Text: Luke 1:46-55
I love Christmas songs. They have great melodies. The tunes stick in my head. I will actually sing Christmas songs at any time of the year. There are some songs that I like more than others but I have many Christmas songs which are among my favorites. I think part of the reason I like these songs so much is because of the joy and excitement and the sense of anticipation. We are waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. We are waiting for the Savior to be born. We get that sense as we wait for the Christmas celebration. Tonight we focus on the joy that Mary expressed in her song. It is a song that we will sing after the sermon as part of our worship. As we meditate this evening, we echo the same thought as Mary, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
Part 1: Remember that he is the source of blessing
Mary stands in contrast to Zechariah. Last week when we looked at Zechariah we saw that his reaction to Gabriel’s announcement was doubt. He did not believe that God was going to bless him with a son. Because of his doubt, Zechariah was not allowed to speak until after the birth of John the Baptist. Mary on the other hand believes the announcement of Gabriel. We know Gabriel’s announcement very well because we have heard it repeated every year. Gabriel said to her, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus” (Luke 1:31).
We see Mary question this proclamation but we know that her question wasn’t doubt and disbelief like Zechariah. Mary was simply curious when she said, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). Gabriel’s answer shows us that Mary’s question was a question from a faithful heart. He did not rebuke her like he did with Zechariah. He said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Even that answer doesn’t really explain how this miracle will take place. In Jesus, true God and true man exist in one person. Mary trusts that her son will be her Savior.
After Mary heard this announcement she went to her cousin Elizabeth to share the good news. At this point Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant with John. In a special way, the Holy Spirit reveals the good news that Mary is the mother of Jesus to both Elizabeth and John. Upon Mary’s arrival, Elizabeth exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” (Luke 1:42-45).
After that, we have Mary’s song. This song is a wonderful display of the joy that Mary felt in her heart. Her faith bursts forth. I love singing this when we use the Evening Prayer worship service. There is so much in her words that we could focus on. Let’s start with that phrase, “the Mighty One has done great things for me” (Luke 1:49). I like this passage because it shows how personally she is taking all of this. She recognizes the privilege that she has been given. She, among all women in history, is the mother of Jesus. We haven’t experienced that kind of favor but we can certainly share her thought. God has done incredibly great things for each of us – especially by earning us salvation.
Another segment that is worth noting is verses 51-53. There it says, “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” This is a good passage to look at because it has a Law and Gospel focus. There is much of this song that is all Gospel, all good news. But here we see God bringing judgment on certain groups while giving blessings to others.
Our text from 1 Corinthians talks about this as well. To paraphrase that text, it says that God has chosen the foolish of the world to shame the wise, the weak things to shame the strong, and the lowly to cancel out those that are above them. All of these phrases from Mary’s song and from 1 Corinthians remind us that God overthrows those who look to themselves for salvation. So many people in this world trust in themselves, their riches, their wisdom, their strength and so on. However, when it comes to eternal salvation, it is all about God’s gift to us. He lifts us up with his power and saves us through Christ. That is how much God has done for us.
As we live in this world we need to evaluate which message we need to hear. Are we the lowly that God is lifting up or has sin made us into something else? Do we truly remember how much God has done for us or have we become the rich and the proud? It is easy for us to become the rich who look to our income and the things that we can provide for ourselves. We trust in our own strength and intelligence to earn a good wage and to get all the possessions that we want. Think about how easy it is at this time of year to focus on the presents that we are giving or receiving.
It is easy to turn Christmas into a holiday about being good to others. We could pat ourselves on the back and feel good about ourselves because we helped those who were less fortunate than we are. That makes us feel better than the selfishness of just focusing on what we want to receive for presents. Or think about how we can become proud even though we are members of a Christian church. We act as though our way is the only right way to get things done. We act as though our church membership is a ticket to heaven. If someone suggests that we aren’t attending worship regularly, we get angry because we have been members for 6 generations. What have we done? We have turned our faith into what we are doing or our heritage rather than keeping the focus on all the things God has done for us.
Part 2: Proclaim his praises to the world
It is possible to lose the joy of our faith when we focus on ourselves rather than seeing the blessings from God. Mary starts her song with those expressions of joy. She says, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” She glorifies the Lord – the God who is fulfilling the promise to send the Messiah. She is going to be the mother of that Messiah. She humbly points out, “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” She doesn’t desire to be worshipped. She is simply saying that future generations will see the special place that Mary has in salvation history. She is the mother of God.
One more phrase of the song that is good to highlight is this: Mary said, “He has looked upon the lowliness of his servant.” Mary was one of the humble that God lifted up. Mary is a humble and penitent sinner. She recognizes that she has offended God with her sin. Now she is the one who will be the mother of the perfect and sinless Son of God. She is absolutely amazed at the mercy of God. That is why she is so joyful that she has to sing praises to God. Just like Zechariah, Mary praises her Lord and Savior. Zechariah was overjoyed that his voice was restored but more importantly he was overjoyed that it was almost time for the Savior to carry out his work. Mary has that same kind of joy – the joy that the Savior has come.
Our Isaiah text talks about God establishing his temple and people realizing the importance of going to that temple. I will read again a couple verses. It says, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.’” Jesus came to firmly establish the Lord’s temple. He is the center of the biblical message. It all focuses on the plan of salvation. It was fulfilled when he came into the World as a baby. It was fulfilled when he died on the cross and rose from the grave.
We want many people to have that attitude which wants to go up to the mountain of the Lord. We want people to rejoice like Mary. Many people do worship their Savior because they are joyful over what he has done. That is why we are gathered here tonight. We see the importance of taking time out of our day for spiritual rest. We joyfully participate in worship because we love our God.
As a result of that joy in our hearts we look for ways to serve our God. If we give to help the less fortunate, we do so out of love for our Savior. We realize how many great blessings God has given to us and we want to share those blessings with others. If we receive presents at this time of year, we recognize that any present is a reminder that God has given us the greatest present in the manger at Bethlehem. We put aside selfish desires to serve ourselves. We don’t trust in our heritage. We trust in Christ.
We certainly don’t want to hold back our joy. We look for more and more ways to share it with others. I think about the world we live in and I see opportunity all around us. We have the greatest joy. We have the joy of forgiveness and eternal life in heaven. But I see many people who don’t know this joy. Let’s make use of the opportunities that God puts in our lives. Share God’s Word every chance you get. This means sharing law and gospel. When people know their sin, then they can see their Savior. Then they can see the joy that we have.
Conclusion
Even though we are not quite to our Christmas celebration yet, there is one song that if I heard it today, it would give me that full Christmas joy. That song is “Joy to the World.” My reasoning is more than just having the word Joy in the name. I love that song just because of how exuberantly it is sung and played on Christmas. It captures that joy that we have in our hearts because of the forgiveness of all of our sins. Just like Mary, we have that Christmas joy. We rejoice because God has lifted us up. He has shown us the sins of our hearts and he has put our focus correctly on the Christ-child. Just like Mary we say, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”