Magnificat Musings

Today, is the first Sunday of Advent, the season where we join with the church from all times to celebrate and mark not only the first coming of Christ, but also His second coming.

One of the distinctive elements of the Christian faith is our belief that Jesus comes twice.

Tonight we will immerse ourselves in the story of His first coming, over two thousand years ago...

But through the advent season we also prepare our hearts for the second coming of Christ.

And it is precisely in this preparation that the church also gets to declare to the world,

Jesus is going to make all things NEW.

The evil we see and experience in our world will not be allowed to go on forever, but God is going to judge the living and the dead, punishing evil finally and inviting into His kingdom the ones who have placed their trust in Christ.

How’s that for a Christmas message?

Part of what makes the twice coming of the Messiah so significant is that so many Psalms, songs, and prophecy about the Messiah can be equally appropriated by both Israel before the first coming of Christ, and by Israel (or in other words the church) before the second coming of Christ.

We, together with the Israel of old, groan for a Messiah who will free slaves from bondage.

“O come, O come, thou Dayspring bright! Pour on our souls thy healing light; Dispel the long night's lingering gloom, And pierce the shadows of the tomb. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

PRAY

“In the name of the Triune God”

Reflecting on the story helps us better understand Mary.

Reflecting on Mary helps us better understand the gospel.

Reflecting on the gospel helps us glorify a holy God.

Reflecting on the story helps us better understand Mary.

How do you think this story got to us?

I think Luke interviewed Mary.

What was Mary doing?

How long does it take a baby to reach full term?

9 months

The Bible gives us clues to the timing of all this and helps us add extra layers on the story.

Here’s something really cool:

Luke uses a pregnancy as a timeline.

Very doctor like.

Walk through the steps.

Elizabeth conceives

Seclusion for 5 months

6th months Mary visited by Gabriel

Immediately leaves to go see Elizabeth.

(Probably was planning on going to go see Elizabeth ahead of time.)

Wouldn’t you?

Mary stays with Elizabeth for about 3 more months.

She was there when Elizabeth was full term.

I think she saw John being born.

What we have here is 2 women with miraculous pregnancies living together and supporting each other.

And their initial greeting is nothing less than pure overflowing joy, brought on by the Spirit, through the mouths of godly women who were steeped in the story of Israel and knew that God was doing a special thing.

So our specific text for today is

“From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--- Holy is His name.”

Reflecting on Mary helps us better understand the Gospel.

This opening line, from now on all generations will call me blessed might conjure up different feelings for us.

Some of us might be thinking, “Um yeah, she’s going to give birth to God”

And others of us might be thinking “Hmmm this verse has been used in some unhelpful ways.”

In fact some of us have grown up in Church traditions that had interesting and sometimes confusing ideas about Mary.

Different views on Mary

1. Sinless, only had one child, assumption of Mary.

2. Who? Oh that lady the catholics worship?

As if our only talking points considering Mary are just refuting what catholics believe.

Well what do they believe?

I’m not a catholic theologian or scholar by any means, but I’ve tried to seek an understanding of what the differences our between us, mainly for the purpose of being able to press into as much unity as possible with my catholic brothers and sisters.

Pints with Aquinas “At least know what we believe so we can argue better”

Immaculate Conception:

Mary was free from sin from the moment of HER conception.

Perpetual Virginity:

Mary was a virgin before during AND after the birth of Jesus.

Assumption of Mary:

Mary was “assumed” body and soul into into heaven, and did not experience death.

So what’s the deal with these doctrines?

We as Protestants (meaning not catholics) have a great work of recovery to do concerning how we think and talk about the Mother of God.

So in order to do that, let’s start by examining the issues that we would disagree with, but then push past disagreement into good, biblical reflection on the person of Mary and ultimately the gospel.

These catholic doctrines range from deeply problematic to simply shrinking the gospel. Which is the opposite of magnification which is the very thing Mary was inviting others to do in her song.

This first one, Immaculate Conception is the one that’s deeply problematic.

If Mary was without sin, then why did Jesus have to be born and die for our sins?

In my opinion this doctrine is pretty baseless and goes against many truths that we hold to in the Christian faith.

Romans 3:10–18 (NASB95)

10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17 And the path of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

One means one in the Greek.

A few verses later, in verse 23, we read that all (again meaning all) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Mary, like us, and like every single human in history, was under the curse of sin from birth.

This doctrine falls under the category of what we would call heresy and needs to be forgotten in the trashcan of time.

THE OTHER TWO

Now, the other 2, perpetual virginity and assumption into heaven without death, aren’t necessarily heresy.

Mary could certainly have remained a virgin, and the idea of someone being taken into heaven with out visible “death” of sorts occurs at least twice in other spots in the Bible.

But here’s the thing, the Bible doesn’t actually support either of these ideas about Mary.

And that’s not important because we just want to be right.

It’s important because in Mary’s story we find some of the most important truths of the gospel.

And they don’t ride upon her being sinless.

If Mary is sinless than we miss the point that God became a man in order to BE WITH SINFUL PEOPLE.

Even some of our favorite reformed theologians, being not far from the catholic views on this, would have defended the perpetual virginity of Mary on the basis that the womb that bore the messiah could never be polluted by sexuality with a sinful man like Joseph.

The Gospel is uniquely equipped to meet and minister to deeply messed up people because God in His Lovingkindness decided to use deeply messed up people to unfold his plan.

Are you messed up? Get in line!

Did you know that the lovingkindess or steadfast love of God communicates a sort of mirth or laughter? It’s because staying faithful to people who aren’t faithful to you is kinda funny!

It’s shocking in the most beautiful and hilarious way that God would condescend to broken people.

Jeremiah 33:10–11 ESV

10 “Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again 11 the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord: “ ‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!’ For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

Did you know that there are prostitutes and incest in Jesus’ bloodline?

That should make you laugh!

Do you know how many murderers were in Jesus bloodline?

That’s unbelievable.

Not because murder is funny or prostitution is a joke.

The laughter is the sort of laughter that a parent has when they help their child out of the tree that they just got stuck in.

This is why understanding the story leading up to Mary makes our consideration of her that much more valuable.

The person of Mary is incredible because in the body of a poor young woman in Roman occupied Israel, God said, “This is where I will place my son.”

If Jesus had to grow in a sinless womb to be God than how could He ever touch a leper and heal them?

If Jesus couldn’t be around sinful women than how could He absolve an adulterous woman of her sin at a well in Samaria?

The Gospel is not good news if it is not good news to the people that need it most.

Mary needed Jesus.

Elizabeth needed Jesus.

John the Baptist needed Jesus.

I need Jesus.

You need Jesus.

The whole world was in desperate need of a God who would be WITH them.

And that’s just what we got.

Do you ever wonder why we only call Jesus Emmanuel around Christmas?

I do.

Emmanuel means God with us.

We should be calling God Emmanuel every singly day in order to remind us of Christ’s abiding presence with those who are hurting.

Opening line of “Oh come oh come emmanuel

and ransom captive Israel

that mourns in lonely exile here

until the son of God appears.”

Mary wouldn’t have sang THAT song growing up, but she would have sang the Psalms and the prophets that foretold of a God who would rescue His people from their oppressors.

He had done it over and over again throughout their history.

But now He’s doing it in the biggest way possible.

He has come to ransom and rescue His people from their greatest oppressor ever.

Sin, and Satan.

“Rejoice, Rejoice

Emmanuel

Has come to thee Oh Israel.”

This is what the song of Mary really is...

Rejoicing, for Emmanuel has come to stand in the face of Satan and declare “Let my people go.”

Transition: So how can we call Mary blessed? And should we?

Let’s turn to a different passage in Luke.

Luke 11 text

Read Luke 11:27-28

Luke 11:27–28 NIV

27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” 28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

What Jesus isn’t saying here is “My mother wasn’t blessed.”

He’s saying, giving birth to and nursing me isn’t enough to experience the blessing of God.

Hearing God’s word and obeying it is exactly what Mary is blessed among women for.

Mary heard the word of God and obeyed it and was blessed accordingly.

But Jesus heard the word of the Lord and obeyed it in the most perfect sense ever. Therefore how much more should we bless and glorify Him.

Friends, we are given the same choice as Mary.

You living in 2021 have the most coveted vantage point on history.

Don’t encounter the living God and be content to jsut rub shoulders with him.

Thousands of people did that who ultimately rejected Him.

Don’t hear the word of the Lord and disobey it.

Here Jesus’ call for you to repent and believe in Him and then obey him.

That is how YOU can be blessed.

And not just a superficial blessing.

You can be blessed with adoption into the family of God.

Made a true son or daughter.

Reflecting on the Gospel helps us glorify a holy God.

True theology always occurs AFTER an encounter with Christ.

The words that Mary spoke were a faithful witness to who God is because she had actually witnessed who God was and is.

All generations will call me blessed, why?

Because GOD.

Because of what the Mighty One has done.

Good theology is theology that makes us glorify God and worship Him.

And that is exactly what Mary does.

Mary’s encounter with an angel,

that promises a child,

that compels her to run to her cousin Elizabeth,

who is also bearing a child who had been prophesied about centuries before,

who opens her mouth to declare the Lordship of a preborn baby over her life,

ALL this causes Mary to do one thing.

Glorify God.

HOLY is His name.

Mary is so close to God because God has taken on flesh and is currently residing in her womb!

So Mary, joins with the living creatures that surround God’s throne

to declare to anyone who will hear

HOLY is the Lord.

Do you know what you eyes will behold one day?

Revelation 4:6–11 ESV

6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

His word is true.

At Christmas, Christ beckons to us to come and live.

Hear His Word, and Obey.

Part of our obedience and response to hearing God’s word is through worship.

We will now worship in three ways:

Singing

Giving

Communion

Talk about preparation for communion through confession.

Talk about Communion