Mary's Song
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Today’s passage starts, not in Luke 1 as we read but rather much, much earlier. To understand the context, we must go back, back, past the Prophet Malachi, past Isaiah, past king David and even past the budding nation of Israel to two people hanging out in a garden with God.
As you well know, these two people were living in a perfect world, with merely two commandments to follow:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Now, in hindsight we might look back and say. “That sounds easy! All they had do was avoid one tree in the whole world, make babies and rule over the earth”, but sadly they could not even do that. Instead they ate from the tree, thus introducing sin into a perfect creation. In that hour, one of creation’s darkest, God pronounced far reaching curses on mankind and Satan alike. This one simple act brought death and curses to us all, leading to lives of hard work, pain and continual rebellion against God. This curse has affected every generation since and is in fact inherited at conception. This one act of idolatry subjected the entirety of the human race to darkness!
But in that moment of despair God gave a glimmer of hope! In the middle of cursing satan God said:
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.”
Did you catch it? I prefer the way the NIV says it:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
People refer to this as the Protoevengelion. I don’t know about you, but when I hear to term “evangelion” in conjures up images of giant robots & monsters running around Japan. But the word has a much more significant meaning; it means “the First Good News”. From the moment of our Fall, God was already revealing to us His plan to redeem this fallen people and destroy Satan. To crush his head. In our passage this seed of the woman promised thousands of years beforehand is about to arrive.
This young lady was spoken to by an angel, and God decided to give Mary some proof that what the angel had spoke was true, in fact it says in verse 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.”
This is where our reading picks up, straight after her visit by the angel. She got up and travelled across to the other side of the country to visit her cousin who was apparently pregnant. As soon as she walked in the door John leapt in the womb and Elizabeth exclaimed under the influence of the Holy Spirit. She said in verse 42: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ... And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” Lk 1:42–45.
Remember this was an older woman exclaiming over a teenager from a backwater country town!
Now that the proof was plain, now that Gabriel’s message was sealed as true Mary bursts out in humble praise of God, from verse 46:
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
After Mary’s praise and adoration we are told that she stayed with the family for three more months (v56). Looking back at the angels message we can see that Elizabeth was already 6 month along when Mary received her message (v36), and if she’d travelled across the country and then stayed 3 moths with Elizabeth it’s a pretty good bet that John was born before she left, otherwise soon after she left. Being a teenager and Elizabeth being “advanced in years” it’s not much of stretch to presume she helped Elizabeth during the later stages of pregnancy.
Sometimes this portion of scripture can be brushed past without much thought; “Oh, that’s nice that Mary visited her cousin” or “Isn’t it a lovely song that Mary wrote?”. But I would encourage you to place a little more importance on these words; they are vital for disproving the bad teaching around Mary and important in confirming the virgin birth but as well as these we see the Gospel already playing out in the life of Mary and how even before Jesus birth, God had prepared her heart and given her Great Grace.
This song of praise by Mary bears many similarities with great songs of praise to God; in fact almost every phrase has a corresponding phrase somewhere in the Psalms. With this in mind and the purposefulness of the Holy Spirit in recording the Scriptures, I think it is fair to assume this is a model song toward God, especially in this context. So it is only logical that we should look at it more closely to see what God has to say.
There are three particular elements of this Song that are apparent;
God’s Grace is a Gift
God’s Grace is Proven
God’s Grace is Contextual
Grace is a Gift
Grace is a Gift
One of the first things you’ll notice when Mary comes on the scene is that she hasn’t done anything, and by that I mean that we don’t see God searching the nation of Israel for a perfect little Israeli girl who has followed all the rules and now gets a reward, but rather He simply favoured her (v30). The word used when the angel speaks to her is sometimes translated “to whom special grace is given”. This special grace, this favour, this special honour is given to Mary, just like that. No explanation. It’s strikingly similar to Genesis when God chose Noah. He favoured him, he graciously chose him to work his plans (Gen 6:8). And we see this pattern repeated time after time in scripture; God using remarkably unremarkable people to advance the epic story of Satan’s defeat, and God’s triumph.
It’s no different here when we see this teenage girl from a no-where country town, chosen to bear and raise the Son of God. Mary herself acknowledges just how much God has blessed her with. In immediate response to the confirmation of God’s blessing she burst into praise in verse 46, highlighting her place in relation to God and how “low” God had come to give her such Great Grace.
Elizabeth acknowledges this too, asking essentially, “Who am I that even the mother of my Saviour should visit me?”
It is these kinds of reactions that should remind us again of where we sit in relation to God, lowly, imperfect and in need of a saviour. Mary knows this too, and that’s why she speaks of God her Saviour (v47) and his mercy (v50).
If we look closely at this passage we see time and time again that God is doing all the work. Mary is praising Him for his mighty undertakings and righteous characteristics.
Looked on the humble estate, v48
..has done great things for me v49
Shown strength… (he is spirit, doesn’t really have an arm) v51
Scattered the proud v51
brings down the mighty, raises up the humble (e.g. Mary) v52
Fed the hungry, sent away rich empty handed v53
In verse 54 &55, Mary even sees how this thing that God has done for her is fulfilling promises made generations and generations ago in Abraham. God has been working his mighty sin crushing plan all the way through, he has done it all, and to prove it he used idolatrous stubborn people (Abram & Sarai), a scheming thief (Jacob), a weak tongued rich kid (Moses), a terrible father (Aaron), a whoring enemy (Rahab), and adulterous murderer (David), a racist prophet (Jonah), a homeless street preacher (john) and even a humble pubescent girl (Mary) to accomplish his awesome plan. God chooses to work with the broken, the humble and poor, oppressed and hungry so that he gets the Glory he deserves. If you’re one of these things, God can use you; he desires the heart that is broken and contrite before Him. If your heart is not so inclined, Mary so aptly reminds us, God will bring you there himself, he scatters the proud, he brings down the mighty and tears the riches from the rich.
Like Mary, we can’t do anything to earn or merit his gracious gift of Salvation. Even though she may not have understood all the implications at the time, Mary recognised that this gift was a channel of Mercy and Salvation.
What does this mean for us? Well for those of us who are in Christ, we can now rest knowing that the Gift is already given. That favour is already granted. The mercy already poured out.
Jesus gift to us is not only that he would grow up and bear the burden of our sin but that he would gift us eternal life with new bodies in a new heaven and new earth, where every tear will be wiped away. An eternal life, singing songs like Mary’s to the God she so aptly described.
If you want to partake in that glorious ever after, all you need to do is accept the gift from Jesus, and turn from the sin which separated us from God in the first place. Don’t assume that because you’ve sat in churches for many years that you’ve somehow earned a spot for all eternity. The gift must be accepted, and the sin repented of.
Grace is grace - it is umerited, it is not earned. It’s a gift.
No one is guaranteeing that accepting Jesus Christ will make everything a smooth ride, or magically make your sin struggles go away, but you will be regenerated and gradually made more like Christ, as you continue to repent and have faith. We needn’t have blind faith though, as this passage also tells us…
Grace is Proven
Grace is Proven
A stand out feature of this passage is the direct proof of God’s words. The earlier announcment message delivered to Mary wasn’t simply spoken but Mary was given a sign that would confirm the communication from the angel. She was told that the impossible was happening; her old barren cousin was pregnant! So she headed over there “with haste” the scripture says in verse 39. This carries the implication of earnestness and eagerness to see Elizabeth. This could be from a desire to see her blessed cousin, but I think (due to Mary’s response) that is was more to see the confirmation of the massage given to her and to express her joy in mercy given.
When she arrived, the Holy Spirit was already at work in Baby John; “…he[John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb”. John leapt inside his mother, and she in turn exclaimed a somewhat prophetic word under the power of the Holy Spirit (v41). Not only did Mary get a “Yes Mary, I am pregnant” she got another sign from God, and another sign to us that the child Mary bore was no ordinary baby.
When Mary saw the evidence of God’s work in her life, she responded in adoration and praise, going back even to the forefather of her nation to note how God fulfils his promises and upholds his covenant (v54+55). Even at that moment (presumably under the power of the Holy Spirit) Mary could see that because of the fulfilment God was working through her, all future generations would look back (v48) and see how God had so graciously given her the privilege of bearing the Redeemer of mankind.
Unfortunately many take the favour granted to Mary and turn it into something less God glorifying. Not only do some say that Mary was honoured, but also that she was free from the stain of Sin. This false doctrine, called the Immaculate Conception, not only sets Mary apart from the common human condition, it also removes Jesus from a linage that he had to be part of in order to redeem us. This false teaching, along with other false teachings like the continual virginity of Mary, end up transforming Mary into a demigod; someone holier than man, someone to be prayed to and evey worshiped. This is idolatry! It implies that Mary has the power to be in many places at once to hear the prayers, that she can do something about it, and that she is somehow worthy of our spiritual affections. This could not be further from the truth. Do not be deceived into worshiping another created being.
But....
“All generations will call her blessed”
She is imensely blessed and Mary does a wondeful thing in bearing God the Son into the world. She is worthy of respect and honour, but in the same way we respect other great figures like Peter or Paul.
So, while yes, Mary is not without sin or a lesser Jesus, she is honoured and respected. We should call her blessed.
These signs of favour and mercy given to Mary were as proof of a God at work, not that she was a cut above the rest. He should be getting the glory for displaying His might and affection toward the humble sinner.
The same goes for us. We should not look back on what God has done and somehow attribute it to our hard work and diligence, but rather praising a tireless and merciful god for his patience and long suffering.
God’s gifts are often unexpected you know. I’m sure Mary wasn’t planning on getting knocked up before marriage and having her firstborn son brutally executed before her own eyes. I’m sure Elizabeth didn’t expect she would have to wait decades to have a child, I’m sure Hosea didn’t intend to marry a prostitute and call his children dreadful names, I’m sure young Saul didn’t intent to be beaten and shipwrecked in the name of some short lived Rabbi from Galilee. But these gifts are exactly that, Gifts! These are divine donations that at first may seem like lemons, but then God uses them to make the Sweetest and most glorious Refreshment known to man. The Christ, born of this Virgin Mary, will redeem mankind by taking their sin upon his shoulders to the grave. But in proof that this epic sacrifice was not in vain, Christ burst forth to life once more, having conquered sin and death, as it says in Acts 2:24: “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”
1 Cor 15:57 “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The most blatant proof of God’s redeeming work is this resurrection of Christ, and we can trust that the promise fulfilling God will one day take us to be with Him, and that one day we will no longer be entangled and snared by sin, however… we still live here, in the now. Though this moment will soon be past and forgotten in the light of Christ’s magnificence, we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, living in a broken Earth. We are torn apart by its sorrow and brokenness, ensnared by the seemingly beautiful pleasures of this world. When we are surrounded by the mire of a fallen world our eyes can be dimmed and we ask “Am I really saved?”, “Does God really love me?”, “Will I ever be rid of this sin?”
For those of us who are in Christ, all those questions can be answered with a resounding “Yes!”, because as with Mary, God gives us proofs of His work within us. Mary was given physical proof of the Incarnation, but we also saw proof of God’s work in her life evidenced by the way that she was able to magnify God, make his name great and see her acknowledge her own lowliness.
As regenerated Christians we should be able to see this too. The proof is in the pudding so they say. When have died to ourselves and been made alive in Christ, our hearts are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, so that now instead of a heart that is cold (stone) toward God, we have heart that wants to please Him and make His name great. This translates into works according to James 2, where our faith is shown by our service toward God & others. The Holy Spirit works in us to bring out good fruit; (e.g. love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) as well as conviction and mourning over sin. So if you can look back and see that God has been working by bring you to bear good fruit, then rest in the Great Grace and mercies of Christ as he continues his work like he did with Mary. There will still be sin to deal with, but God is rooting it out to make you more like Christ. Like it says in Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
But if you find yourself lacking remorse for sin, brushing aside God’s commands under the guise of avoiding legalism, or railing against him as if he has somehow offended you, then I have grave fears for your soul! Repent and trust on the one who bore your shame for you, lest you be crushed for your own sin.
At this point I would offer a word of advice to you brothers & sisters who are in Christ. Just because the Holy Spirit has helped you in some way, doesn’t turn you into a Super-Christian overnight. Don’t be deceived into thinking that now I’ve got kindness down pat that all is well. What a shock you will have when you find yourself cursing your boss the next day! And forgetting to pray and do devotions! “But I was doing so well!” you will say. Do not be so naïve to think that a small triumph is some kind of temporary perfection, but also don’t obsess so much that you examine yourself and question your salvation at every fall. We are like vines, it’s good to ensure that the roots are solidly planted in the Word, but you can’t keep digging them up to check whether or not they’re rooted! Instead, praise God, repent and continue to rest in the completed work of Christ.
God’s grace is proven
In the fulfilled promises
The birth
The death
The resurrection
The HS work in our lives
Grace in Context
Grace in Context
This leads us to the last element of Grace I noticed in this passage. That Grace only makes sense when it’s in the right context, only then will we be able to repent and trust. It’s all about perspective. Mary, in her humble estate (v48) was able to praise God rightly, why? Because she wasn’t caught up with her own pride, she saw that she was a mere servant (v48) of the Most High God. She was able to ascribe greatness to Him and see all the works he had done for her when she took her own self-importance out of the way.
It’s just like how we treat our spouses or house mates; we don’t notice how much they do and how much they mean to us until we’re humbled by a week without them. We notice all the things they do, and how much we enjoy their company.
When Mary was humbled her soul was able to rejoice in the magnificence and grace of God.
Interestingly this is somewhat echoed in verse 50, where Mary says that God’s mercy is for those that fear him. Why would one fear him unless they understood some of and felt the Awesomeness of God? When we begin to see God in proper light fear is resultant. Good fear. And that fear we know is the beginning of wisdom.
This reminds me of my father. My father taught me to drive in an old diesel Holden Gemini, puttering around Toowoomba in the days before you had to spend 100 hours in a car to get your P plates. My father taught me all kinds of things, how to hold the steering wheel, how to hold the gearstick so you never missed a gate, how often to check the mirrors, etc. And you know what, when my father told me what to do, I wanted to do it. Why? Because I had fear. Not fear because I was “shaking-in-my-boots” kind of scared, but a fear that I would anger and offend my father. I also had the fear than if I did not do as I was asked that I would not be able to drive anymore, but rather suffer the wrath of my father and sore feet from walking everywhere. He taught me these things to keep me safe and others safe too.
Now I have my license, and sometimes my father rides in the car with me, and you know what, I still have fear. I try to drive better, and remember all the things he thought me, 10+2, be looking ahead up the road, and brake early... But, no longer do I have a fear of losing the ability to drive, that consequence is no more, but I do still have a fear of angering or disappointing my dad. I love my father, and want to please him even though there is no lasting consequence if I don’t. I still want to please him and bring him joy, not slam his good grace to me in his face. This fear and perspective helps me to be a better driver.
And this is true for our heavenly father, In Christ longer are we headed for the grave, from that we have been rescued. No consequence. But we still need a healthy fear of rebelling against our kind and loving Heavenly Father who went to great lengths to adopt us into his family. I want to please my Heavenly Father all the more, because of his mercies to me. That desire and willingness comes out of fear, having seen God’s Great Grace in the proper light.
Another good analogy of context is if I were to ask you right now, which would you like; A Ferrari, a yacht or a parachute. I reckon most would say the Ferrari. But if I were to ask you the same question on a plane plummeting toward the earth, I guess your choice would change rather quickly to the parachute. Why? Because the context changes your attitude toward what you want. When we see Christ as our parachute, our protection and salvation, we want to hold onto Him with all we’ve got, treasure Him and serve Him.
As Mary continued in her song from the context of her humble estate God is made all the more magnificent in fact these verses show God as:
Saviour v47
Mighty v49
Holy v49
Provider v49
Awesome (inspiring fear) v50
Strong v451
Active v51-55
Helper v51-53
Keeper of promises v54+55
The result of seeing our insignificance against God’s magnificence should cause our praise and reverence. Seeing God’s utter righteousness, perfection and character in comparison to our creatureliness should drive our repentance and faith, and that means changed lives through the Holy Spirit!
One of our great heroes of the faith; Paul, the titan of early Christianity was a great man, but why? Towards the end of his life he said “I’m the worst sinner I know” (1Tim 1:15), and Paul referred to himself as the least among God’s people (Eph 3:8). Because Paul was made low and understood his predicament, the graciousness of God could be made great to him, and in an ongoing cycle of recognising God’s mercy and humbling ourselves we may one day be able to follow Paul’s command to be like him, as he was like Christ (1Cor 11:1).
It is my prayer that we might all be buried in the word of God, His chosen method to speak to us, so that we might be uncovering and experiencing the awe and wonder due to our Creator God, causing a right response of repentance and faith in light of his gracious offer of salvation. I hope that we might continually humble ourselves, offering ourselves as living sacrifices in response to the holy fear of the Lord God.
The average man on the street doesn’t want God’s grace, because he doesn’t undertand the he needs it.
Mary understood and sung about God’s great grace to her.
You need to have the context, so that you can appreciate God’s grace to you!
So What?
So What?
As we’ve seen, God’s grace is abundantly visible through Mary’s life and words. Not only is it clear that God has blessed her with good gifts, but also that he has granted her salvation through the son she does not yet know. A salvation that we too can be part of.
This Great Grace was given to her. It was a joyous blessing, proven by the work of the Holy Spirit that led to right praise and adoration of our Lord. Worship and Adoration that we might be able to offer to God as he changes our hearts and brings them low.
This blessing given to Mary is made even more beautiful in the context of God’s awesome plan of salvation. The plan that was mentioned in the opening chapters of Genesis with the future crushing of Satan. This song of Mary is at the precipice of the ultimate completion to this plan. She is about to give birth to a boy. No ordinary boy, but one who carries the ancestry of men and the perfection of God.
The Father in his divine wisdom promised that he would deal with Satan and sin through the seed of woman: “he will crush your head,” he said.
That was to come to pass, but in the most unexpected way, God did what some would deem unthinkable, this baby that Mary so thankfully bore and rejoiced over, the Son of God; God crushed him! His own son! (Isa 53:10) God deliberately did this, but not as “cosmic child abuse” but rather as the plan of the triune God for the slavation of humanity. He subjected himself to torture at the hands of his own creation, and a brutal death. In doing this, he crushed Satan, sin & death, redeeming us a people, reconciling us to a loving and merciful God! This soul wrenching act forever breaks the curses and consequences of sin, so that we might be reunited to the Holy God, and having our souls give Glory to God as he deserves, just like Mary showed.
This song shows us God’s great grace, grace given as a gift, prace proven, and grace known in context.
Like mary expresses in her song, you need to know God’s grace.
Question: I’ve heard some people talk about Mary as the Theotokos, what does that mean?
Theotokos means “GOd bearer” or “Mother of God”
We confess it in the Nicene creed
Because jesus is 1 person not two people in 1 we can’t divide Jesus. He is both God & man. So when Jesus was born, God was born as a human.
It sounds funny to our ears, but it’s not saying Mary was a godess, just that she was the vessel, the ark that carried salvation into the world.
