The Song of Mary

Luke 1:46–56 KJV 1900

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him From generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, And exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, In remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, To Abraham, and to his seed for ever. And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.

Introduction

I love the Christmas hymns this time of year. It is probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the holidays and I love the fact that our hymn book has more of these Christmas songs in them than any other hymn book I have ever seen; however, there is one song that you won’t often hear in our churches. You might here the words we just read if you were to go to services at a Catholic church, Anglican church or an Orthodox church. It often called the Magnificat. These words have been sung in Christianity at-least since the 8th century. It is one of four passages in Luke that historically have been viewed as songs during the birth of Christ, but did Mary sing these words. The text itself does not say that Mary sang these word’s rather it merely says, “And Mary said...”. However, there is some evidence that this song at the very least is poetry that she wrote and might have sung. The structure of the words follows that of Old Testament Hebrew poetry similar to what we find in Psalms and Proverbs. We often don’t think about Mary being a poet, but surprisingly this text tells us a lot about Mary we may not have known.

I. Mary Knew who she was

Luke 1:48

Luke 1:48 KJV 1900

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Literally the word’s low estate speak of a humble estate. Mary wasn’t rich. She wasn’t a Queen and she knew it. There was no humanly logical reason for her to be chosen to carry the Messiah. Mary also referred to herself as a handmaiden of the Lord. In English, this word handmaiden masks how deep she felt about her position with the Lord. The literal meaning of handmaiden is a female slave.

Mary didn’t think she was royalty.

Mary didn’t think she was the most righteous of women.

Mary did not think she should be venerated or worshiped. Instead she magnified the Lord.

Mary saw herself as a servant of God and when the angel came to her she accepted the Lord’s will for her life.

II. Mary Knew her Bible

This poem is filled with quotations and allusions to promises made by God throughout scripture. Pastor has preached in the past on the similarities between Mary’s song and that of Hannah in the Old Testament when God promised to give her a son even though she was barren. Her song begins with a praise of God and then speaks of her reversal of fortunes and then accounts how God has shown Himself faithful, lowering the proud and raising up the humble.

Luke 1:48 “For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

Mal 3:12 “And all nations shall call you blessed: For ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Applied to Israel, but she knew that Israel’s blessedness would start with her)

Luke 1:49 “For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is his name.”

Psalm 71:19 “Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, Who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!”

Luke 1:50 “And his mercy is on them that fear him From generation to generation.”

Psalm 103:17 “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, And his righteousness unto children’s children;”

Luke 1:53 “He hath filled the hungry with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away.”

Job 22:8-9 “But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; And the honourable man dwelt in it. Thou hast sent widows away empty, And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.”

III. Mary Knew Her child would be the Messiah

Luke 1:46-47 “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Mary knew that she needed a saviour.

There is a seasonal debate about the song, “Mary, did you know” The author asks if she knew her son would save our sons and daughters? The messianic references of this Magnificat clearly reveal that Mary knew. She knew he would elevate the lowly Luke 1:52 “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, And exalted them of low degree.” - Jesus came to save the lost, the blind, the sinners. She knew he would feed the hungry Luke 1:53 “He hath filled the hungry with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away.” - Jesus and the feeding of the 5, 000. Elsewhere we read, that Mary knew she would be redeemed by her own child.

Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Conclusion

Mary is a great example for us this time of year. Mary knew that she was just a flawed, girl with no riches, no status to recommend her to God. She humbly saw her need of a saviour. Mary also knew what God’s word promised. She knew that god had promised to raise up those of low estate to humble the proud, to heal the broken. She also knew that she needed a savior. On hearing the news of the birth of the Messiah, our response should be the same as Mary’s who saw herself as a humble girl fulfilling scripture by giving birth to the Messiah. Mary accepted what God had done and was going to do and had faith in Him.

Maybe you are here tonight and you are broken, spiritually hungry and feeling empty on the inside. This passage shows us that God came to heal the broken-hearted, to give sight to the blind, to mend that which is broken. I plead with you tonight to come see Pastor or I after the service. If you are a lady, you can seek out Pastor’s wife or my wife. Let us introduce you to this once baby who came to die for your sins and came to give you abundant life.