Christmas Hope - Luke 1:46-55

Introduction

We can be guilty of over glamorizing the Christmas Story.

The Shepherds

The manger scene

The trajectory of Mary’s life after the visitation of the angel Gabriel

Yet, the truth is Mary’s life would be turned upside down.

Matthew 1:18-25 had not occurred, yet. Based upon the text there was no assurance that Joseph would follow through with marrying Mary.

If not, how would he go about divorcing her

publicly - public shaming at the very least

privately

How would her family respond - There is a reason she visited Elizabeth immediately after the angel left. She is quite possible the only one who would believe her story.

Would they kick her out of the house for bringing shame upon the family?

How would her friends respond? No doubt they would have been required to stay away from her.

Her community - Mark 6:3 “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.” - Carries with it public shame!

Relational, emotional and physiological changes

In spite of all this, she found reasons to praise God!

Application: Are lives are in constant upheaval. We need to be reminded in these difficult times to praise God

Praise God for our salvation

Luke 1:46-47 “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

She praises God for being the Lord

The Lord who can do anything He wants, who is not bound by laws or nature.

She praised God for being the Lord becasue she understood positionally where she stood with God.

Luke 1:38 “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”

Handmaid - female slave

Not a female slave to society or family but the Lord of lords and King of Kings

Luke 1:48 “For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

When she praised God for His Lordship over her life, it was not just what He did but who He was!

Proverbs 3:6 “In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.”

Acknowledge - to know, to learn, or to be revealed

Acknowledge - Active voice - We need to do it.

Text - Luke 1:46 “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,”

Magnify means to enlarge

Magnify - present tense - magnifies denotes the habitual act (Mary keeps on magnifying the Lord)

Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 92–93.

Magnify - means to make great or to enlarge.

Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

To make something great of the Lordship of God is to want God to have more of you.

She praised God for being her salvation - Luke 1:47 “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary D. The Song of Mary (1:46–56)

God my Saviour shows that Mary recognized her need—she was a sinner like other people

Her focus was not on her salvation but the one who saved her.

In what way is God her Savior?

In the same way the Holy Spirit would be her Savior

1 Peter 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

In verse 46 it is her soul - the essence of who she is - it is where the battle between the old and new man occur - Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

However, in v.47 it is her “spirit that rejoiceth in her Savior.

The essence of man is three parts - 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

As she continually yields her life to the Lord, her spirit takes the time to rejoice in her Savior.

The verb hath rejoiced speaks of a snap shot - It is not something she continually does; rather, as events occur in the life, she takes the time to rejoice in her Savior.

She praises God for being a slave

Luke 1:48-49 “For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is his name.”

I mentioned this already but this is a concept that runs through her theology in Luke 1.

Everything she praises God for in these two verses flow from her position before the Lord

Low degree

Handmaiden.

Humility - There would have been more able people to be used of God in her capacity.

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary D. The Song of Mary (1:46–56)

‘he has noticed his slave in her humble station’.

What flows from her humility

The Lord hath regarded.

The credit goes all to God

1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

“Regard” - pity, favor or partiality

The reason God could regard her was becasue of the babe in her womb.

Colossians 3:3 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

He is the reason people will call her blessed.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

She praises God for working in her life

Luke 1:49-50 “For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him From generation to generation.”

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary D. The Song of Mary (1:46–56)

She sees herself as insignificant, but that does not matter, for ‘the Mighty One’ (Rieu) is at work

God worked mightily in her life.

God took on this task personally

It took a mighty God to work in her life.

God did great things

Naomi - Bitterness

Joseph

David

Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Holy is His name

He is more than a mighty God!

Holiness is a summary of all who God is - He is holy!

Every attribute of His is not just distinct and separate from the world but it is pure.

The one working on her is not just mighty but pure.

His mercy

is on them that fear him regardless of the generation

Why fear Him

Superior

Perfect

His ways are correct

Mercy - The word emphasizes the misery with which grace (see on Luke_1:30) deals; hence, peculiarly the sense of human wretchedness coupled with the impulse to relieve it, which issues in gracious ministry. Bengel remarks, “Grace takes away the fault, mercy the misery.”