Advent 4 2024

Luke 1:39–56 NIV84

39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” 46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.” 56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

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.

Great Songs of the Bible

I’ve heard that Catholics worship Mary, it’s this true?

No, this is not true. Catholics honor (or venerate) the Blessed Mother; they do not worship her. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (the official teaching of the Church) teaches that worship (or adoration) is meant for God alone. Catholics as well as the Orthodox and some older Protestant groups venerate Mary and the Saints.  Mary is venerated because she is full of God’s own life and love, his Grace (Luke 1:28). Mary, by her own free will said yes to God’s will and brought the Savior of humanity, Jesus Christ, into the World. Mary is great because God made her great, she reflects the light of Christ and her soul magnifies the Lord (Luke 1:46). This is why since the earliest days of Christianity, Mary has been venerated and loved by Christians. As said above, adoration or worship (latria) is meant only for God, but veneration is meant for Mary and the Saints. Since Mary, by her own free will, brought our Savior into the world she deserves a unique type of veneration that is greater then that of the other Saints. Veneration is divided into two categories: dulia and hyperdulia. Dulia is a form of veneration that is appropriate for the great Christian men and women known as the Saints (ex. St. Anthony, St. Teresa, St. Francis, etc). Due to Mary’s direct and extraordinary role in the salvation of humanity, it is appropriate that she is venerated in a greater manner then that of the other saints, this is called hyperdulia. Remember veneration, and this particular type of veneration, hyperdulia, is completely different from adoration or worship (latria). Christ is the center of Catholic Christian worship. The honor and veneration given to Mary further expresses the Christian’s worship of God due to the acknowledgement of God’s greatest human creation, the mother of his son, Our Blessed Mother Mary.  The 4th commandment reads, “Honor your father and your mother”. In John 19:26-27 Jesus hanging on the cross extended Mary’s motherhood to all of humanity by handing her over to the care of the Apostle John. Since early on in Christianity the above verses were understood to mean that Mary now is the mother of all humanity. Since Mary is our mother we should give her the proper respect and honor, as any child would give his mother. Finally why would a Christian not have love and respect for Mary? She is Jesus’ mother. Many protestant groups pay little or no attention to the Mother of God. Some groups even go as far as saying that she was just a vessel to give birth to Jesus; that she’s not important! Imagine going up to your own mother and saying “Mom, your not that important you were just a vessel used to give birth to me,” how would this make her feel? The same goes for the Mother of God, even more so because she is the Mother of God and our Mother, The Holy Spirit deemed her  “most blessed amongst women” (Luke 1:42). How can some Christian groups say they love Jesus but then be indifferent to his mother? I don’t think Jesus would be very happy.

I think Hermann Bonnus is a plagiarist. You know. Someone who copies what someone else wrote but takes credit for himself? What am I talking about? The somewhat unfamiliar hymn we just sang is accredited to a hymn writer named Hermann Bonnus who lived at the time of Martin Luther in the early 1500’s. The hymn itself is in the hymns of the liturgy section of the Bible. For those congregations that use the Evening Worship service in Christian Worship, it is a suggested liturgical song to be sung after the sermon and is on pages 57-58 of our hymnal.

Although I have no doubt that Hermann Bonnus wrote the words of this ancient hymn (in German and now translated into English), he did not use original thoughts and poetically wrote what we are told someone else had composed in her mind over 1500 years earlier and is recorded for us in our text from Luke 1:46-55.

It is known as the Song of Mary (or in Latin . . . The Magnificat) as Mary glorifies the Lord God for what he had done for her, for Israel, and ultimately for all people.

We are not told that Mary sang this (even though it is often referred to as the “Song of Mary”, but we are told what she said on this very auspicious occasion.

Mary Glorifies the Lord

Context: We are familiar with the opening chapters of Luke. We learn of the prophecy of John the Baptist’s birth. We learn of the announcement of Jesus’ upcoming birth by the same angel [Gabriel] to Mary six months later. Soon after that Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth — the expectant mother of John the Baptist. Luke 1:39–45 (NIV84) 39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

This is one of the few if not only times in the Bible that we are told that an unborn child was aware of what was happening outside of the womb. It does tell us that in John’s case, though yet unborn, he was a unique individual — separate from the mother who still bore him.

The Holy Spirit is involved in this and in inspiring what Elizabeth exclaimed. She proclaimed how blessed Mary was and how blessed her baby was. Those who pray “Hail Mary”, certainly recognize these words when they pray:

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Luke then continues with a literary device which he uses several times in the early chapters of Luke and which can be found on other occasions in the Bible. He records a proclamation of what is happening by the chief character. The church has at times taken those words and made them a part of the liturgy.

At the end of Luke we have the song of Zechariah after the birth of John the Baptist. (Two examples in the Hymns of the Liturgy section). In Luke 2 we have the song of Simeon that is sung after the Lord’s Supper “Nunc Dimittis).

In the Old Testament Miriam sang a song after the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea and in Judges 5 Deborah and Barak co wrote a song of victory after this incident:

Judges 4:21–24 NIV84

21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died. 22 Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead. 23 On that day God subdued Jabin, the Canaanite king, before the Israelites. 24 And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, the Canaanite king, until they destroyed him.

Although the heading to many Bibles will call this “Mary’s Song” and it has been put to music, we ar only told that Mary “said”.

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we believe that many years later Luke wrote down accurately the content of what Mary burst forth and said on this most joyous occasion.

What did she say?

Luke 1:46–48 NIV84

46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,

She gave thanks to the Lord God for what he was doing in her life and in history. She was a very humble person and considered herself a servant of the Lord. Earlier she had said to Gabriel: Luke 1:38 (NIV84)

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

Elizabeth recognized the faith of Mary in these unique circumstances: Luke 1:45 (NIV84)

45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

Mary also predicted her own future: “From now on all generations will call me blessed.”

We reference again the “Hail Mary”

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

At this time I will not go on a worthy tangent and explore to what extent the generations of Christians have revered and venerated (or just kind of mentioned in passing) this humble servant whom the Lord had chose when the time had fully come to fulfill his promise of sending the Savior. But what a unique and special blessing she had received.

Mary continues by expressing her faith in God and praising him for carrying out his promises.

Luke 1:49–55 (NIV84)

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”

A common theme is that the Lord is the great leveler. He brings down the proud and haughty and rich and lifts up the poor in spirit and those who are without.

Psalm 146:6–10 NIV

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, 8 the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. 10 The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.

Psalm 98:1–3 NIV

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Later Jesus would teach on this in his sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:2–12 NIV84

2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

His often repeated statement that “The first will be last and the last will be first” also bears this out.

Mary recognized this key turning point in history. The Lord God was about to step forcefully into history through his Son, Jesus, and he would bring about redemption through him. Mary humbly acknowledged her role in this by the grace of God and praise God for who he was and what he was doing

Application.

God has a role for us.

God’s role for Mary was to give birth to and raise Jesus. We recognize that in our lives, God has a plan for us and he gives us the means, the opportunity, and the gifts to use them to carry out his work in our lives. He may not bring us as much notoriety as Mary received, but it is still important.

We praise him for what he accomplishes.

We often thank, appreciate, and even award others for what they have been able to accomplish. An integral part of our faith is reviewing what God has done for and praising him. We also recognize what he still does and will do for mankind and glorify his name.

We trust in “leveling” and redemption.

Mary believed that God worked in people’s lives and he was ultimately just and fair. For those who became too proud, he would bring them down. For those who were downcast and lowly, he raised up. He has raised up to be his children through faith in Jesus and to receive his blessings. And even if we don’t realize them all in our lifetimes (and most certainly will not), we look forward to the future blessings in heaven.