Mary's Song

Well, if you like titles, the title of today's study, Mary's Song. Mary's Song. I invite you to open your Bibles once again. And let's turn to Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 1. And we're going to begin in verses 39 through 56 to begin our study, picking up where we left off last time.

It's been a few weeks since we began the Gospel of Luke. We will take a little side trip as the spring holy days are now coming upon us. We want to spend a little time here in Luke 1 and beginning in verse 39 to focus on Mary and her song. There's a song that emerges from Mary's lips here in the 45th verse.

There's a little section though that proceeds it that we shouldn't miss. So we want to pick back up here. And we're picking back up at the story where Mary now, having received the birth announcement from the angel Gabriel, she decides now to go and confer all that has happened with her relative Elizabeth. So let's see this. Luke 1 beginning in verse 39. Now, so this is Luke recording. Now, Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she, Elizabeth, spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you, Mary, among women. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she, speaking of Mary, who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told to her from the Lord.

Now verse 46 begins with now Mary's response to Elizabeth. This is her song, if you will. Verse 46. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name, and his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever. Verse 56. So that's the conclusion of her song. It says, And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house. So let's stop there. What an incredible moment here as we continue in this story.

And I believe it's incredible because what we realize here is that recorded for us here is the very infant narratives of one John the Baptist who's now being carried in his mother Elizabeth. John the Baptist, of course, is the herald. He is the forerunner of the coming of Jesus Christ, now for the first time coming into the presence of his Savior, the Savior now being carried by Mary, Mary being given the responsibility to bring the Savior of mankind into this world. And as we read this narrative throughout this recorded narrative of Luke, you'll realize now when we come to this part that Mary and Elizabeth are not now ultimately concerned with the how.

You know, how this has come about. You remember perhaps in our previous study, Mary was very perplexed by how this could all come about with curiosity and mystery. It was all there for these women, no doubt. But you'll notice that now that primarily it is the why. So not the how anymore, but the why this is now occurring that has entered into their hearts and minds. And the why is ultimately our concern as well. So let's ask why.

Why? Why did God the Father and the one who had become Jesus Christ even bother to go through doing this? Why have the eternal ones, the Father and the Son, proceeded with this plan? You know, they needed nothing. They needed no one. They were perfect in their union for all of eternity. The framework of their relationship was perfect. So it's not as if they needed to add anything to themselves or to their relationship or to their family.

So why? Why God send your Son into His creation? Why have Him take on human nature, take on all the essential properties and the frailty of humanity, except for sin? Why?

Well, I'll give you the straightforward answer to the question of why.

Maybe you could be thinking in your mind right now. Why? The answer to the question of why is love.

Love. It is the love of the Father and the Son toward mankind. That is the impassioned motivation of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Love is the impassioned motivation. And by saying that, all we're saying really is John 3 16. We won't turn there, but John 3 16. For God so loved the world, that is the deep motivation that He gave His one and only Son for whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So it is somehow in the mystery of eternity, the Father and the Son, they made a covenant with one another for the redemption of men and women. They deeply desired to add to their family. It was their desire to have man respond to their love, to work in this love, to work out this love here on earth, to one day have their love cultivate in their lives in such a way that they would respond with humility, they would respond with gratitude, they would respond with change, so as to culminate in the end to join their family.

That's the story of salvation.

But they realized that in this process of working out the love of God the Father and Jesus Christ, in that process of working out that love, ultimately it was going to be impossible for them to enter into the presence of the Father and the Son because mankind by nature and allowing for free will and allowing them to work this out would be corrupted, would be corrupted with sin. We have not loved God as we should. We have not obeyed His law.

We've been jealous, spiteful, mistrusting, arrogant, covetous.

That's just this morning, you know.

We're corrupted all over. So God determined on the account of His love for us that He would send His Son into that experience and He does so with that acknowledgement. You know, as we get into these narratives, we understand that God sent His Son into the cradle of a stained and dirty feed box. A feed box. We'll get into that narrative a little bit more in a future study.

It's amazing to think about that God covered His Son with ignominy, but His Son lives the perfect life, the perfect example, qualifies as Savior so that we may be covered with glory one day. So again, it's the impassioned motivation, the deep motivation of the why is love. It's the only way we can make sense of the Incarnation if you think about it.

We look upon His sacrifice. We're going to be focusing on the sacrifice in this coming Passover. We look upon it, and when we look upon the Son's crucifixion, we see that is where God's pronouncement of love is made, is ultimately made. We discover that the Son of God steps down into our existence, our frailty, our failure. He lives absolute perfection in his in relationship to the law. He takes man's condemnation, and He does so because He loves us. So when we get to the Passover and we sing, In thy loving kindness, Lord, be merciful to me, in compassion, great blot out, all iniquity. And my sin hide from thy view, and in me a clean heart make, spirit right renew. All of it is related to these infant narratives. All of it. So it is in light of that that we'll see here in a moment that a song emerges from Mary. So this incredible story continues to unfold here. Last time, Mary was the recipient of Amazing News from the Angel Gabriel. She's told that she's to be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of God, is now she is to conceive. And so she does what's not surprising. She heads off in haste to have a prenatal conversation with her cousin Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, Mary had been told by the angel, is now pregnant herself and at six months, pregnancy. So not surprising. Fairly common for ladies to come together, especially if you're in that same space, to find other expectant mothers, compare notes, and so forth. Something women are very familiar with. Frankly, men should stay out of this as much as possible. They'll have conversations of kicking, hiccuping, all kinds of just private interaction. Branson Hicks, is that what it is? I probably said that wrong.

Don't correct me. I don't want to know. You know, all these things that men recall from, but nothing particularly unusual for two expectant mothers to compare notes. So with the angel's words ringing in her ear, she heads off some 70 miles through the Judean Hill country, and verse 40, Mary entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was the senior. Custom was the junior to greet the senior first. That's what happens. Elizabeth was also the daughter of Aaron in the priestly line, so therefore she had stature.

Mary didn't have any stature. Therefore, it was custom for Mary to greet her, which she did. But you'll notice in a very quick moment, Mary's greeting is just silenced as Elizabeth gives a dramatic explanation here. And we see this happening here in these next verses, verses 41-43. Excuse me. Verses 41-43. Here's what happened.

And it happened, Luke records, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then she, Elizabeth, spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you, Mary, among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? So we see some humility there. So let's stop there.

So just after coming from the incredible encounter with this angel, this is wonderful because all sorts of thoughts would have been going through Mary's head at this time. Did this actually happen? Was I dreaming that this angel came to me?

Well, now she's on the receiving end of reinforcement to all that Gabriel had told her.

Look carefully at this text. You will notice that Elizabeth, upon hearing Mary's greeting, speaks out in a loud voice and displays knowledge of things that clearly did not come from deduction.

I wonder if you've noticed that. If you think about it, Elizabeth, without having seen or heard Mary at all, is able to put perfect clarity on the circumstances which have unfolded here.

And she's able to really reinforce all of Gabriel's words. Immediately acknowledge Mary's favorite status, that which the angel did earlier. How? How does this come about?

How is it that Mary, that Elizabeth, upon the arrival of this young girl Mary, is able to immediately make these statements? Put her finger right on the button.

How is she able to pinpoint exactly who Mary is carrying in her belly?

Well, the answer simply is the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, in all the Gospel recordings, I think I've got this accurate, it doesn't appear that Elizabeth had been told anything in relation to Mary's designation of carrying the Messiah.

You don't see that recorded in the Gospels. You know, the angel had visited Zacharias and prior and again, but no recordings of that kind. So again, how is she able to pinpoint exactly who Mary is carrying? The answer is the power of the Holy Spirit. We're told at the end of verse 41 that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and therefore, verse 42, with a loud voice, she said these things. In other words, it was a result of the power of the Holy Spirit that revealed to her it enabled her to speak in this way. And it's remarkable to think about this power.

We could go through all the various examples throughout the Bible, all the displays of the Holy Spirit, example upon example. The power of the Holy Spirit comes, it opens eyes, it reveals, it empowers, and it enables. It enables speech like this and knowledge.

The Holy Spirit provides clarity, the power, fullness of understanding, which otherwise would not have been understood. I found an interesting comment from a commentator. Speaking of this moment, quote, When the one mother, Elizabeth, recognized the other mother, Mary, the unborn forerunner, felt his master's presence and was himself filled with the spirit, and that spirit then also filled his mother. Unquote. It's remarkable to think about. I think that's right. Because if you look at verse 15, allow your eyes to go up to verse 15. Speaking of baby John, John the Baptist, verse 15. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall not drink neither wine nor strong drink. Here it is. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. So it's almost as if John knew he was the one that was supposed to come first and come out first ahead of the greater one that was to come after him. He is filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. And what is happening, this is what's happening to Elizabeth herself, because verse 41 again, verse 41. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And he was and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. So a dramatic encounter here. And so Elizabeth is able to translate the leaping of this little baby into pinpoint theology. That's what she's doing here. Reiterates the truth that the angel had already told her. And so Elizabeth has her song to sing here. Her song is summarized in verse 42 through 45. This is Elizabeth's spirit-filled revelation here. Verse 42 through 45 again. Then she, Elizabeth, spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there shall be fulfillment of these things which were told her from the Lord.

So quite a response here. So filled with the Holy Spirit, she said this. You see this all throughout Scripture. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, filled with the Holy Spirit, and he says this. He stands up and gives this wonderful sermon. The enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Empowers, reveals, enables Peter. Empowers, reveals, enables Elizabeth. Empowers and reveals and enables us today.

And the Holy Spirit moves us to consider Jesus Christ. Consider Him, believe in Him, trust in Him. And this is a powerful moment that's occurring here between these two blessed women. This moment had been talked about for centuries. This very moment that Luke's recording here.

This moment is taking place at the end of centuries of silence. Silence. It's an incredible moment. The Old Testament concluded with the prophecy of Malachi. Some 400 years had elapsed now from the time that Malachi and the other prophets had spoken. And the significance is this, that the generations that lived in that inter-testamental time, they would have continually rehearsed the promises of God. They would have rehearsed this very event. In fact, let me show you just two occurrences. We could go to a number of places that prophesy about this very event, but I just want to go to two. I'll leave it for your homework to go to more. But if you want to keep your marker here in Luke 1, let's just look at a couple of examples. One example is found in Isaiah 7 verse 14. Let's turn there, if you will. Isaiah 7, 14.

I just want to reinforce the places that we could turn that speak of this very event. Isaiah 7 verse 14. This is from the prophet Isaiah. And listen to these words. Isaiah 7 verse 14. Therefore the Lord himself will come, will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. That means God with us. That's awesome. One more.

Micah 5. Let's turn there. Micah is found right after the book of Jonah.

Micah 5. Let's see what he has to say. Micah 5 verses 2 through 5. We find from Micah here that the one that is now with Mary is in fact the one who was prophesied to come. Look at these specific words from this specific prophetic word here. Micah 5 verses 2 through 5. But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, Ephrathah just simply means fertile. So Bethlehem was a fertile hill country. But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler of Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. Therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel, and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide. For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and this one shall be peace. Stop there. Very interesting. So this prophetic word here, out of Bethlehem, and then from Isaiah, born of Urgent. So it's pointing to these very records of that Luke is putting down for us. So as with all the Old Testament prophecies, they just come layer upon layer pointing to this moment. The parents for so many generations would have told their children of these things. The grandparents would have brought their children upon their knees, and they would have said, you know, Jimmy, that's a really bad Old Testament name.

You know, Jimmy, I'm sticking with it. The day is coming. Out of Bethlehem, a son will be born from a virgin, and he'll be great to the ends of the earth, and this one shall be peace.

And they would have rehearsed this generation after generation.

Do you think it'll be tomorrow, Grandpa? No, honey, I don't know. Not tomorrow, but it's definitely going to be. One generation would have gone to their death, another generation would have arose reading the same scriptures, prophecy of Isaiah, Micah, and the rest, reading from Ezekiel. Ezekiel, we won't turn there, but Ezekiel the prophet says, I will put my spirit in you. That's for your notes, if you like. Ezekiel 36, 27. Ezekiel 36, 27. Prophesied from God, I will put my spirit in you. Joel, we won't turn there, and Joel 2, 28, though. Joel 2, 28. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. So again, the prophetic voice had been silenced for some 400 years. So the people who have been on the lookout, we have said they were on their tiptoes in the Old Testament. Who is this one to come? When will God fulfill this promise? When is this day of the Spirit? So going back to Luke chapter 1, back to Luke 1, Luke here is announcing in this narrative this is exactly what is happening. Where the announcement of John the Baptist with it, we have the return of the prophetic voice of John, and he is filled with the Spirit. And the overshadowing of Mary by the Holy Spirit, we're beginning a new creation. Elizabeth and Mary are filled with the Spirit. Luke is announcing the coming of Jesus Christ. The day of the Spirit has finally dawned.

Not in its fullness. We know the day of Pentecost is coming. But nevertheless, it has arrived.

The significance of this moment is vast. God has not forgotten his promises. You know, there would have been those scoffers that would have said, referring back to Genesis 12, where's the fulfillment of Abraham? That through Abraham, the seed of Abraham, all nations will be blessed. Where is that? Scoffers today. Where's the return of Jesus Christ? Everything seems like it's going on as it always has. Well, God hasn't forgot his promises. I can tell you that. In making Mary the mother of the Messiah, he's declared the fact that he keeps his promises. So we have this wonderful continuity. The Old Testament expectations. The New Testament realizations.

So, there's more on that. That will suffice for now. Because I want to come to this part of the narrative of Mary's response now to this incredible loud greeting from Elizabeth here.

And Mary responds with her own song, if you will. So picking back up Luke 1 verse 46, Mary begins here her beautiful song. Verse 46 and 47. And Mary said, after all of that from Elizabeth, My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

So she gives voice to her song. What's her focus? It's not about her, is it? It's a wonderful example. It's not about her. When the grace of God comes, it has nothing to do with us.

And what does she sing about? She sings about God and his greatness, his power, his majesty, his mercy. So her posture is that of a worshipper. She magnifies the Lord.

And it's a humble posture, you'll notice. Verse 48. Immediately humility comes. I know we can relate to this. Verse 48. He has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant, where behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. How many of you feel humble that the grace of God has been given to you and that we have this incredible calling? That's our response to God's grace, to his love, humility. So it's a humble posture here. And I just think about this. For Mary, it was just so remarkable. Think about this blessing to her to consider.

This child in her womb is the one by whose death one day will make atonement for her sin.

So the one she carries now, one day hang upon a stake, she will be at the foot of that crucifixion, and there her son will hang as her Savior. Not just her Savior. For all, all of mankind. Look at verse 50. In fact, verse 50, his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

So it is that in one sense, Mary's song, it's unique to her and her experience. But of course, this is the song for all called believers who've been on the receiving end of his grace.

So this is your song, isn't it? It's my song. My soul magnifies the Lord. My Spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior. Isn't this our song? He's regarded the lowly state of his servant.

Henceforth, all generations will call me blessed.

So God having his son formed in Mary's body, that's unique, but it's actually what God is doing and is continuing to do in the life of all true followers of Jesus Christ. God is forming his son in you as well. He's conforming us to the image of his son. So Christ is living in us.

He and the Father have made their home with us. It's incredible.

So Mary's awe struck, and there's just two themes that come to her song here.

One theme of God is mighty and one theme that God is merciful.

So you'll see in verse 49, he is mighty. He's mighty. And then verse 50, he is merciful.

And then the song continues in verses 51 through 55, and Mary sings about the various ways in which God is both mighty and merciful. Verse 51 and 52 again, he's mighty. Verse 51 and 52, he has shown his strength with his arm, scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, you know, in their mind, they're prideful. Verse 52, he's put down the mighty from their throne, there. Strength in his arm. God's arm is mighty. So strong. There's nothing he can't do.

This is what Mary's singing about here. Counter-cultural song, you know, so much of in our culture, it is to emphasize our capability. You can do it, you know.

We build our own thrones from our own efforts. Well, God puts down the human opinions of significance. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God had spoken, let not the wise boast in his own wisdom. Let not the mighty boast in his own might. Let not the rich boast in their riches. But let him who boasts boast in this, that he knows and understands me. That's God through Jeremiah. If you'd like to know that, it's a beautiful passage of scripture found in Jeremiah 9.23.

So what do we boast in? Ultimately, we boast in that we know him. We have a relationship with him. And it's just this wonderful future reality that the most rich will not have any money at all. You know, think about that perspective. And the most powerful will be the most humble.

Because they'll know where their power came from. What a strange way for God to work. Strange to our own human way of thinking.

Strange, you know. God doesn't send his son to a palace. He's a very powerful person. He's a very powerful person. He's a very powerful person. He's a very powerful person.

You know, God doesn't send his son to a palace. He's in the very humble circumstances.

We'll get to that narrative soon. God doesn't put a beautiful crown of jewels on the little baby, you know. Rather, later, he'll wear a crown of thorns. These are the words of Mary, and it is a powerful hymn. It's a revolution.

Verse 51, he shows his strength. He scatters the proud.

Verse 51, he scatters the proud in the thoughts of their heart. I'm a big deal. I don't need a savior. It brings down the powerful. Verse 52, he has put down the mighty from their thrones.

We could rehearse sometime the story of Nebuchadnezzar, of course.

Look at this palace. Look at what I've built. Look at the gardens. Look at my majesty. Look at my wealth. God puts them down. Has anyone seen Nebuchadnezzar? Well, he's crawling around at the bottom of the property, grazing like an animal, you know.

Whew!

Scatters man's thrones, brings them down.

The rich, he sends away empty. The second half of verse 53 there.

If you want to do a little study, you can do study the autobiographies of some of the richest men and individuals and women in the world. So often it ends in tragedy. Tragedy.

The more they prize those riches, the more empty they are, the more hollow they are.

God has sent them away empty. God is mighty.

He's also merciful. Verse 50.

His mercy is on those who fear him. Second half of verse 52. Second half of verse 52, He has exalted the lowly. He brings them down in order to raise them up to newness of life.

That's the process. I was thinking about these scriptures and when Jennifer and I had the most in possessions, we were the most miserable. I thank God for His mighty arm and just wiping it away. Thank you, Father. Thank you.

It's very merciful. This is the process to finding newness to life often.

He's mighty. He's merciful. You know, it's why Jeremiah, who said those things, you know, don't boast. Rich don't boast in your riches and so forth. He is the same man who wrote, it is on the account of the Lord's mercy that were not consumed.

So we see this pattern of might always coupled with mercy. Always. It's a fascinating study. The hungry heart, He has filled. That's the first part of verse 53. He has filled the hungry with good things. This speaks more than just food, of course. This is a hunger where they won't hunger anymore and a quenching of thirst. It's a spiritual thirst. I love to read about the home office.

They're providing that food. Awesome. Only to the extent that we want to give them the real food that will fill them for eternity. So God can allow us to use those opportunities to show God's work in action so that we might then have the opportunity to give them the everlasting food, if you will. So there is a spiritual vacuum in the core of humanity.

We have all the money. We have all the education. And we're still empty as a society.

So this is what we proclaim of the Son of God. He fulfills the spiritual hunger. So He has come for the humble, the hungry, and the helpless. Verse 54 and 55, He has helped His servant Israel. In remembrance of His mercy, He spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to His seed forever. So God hasn't forgot the promises. Delivered Israel from the tyranny of Egypt, set them free. He's mighty. He's merciful. Mercifully led them through the wilderness, through all their wanderings and grumblings, to bring them into the Promised Land. So it is God who deals with the humble, the hungry, and the helpless. So this is Mary's beautiful song.

He's mighty. He's merciful. I think it's a wonderful perspective. What we see there in verse 56, she concludes, Luke records and concludes with these words.

Luke says, verse 56, And Mary remained with Elizabeth for about three months and returned to her house. And so the story will continue to unfold before us. So let me conclude as we begin. We know God has stepped down into our existence, into our human sin, our human failure, and has done what no one else could. And ultimately, He has come to a broken world to save us. You think we need a Savior today? Violence, killings, addictions, addictions have their grip on so many today. If you turn on the news, the answer, they will say, lies in political constructs. Oh, the answer lies in capitalism. The answer lies in redistribution.

Is that where the true answer lies? To heal broken hearts, to straighten crooked paths, to release those from these horrible addictions.

Well, if we're prepared to wrestle with these things, maybe you've asked who can deal with all of this, I'm here to remind you that no one can except for one. That's our Savior. So I encourage you to take Mary's song upon your lips today and maybe with your spouse or maybe by yourself find a quiet place. Turn to these scriptures and read these words. Perhaps put them to song. I'm sure God would love that. And let's allow these words today to be our song so that we may magnify the Lord and then we may rejoice in knowing that Jesus Christ is our Savior.