Mary’s Magnificat

Luke 1:39–56 NKJV

39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” 46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

A couple of weeks ago we considered the visit of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias and to Mary to announce two significant births.

We looked at the responses from both Zacharias and Mary in contrast. Particularly we saw that the response of Zacharias was “How shall I know this”.

Or how can I know that this will come to pass? Maybe he was considering what would happen if he goes out and tells everyone that they would have a child and then it doesn’t happen. Maybe he was thinking of Elizabeth who had wanted to have a child her whole life and it never happened and now if he tells her that they will have a child and it doesn’t happen then she would be devastated. Who knows what went through his mind in that moment but he clearly had doubts.

His doubts were founded on the scientific improbability his wife conceiving considering that they were old and that his wife was barren. Experience had told him that this was imposable. However, Zacharias was a priest, a man of God who knew the scriptures. He was well familiar with Abraham and Sarah who were in this exact situation. So Zacharias knew that this may be imposable for man but that it is absolutely possible for God.

But he asked for a sign well a greater sign than just and angel of the Lord appearing and delivering a message straight from God. And the angel gave him a sign. He said you won’t be able to talk until this all comes to pass.

Mary, on the other hand was visited by the same angel. She was told that she would conceive and give birth and she wasn’t even married yet. Her response was How can this be, since I do not know a man? It sounds like a similar response to “How can I know” but it’s very different. Mary wanted to understand the message Zacharias wanted proof of the message.

When the angel then explains that she will conceive as a virgin she excepts this by faith. The message to Zacharias was improbable but the message to Mary was impossible. But the angel said to Mary with God nothing will be impossible.

People often ask how we Christians could believe such outrageous claims like the virgin birth. It’s not complicated, and it’s not irrational. See the issue is not about the difficulty of believing miracles. This issue is simply is there an almighty all powerful creator or isn’t there? Considering that all the evidence points to intelligent design and that the historical records of the life of Christ, his death and resurrection are so overwhelmingly compelling and He verifies and validates the God of the Hebrew scriptures, then it is rational to believe that the God of the of the Bible who spoke everything into existence also has power over all the natural world to be able to do anything even that which is supernatural, even if it is imposable for us.

Luke now continues his record to Theophilus. I feel it is important to remember as we continue through Lukes gospel that it was written to Theophilus. It reminds us that this gospel has a message and we in a sense are Theophilus as now this Gospel is for us and it’s message is for us.

But now Luke tells us that Mary goes to visit her kinswomen Elizabeth.

Elizabeth’s Spirit Filled Greeting

Luke 1:39–40 NKJV

39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

So how long was it after the visit from the angel? Probably almost immediately I’d say. “In those days” being the days about the time that the angel had spoken to her. and she went with haste.

This trip was not insignificant either. Where is is believed that Zacharias and Elizabeth lived is about 150 km from Nazareth. So for Mary a young teenager to travel that far on her own is quite a journey. Although she would probably have travel with others as many would regularly make that journey.

We aren’t told exactly what the relationship was between Mary and Elizabeth. The KJV says cousin but in the original the word simply means kin. Some have speculated that maybe she was her mothers sister making her Mary’s Aunty.

Why? well probably Mary figured that if anyone was going to believe her it would be Elizabeth because the angel told her that she also was with child miraculously.

So when Mary arrives and calls out to Elizabeth

Luke 1:41 NKJV

41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

We remember that the angel told Zacharias that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.

Luke 1:42–45 NKJV

42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

So here’s Mary who has probably been afraid to tell anyone about the visit from the angel for fear that they would think that she is lying just to cover her sin. And she goes to visit her relative Elizabeth because the angel had told her that she to was pregnant with a miracle child hoping that maybe she will believe her. But before she can say anything the Holy Spirit confirms to Elizabeth through John, so he’s already fulfilling his calling of preparing the way for Christ. And Elizabeth tells Mary the news that she came to tell Elizabeth. What a wonderful confirmation this must have been for Mary.

Mary’s Hymn

Luke 1:46–56 (NKJV)

46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.

50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.

54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,

55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

So what is the message to Theophilus? This gospel message has come not to the rich, not to powerful, not to the proud but to the humble, to the poor, and to the weak.

To receive the blessing of this gospel you and I must become poor, weak, humble, sinners.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.