Luke 1:46-55 | Mary's Song

Video: How can I experience joy this Christmas?

Can you relate with some of the people on the video?

I’ve been pondering this week about the reality that every human desires to experience joy. We all want to experience joy (happiness and pleasure) regardless of your age, gender, race or religious background.

Here’s an even crazier reality: You and I were designed and wired to pursuit and experience joy.

For the next four weeks we are going to embark on a four-part sermon series journey titled, “Christmas Playlist.” In Luke 1 and 2, we find four powerful songs that express the joy, hope, and faith surrounding the birth of Jesus.

Today we start by looking at Mary’s Song, also known as The Magnificat, which means “to make great” or “magnify.”

Next week we will look at Zachariah’s song. Then the angels’ song. Finally, on Christmas Eve, we will look at Simeon’s song.

Christmas (“mass on Christ’s day”). —Navidad in Spanish and Noël in French—denote nativity (birth).

Christmas Uncut book & invitation

Mary’s song is powerful because it reveals that humans were designed and wired to pursuit and experience joy.

I came across something amazing this week. The Westminster Shorter Catechism was written in 1646. There is a striking resemblance between the answer to its first question and Mary’s Song:

Q1: What is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.

In Luke 1: 46-47 Mary declared, “My soul magnifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”

From Mary’s song I discover a life changing truth:

Soul satisfying joy is discovered as you experience the generosity and grace of God

Not everything was going great for Mary. Mary discovered and experienced this joy under less than ideal circumstances.

Her reputation at risk

Her wedding at risk

Even her own life was at risk

Mary discovered a soul-satisfying joy as she experienced the generosity and the grace of God. She did nothing to earn it.

What if I told you that same soul-satisfying joy was also available to us today? (address xtians and non-xtians)

The good news is that this joy is not only available for us all today, but this joy is also rooted in God’s nature (God doesn’t change).

Mary’s song is filled with allusions from all over the OT: The Scriptures: Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44)

Mary’s song is inspired specially from the Psalms (Psalms 34; 35; 89; 103)

Mary’s song resembles Hannah’s song (1 Sam 2) (Chart)

1 Samuel 2:1 “My heart exults in the Lord; I rejoice in your salvation.”

Luke 1:46–47 “My soul magnifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”

1 Samuel 2:2 “There is none holy like the Lord.”

Luke 1:49 “Holy is his name.”

1 Samuel 2:4 “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.”

Luke 1:52 “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.”

1 Samuel 2:5 “Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.”

Luke 1:53 “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”

Luke 1:46–48 “46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;”

Soul satisfying joy is discovered as you experience the generosity and grace of God

Mary’s song reveals three attributes about God. (The more you know God the more your life is changed)

The greatness of God

Mary’s joy-filled praise is rooted in the character of God. In v.49, she praises God for his greatness: “For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.”

First, the mighty one has done great things for me.

The Mighty One is one of God’s names to reveal his power to accomplish his plan of salvation.

The Mighty One did great things by delivering Israel from Egypt (the exodus).

Deuteronomy 10:21 “He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.”

Now the Mighty One announces a new exodus for God’s people. He is going to use Mary to accomplish a new exodus for God’s people.

Luke 1:31–37 “31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.””

In the story of Christmas we see the greatness of God in full display: God doing the impossible: The incarnation of the Son of God coming down to us in human form to save us from sin.

Second, Mary declares that God’s name is holy.

To declare that God is holy is to declare that he is altogether different and unique from his creation.

“To ascribe “holiness” to God meant to describe him as being lifted infinitely high above all creatures, hence also above all creaturely weaknesses including sin.” - William Hendriksen

Mary pairs the power and the holiness of God to simply declare: There is no one like him.

1 Samuel 2:2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”

Psalm 111:9 “Holy and awesome is his name!”

Application

The power and the holiness of God are attributes calling us to rejoice that God is active and involved in the lives of his people.

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” John Piper

What is your source of joy?

The mercy of God

Mary mentions God’s mercy 2x but the theme is found throughout the song.

God has looked on my humble estate (v.48)

God exalted those of humble estate (v.52)

God’s mercy (eleos) is for those who fear him from generation to generation (v.50)

God helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy (eleos). (v.54)

Mary is filled with joy as she realizes that God fulfills his covenant promises out of sheer generosity and grace.

Mary echoes Psalm 103:17 “ But the steadfast love (LXX eleos) of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,”

Psalm 103 is a Psalm of praise for God’s ongoing merciful forgiveness and grace.

Psalm 103:1–2 “1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,”

In Psalm 103, those who fear God’s name are the ones who by faith, have experienced the mercy and the grace of God.

Mercy (Gk, eleos) = Steadfast love (Heb, hesed)

Hesed, most important word in OT? Appears 250x (1/2 in Psalms). Hesed often describes God’s steadfast, loyal love for his covenant people.

Hesed is a Hebrew word that no single English word can translate accurately. KJV, NIV, ASV, ESV, CSB, NLT

Love, lovingkindness, great love, steadfast love, unfailing love, kindness, unfailing kindness, mercy, faithfulness, grace, and goodness, just to name a few.

Hesed: When the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything (Michael Card)

God’s hesed is demonstrated in the birth of Jesus. Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

You will never find true joy and satisfaction outside of God’s mercy.

God has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate

God has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has he has sent away empty

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 “26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

Application:

Have you experienced the grace and the mercy of God?

Soul satisfying joy is discovered as you experience the generosity and grace of God

Are you ready to surrender your life to the one who came to rescue you from your sin? I want to give you an opportunity this morning.

The faithfulness of God

Mary’s song comes to an end with these words:

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

God’s people have been waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises

As God spoke,

To our fathers,

To Abraham

To his offspring forever

On Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The reason why the birth of Christ is so significant is because his coming was predicted thousands of years before he was born.

God spoke promises. I want to talk to you about the first promise God ever made. It is found in the book of Genesis. The story of Christmas will never make sense outside of the first three chapters in Genesis.

Genesis 1-2: “ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Gen 1:31)

Things go south in chapter 3.

Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?””

Genesis 3:4–5 “4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

“You don’t need God to experience soul satisfying joy. You can be your own God and therefore your own source of joy.”

Eve and Adam believed the lie and ate of the fruit.

Genesis 3:7 “7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

They tried to cover up their sin and their shame. It didn’t work!

Genesis 3:8–15 “8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

Here’s the frist promise in the Bible

Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Eve and Mary Graphic

The fruit

The fruit of the knowledge of good and evil

Elizabeth exclaimed, “… blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 2:42). Jesus is the true fruit who offers true satisfaction to our soul.

The eyes

Eve: eyes full of shame.

Mary: eyes of joy and hope.

The serpent

Snake crawling down on Eve’s leg.

Mary offers her comfort, showing her the hope of the child in her womb, the head of the serpent crushed beneath her foot.

Application: The faithfulness of God. We see God fulfilling his promises. Some of you struggling this xmas season to believe in the greatness, the mercy and the faithfulness of God. Every time you have a chance to look at a nativity, remember to say, “You did it God!”

Communion is an opportunity to see taste God’s hesed, God’s mercy.