The Magnificat
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Appetiser
Appetiser
What are your expectations this Christmas?
Maybe you’re just praying that it will be able to go ahead as smoothly and normally as possible. Last year was heavily disrupted; we couldn’t see our families, we had the carol service on Zoom, and we were singing outside in the cold.
Maybe you just want a break. Maybe you look forward to lots of family time, hand in hand with the hopes mentioned just now.
Maybe you’re dreading this Christmas; perhaps it’ll be the first with an empty space at the table. Or maybe you’ll be spending it on your own as things stand.
I’m not sure what Mary was up to that day when Gabriel was sent to visit her. I know she and Joseph, to whom she was engaged, were looking forward to the wedding day and life together. Well, a spanner was about to be thrown into the mix, messing up, if I may put it so, her Christmas plans. For, as we read earlier, she was about to become pregnant by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine having to explain that to Joseph, his family… But, she said: Luke 1:38. And as Elizabeth said to her: Luke 1:45. Why did she say that? Because by this Child in her womb...
Main Course
Main Course
Mary is saved, v46-49
Mary is saved, v46-49
Mary worships “the Lord” as “God my Saviour”, v46-47
“glorifies”—or “magnifies”, from which we get the name of this song in Christian tradition: “Magnificat”. Mary makes much of God—notice that in her song everything is done by God.
“rejoices”—this is a delight for her. Why? Her joy is “in God my Saviour”.
“God my Saviour” explained, v48-49
God looked upon her “humble state”, v48a
Immediately, her circumstances. She wasn’t a queen, or even the daughter of the High Priest. She was, though, of royal blood (cf. v27).
More fundamentally, that she was a sinner in need of God’s favour, cf. v28-30. Cf. Exodus 2:25
So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
The Saviour is born through her, v48b-49
Remember the angel’s promise, v31-33 (expanding on v30), 35 (notice Elizabeth’s description in v43).
Notice the angel’s summary, v37. “no word from God” refers to everything God has ever revealed; the Old Testament promises are in view—one in particular:
Genesis 3:15
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.’
“your offspring” refers to the Saviour who will rescue man from the devastation of sin and its consequences. It refers to the boy in Mary’s womb, aptly named Jesus—God saves.
Notice Mary’s first response to all this, v38. This is acknowledgement that all God’s plan is being fulfilled in her. The Holy and Mighty God has done “great things” for her—notice the plural! It is a way of referring to God’s saving acts. Mary is saved, and as we shall see, many others as well, through the Child to be born of her.
We call her “blessed”, which is the opposite of “cursed”. As the curse on the world has come in through the first woman, so in God’s promise of salvation from that curse the woman is given the honour to be the bearer of the Restorer of God’s blessing, cf. 1 Timothy 2:14-15 (ESV)
and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Or as Paul puts it in another place, Galatians 4:4
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Luther’s comments on this part of the Magnificat:
“no one can preach Christ without speaking of his mother. When she is so highly praised by the Son, then others will also say: Blessed is she who bore him, nursed him and raised him. “But it is not my glory,” says Mary, “but [it belongs to] the one who regarded me.””
“those who fear him” are saved, v50-55
“those who fear him” are saved, v50-55
God’s saving acts through history, v50-54
“His mercy extends to those who fear him”, v50a cf. v30
“He has performed mighty deeds with his arm”, v51a cf. v49a. This is Exodus language; e.g. “Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy.” (Exodus 15:6) Psalm 136 commemorates that the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt “with a might hand and outstretched arm” (v12).
v51b-52—those who oppressed His people. Again, think Egypt: Pharaoh and his chariots on the bottom of the Red Sea.
“He has filled the hungry with good things”, v53a—not scraps, but “good things”; reminds us of the blessed state of the original, good creation. But the rich will be sent away empty, v53b—again, think of the role reversal that began at the Exodus.
These verses drip with the sweet honey of the Old Testament
God’s faithfulness to “those who fear him” all through history is highlighted.
Their hopes held for millennia have been answered through the Baby in Mary’s womb.
The beneficiaries, v50, 54-55
“those who fear him from generation to generation”, v50
Genesis 3:15 revisited:
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.’
The “enmity” is towards the serpent. Its presence in the woman speaks of her being saved from slavery to sin and serving Satan. She now fears God—and her “offspring” will have the same happen to them. Yes, it speaks of Christ—but also of His people. Romans 16:20
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
They are “Israel … Abraham and his descendants”, v54-55
The reference to the promise God made to Abraham, especially Genesis 22:18
and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.’
Jesus is the offspring who saves those who are Abraham’s offspring by faith in God as Saviour. Bede the Venerable comments on these verses in Luke:
“None of the faithful doubts that this pertains to the Lord and Savior, who in order to give us an everlasting blessing deigned to come to us from the stock of Abraham. However, “the seed of Abraham” does not refer only to those chosen ones who were brought forth physically from Abraham’s lineage, but also to us.… Having been gathered together to Christ from the nations, we are connected by the fellowship of faith to the fathers, from whom we are far separated by the origin of our fleshly bloodline. We too are the seed and children of Abraham since we are reborn by the sacraments of our Redeemer, who assumed his flesh from the race of Abraham.”
As Paul says of Abraham in Romans 4:11: “he is the father of all who believe”.
But is it you?
Do you fear God, cf. v50? Do you acknowledge Him as God, the Creator of all things, Who gave you life and sustains you every day?
Are you “humble”, cf. v52? Or do you think your life is your domain, to do with it as you please? Do you see that you live by God’s grace? Do you consider yourself as God’s servant, as Mary did, as Israel does?
Are you “hungry”, cf. v53? Or are you “rich”? “The “rich” are not those who have possessions but those who love them.” (Luther) Do you wish to be saved, and live with God?
Pudding
Pudding
Remember Elizabeth’s words in Luke 1:45? Do you believe this? It will change your Christmas experience if you really do.
