessed” as being a servant to a Master who is willing to give her a greater work than she could ever deserve. She contemplates the baby in her womb and the impossibility of the life in front of her, and she sings: “Praise God that He’s willing to use me!” That is, she’s thankful that she’s useful to God. God is so “mighty” that He can even use her.

God can even use you. No matter how young or old, sick or healthy, rich or poor. He can use you. That’s how good He is. That’s how “mighty” He is. And, that’s why you should sing. Last Sunday, I was overwhelmed. Many of you know of the health struggles that I had. When Sara was only 10 months old, I came within 24 hours of dying. My kids would’ve only known me through photographs. Josiah never would have been. The last two years have been the sweetest of my life. And, as I thought of how God was at work in our church and how much I love that little blonde headed boy and how I’ve gotten to get to know my girls and make memories with my wife, I just thought this: “Thank you for letting me live to see it, Lord. Thank you ‘blessing even me.’ Thank you for continuing to use me as their dad, husband, and pastor.

My heart just wanted to sing. Aren’t you thankful that God finds you useful? Let’s sing!

God has “shown” us.

Luke 1:51 “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;”

Several years ago, I decided to take up whitewater kayaking. I got the bright idea to go alone down class three rapids before I had any training, and the power of the water humbled me really quickly. What looks docile at a distance can be fearsome up close. Mary had an experience with God’s power like that. She had heard about it from a distance (like Job), but when she experienced it firsthand, she realized that He was far more powerful than she’d ever surmised. That’s what she means by that she was “shown strength with his arm.” God sent the plague of gnats by the power of his finger, sent the other plagues by the power of his hand, and then by his arm struck them down in the Red Sea. So, she’s talking about God’s power in the greatest degree here.

Three demonstrations of God’s might:

He’s able to “humble” the “greatest.”

Luke 1:51-53 “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”

Luke shows how through Christ God is bringing about a reversal of the world’s values. Only God is mighty enough to bring about such a transformation. Roman culture grew by admiring the great generals. Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were venerated as gods because of their unconquerable might on the battle field. The greatest celebrities of Rome was perhaps their gladiators — who rose to fame by facing down lions, bears, and leopards with nothing but a shield and a sword. But, God had humbled Pharaoh and Saul and Nebuchadnezzar.

And, the Romans they would be humbled too. Their might would be powerless. Their wealthy would be penniless. In fact, one day, every, single one of them would bow down before that little baby in Mary’s womb and say in awe and reverence, “Jesus is Lord.”

What a show of strength it would be!

He’s able to “exalt” the “lowest.”

Luke 1:52-54 “he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,”

But, there was another way that God displayed his strength. He had raised up a nation of slaves to overthrow a world power. He had used a prostitute to deliver his people and Moabite to give birth to a king. And now, He’s going to flip the world upside down through a baby without a bed that will die on a cross.

Mighty Rome is falling and a new Kingdom is rising, and it will arise in a way that is the opposite of every way you understand Kingdoms to arise. What a show of strength that will be!

He’s able to “promise” the “surest.”

Luke 1:54-55 “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.””

And, Mary lands her song on the covenant God made with Abraham. And, He says two things that appear to conflict. “He has helped” Israel realize and enjoy the promise He made to Abraham “forever.” Now, how can he speak past tense about what’s happening forever? How can I apply what God did in the past with Egypt and Babylon to Rome and Mary? This is all written in the future aorist tense. That is, this can be interpreted as looking into the future as though it’s already as certain as the past. It’s looking forward to all of God’s promises with so much certainty it’s as if they’ve already been fulfilled.

So, think about Mary. She’s like every mother. She thinks of her baby, and she dreams of what his life will be like. She dreams of how He will help others and be a man of integrity. She dreams of how He will fulfill the exact mission that God has sent him to fulfill. In fact, she dreams of how He will be her very own “Savior.” The big difference is that she knows — with certainty — that her son will never disappoint her. It’s as certain as if He’s already accomplished it. So, she sings!

We sing this morning for the very same reason. God has made promises to us. He’s promised that all these things are going to work for our good. He’s promised that the gates of hell will not prevail. He’s promised that He will fully sanctify us and make us who He wants us to be. He’s promised that He will save us to the uttermost. He’s promised us that death will be no more and suffering will be a faint memory. He’s promised us. And, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have made these promises so certain that it’s as though they’re already written in the history books.

God has shown himself mighty enough to promise the future! So, this morning, what choice do we have but to sing?