Luke 1:46-56 - Pete Campbell

In these verses, Mary clearly sees a most remarkable thing about God: He is about to change the course of all human history; the most important three decades in all of time are about to begin. And where is God? Occupying himself with two humble women—one old and barren (Elizabeth), the other young and virginal. And Mary is so moved by this vision of God, the lover of the lowly, that she breaks out in song—a song that has come to be known as the Magnificat.

 I see three key takeaways from the joyous song that Mary sings.

 First, our Holy God helps the lowly. In verse 49, Mary makes the statement that God’s name is holy. He is completely free from sin, his ways are above our ways and his attributes are perfect. Holiness. But what Mary makes clear in her song is how God’s holiness expresses itself. V.50 “He has mercy on those who fear Him”, v.52 “He has exalted those of low degree”. Our God has mercy on those who fear him, who humble themselves and turn from the ego-boosting accumulation of worldly wealth. Should that be a challenge to us today? 

 Secondly, the Lord pours out blessings on his servant (v.48). Proverbs 28:20 says that the faithful will “abound” with blessings, but those who seek riches will be punished. It’s not a quid-pro-quo. We often think our good deeds will gain favour or grant an exchange from God. But, as Graeme preached from John 3 back in October, Nicodemus had the same problem. He had all the worldly ‘favour’ he needed to get VIP access to the heavenly realms and yet, Jesus admonished him and explained that he must be “born again”.

For Mary, it was in her humility and lowliness that she devoted her life to God, and God richly blessed her. What an assurance for us, that it is because of the son that Mary bore who did all the work for us to bear our sin and shame on the cross that we might have life eternal and relationship with God, not by our own works!

Finally, Mary’s soul magnifies God (v.46 ESV) (‘glorifies’ in NIV). How does a soul magnify God? Sure, a mouth can magnify by saying “God you are magnificent!”, and Mary goes on to sing of all the things that God does (“.. scattered the proud (v.51) .. exalted the humble (v.52) .. filled the hungry (v.53)”).

But Mary’s soul magnifies God! Her spirit rejoices in knowing that her God has a great plan for her and for His people and that she is part of that. What a joy it is for us to know that God is also doing a great thing in our lives and that we should be part of it!