Mary is immediately welcomed and blessed and prophesied over. It is overwhelming. Out of the depths of her heart come a song. It is a song of God coming to His people. A song of hope and power. A song of courage to believe that His presence is everything. It is often known as the Magnificat which is the Latin translation of the first word ‘magnifies’.
Magnificat anima mea Dominum
Luke 1: 46-55
Forgive this longer than usual devotion but the Magnificat is beautiful and it needs meditation. So choose whichever verse you want or if you have the time the whole and let God speak to you.
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
My soul magnifies the Lord! With all my heart I praise the Lord! My soul exalts the Lord! My soul is ecstatic, overflowing with praises to God! Yes, my soul magnifies the Lord! My enemies may be pressing in, my body may be weak, my mind may be anxious, my circumstances may be impossible, but MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD!
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
Mary knew she would be known as a law-breaker. She had become a sinner. Mary would be accused of being an adulterer. Hers was a ‘dirty’ miracle. Her divorce was looming even before it had culminated in the marriage ceremony. Mary doesn’t rejoice in God, but God her Saviour! He is not a Saviour, but hers! He is my Saviour. Your Saviour today. He is a saving God!
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,
Mary from now on steps into her blessing and it will be the next 3 decades that remind her constantly of what that blessing means entails.
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.
Mary doesn’t announce her planned strategy for what is now coming through her. Rather she acknowledges what God has already done in her life. She looks back. The God who had always been there for her, watching over her, will continue to make a way.
His holiness calls to any apathy and duty and to return to the significant and all-consuming influence of His presence.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
This song bursting out of young Mary’s soul now moves from what God has done for her to what He will do for the world to come. She has understood and probably knew that when God moves it is not only for now but for the future.
Mary says in the next generation to come and the ones beyond there must be fear.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
Who were the proud that Mary was thinking of? Was it the neighbourhood gossiping about Elizabeth? Was it the Gentiles? Was it those in power? The Pharisees? Caesar? Herod? Even if it was, would they be concerned of a little unknown girl prophesying from a backwater of Judea?
Who has He strengthened? Mary herself? Elizabeth? The poor all around? I think all those and more.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
Here is a young teenage girl who may not have been educated but knows her Scripture enough so that when she is pouring out her soul to God she is able to use it to form her own prayers.
Job 5:11 “The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.”
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
Mary lived at a time when the Herodians taxed the Jews heavily for the building of their own lavish palaces and homes for the gentry, hunger was very familiar to most.
But Mary also lived during a time when the Jews were hungry for God to once again step in and end the suffering of His people which historically was seen to have been caused by their wandering from Him.
Psalm 107: 4-9 “Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”
Was Mary in fact quoting this Psalm? Probably.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
Mary had already been told that her son was more than just a child. That it was God coming to the world for a throne, to reign and to build a kingdom. She understands that He is firstly coming to her nation and she chooses descriptive words that are used by the earlier prophets: “But you, Israel, my servant … from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; … I will strengthen you and help you.” (Isaiah 41:8-10)
He is coming to help in remembrance of His mercy.
Mercy is more than sympathy, pity and forgiveness. It is that but it rushes past and out of those expressions. Mercy needs an act for it to be mercy.
Those who show mercy look weaker in our aggressive culture. Mary knew this is what was inside her. She was hosting His presence and this was mercy. This was the help coming to Israel and to the world.
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
After 400 years of no prophets bringing any messages from God, all they had were fading promises and many would have forgotten them completely.
Mary says, “These are the days of the Abrahamic promises coming to fulfilment.”
She will later see (and suffer) that God who spared Abraham’s Isaac will not spare her own son – His Son. But what does it mean if everything is fulfilled, all the Law and the Prophets is found in Christ? If all the Abrahamic promises are now in Jesus do we just study them? No.
We live like the Mary generation, but even better.
The Magnificat, how has it blessed you today?
Missions Paul 