A Mother’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56)

Good evening. This week, we will be looking at how God used Mary, a normal young woman, and shaped her into one of the most revered women in all of history.

Now, I say that, and I want to be cautious. In our culture, in this area, and around the world, Mary is worshiped. She is regarded by our Catholic brethren as “immaculate,” perfect, without sin.

That is not the picture scripture paints.

But it is very clear that Mary was special to God. And that is where I want to start tonight.

Luke 1:39–45 ESV

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

First off, we see that Mary, having heard from an angel in verse 36 that her relative Elizabeth was pregnant, sets off to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah.

Elizabeth is 6 months pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary goes to see her, and John literally does a somersault in the womb at Mary’s voice.

And then Elizabeth cries out, overcome by the Holy Spirit: “Blessed are you among women!”

We would be remiss to negate the fact that Mary was and is important.

But, unlike our Catholic brethren, we have to get the why right. Why was Mary blessed?

Because God chose her. She had found favor with Him. She had been faithful to Him.

Ultimately, she is blessed among women because of the next line Elizabeth says: “Blessed is the fruit of your womb!” She’s blessed because she is the mother of the Lord.

After this, we see Mary sort of spontaneously burst out into song. And I know for some of you, there is a groan there, because you don’t see life like a musical where people are rolling along about their day, and singing about it.

*in song*:

“Good morning, Bob!”

“Good morning, Jim! How was your weekend?”

“Great! This coffee is aaammmaaaazzziiiiinnnngggg!”

*end song*

That’s not how real life works.

Except here it does. Why?

Because Mary, overcome with the Spirit’s pronouncement through Elizabeth that validates all the angel has told her, is moved to worship God through a song.

This song is called “The Magnificat.” Some of my scholars in here want to venture a guess as to why we call it that?

Magnificat is the Latin word for “magnifies,” which, in the Latin Vulgate translation is the first word of her song. So, the title comes from that word.