AMCHRISTMAS05 The Visitation to Mary and the Magnificat
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Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”
Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered 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 spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this 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 babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
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,
And 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.”
And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.
Well, we’re not quite at Christmas Day yet and so it is with today’s sermon. This visit to Mary was quite out of the blue. Surprise! Surprise! You can almost hear Cilla Black in the background. But this passage is more than just a surprise; it is an oxymoron. What is an oxymoron, you may ask, well it is when you put two words together that contradict each other. And we have such an oxymoron here today. Mary is, having an oxymoron; she is going to be a pregnant virgin, then a virgin mother.
If news came to you that your niece was about to have a baby and she said she was a virgin, you would have to be asking whether she had IVF! It would not cross your mind that this was a miracle! Now imagine Mary just being told it is natural then for her to ask: how can this be? I took biology classes and this is not natural. And that is the point, it is supernatural and goes against the grain of the natural. On top of that Mary was told that the one she would give birth to was the promised Messiah - and this was the dream of all Jewish women.
There was a little boy that came home from Sunday School and his mother asked him what he had learned. The little boy said that they learned about this man named Moses that was leading some people away from the Egyptians and the Egyptians were chasing them. As they were being chased, they came to a huge river and so Moses had his men build a bridge and then all of the people crossed over. As soon as they crossed over, Moses called in an air strike and the planes blew up the bridge so that the Egyptians could not capture them. The mother asked her son, “Are you sure that is what your teacher taught you?” The little boy said, “No, that’s not what she said, but you would never believe the story she told us”.
Like this little boy said, “No one will ever believe this story”.
I am sure that is one of the first things that pop up in Mary’s mind. It doesn’t take a brain scientist to figure out that a virgin cannot get pregnant. I can imagine Mary at that moment thinking, “What is Joseph going to say? What is going to happen to me? They could stone me to death.” Mary had every reason to think these things because Jewish Law said that the punishment for adultery was death. But, she reasoned, if this can happen, and the angel said it can, then God has got the rest of the details sorted too. And she commits herself to God as revealed in:
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
What an amazing woman!
After this she goes to stay with her relative Elizabeth who also had experienced a miracle, not of a virgin birth, but of being able to have a child in her old age. And Elizabeth blesses Mary for believing, unlike her husband who had not. And indeed her own experience tells her that what Mary has been told will be fulfilled.
Then we come to what has been called the Magnificat, the song of Mary.
There are four parts to this hymn and prophecy:
She speaks of Exaltation, gratitude and praise:
The first thing Mary does is praise the Lord for the blessings that she has received.
The word ‘magnificat’ is Latin for magnifies - and we read here that her soul magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices.
Do we praise and thank God enough for all the blessings we have received in life? To magnify the Lord is to give as much praise as is possible to Him. We need to learn to praise at all times even when things are tough. Paul and Silas praised God when they were in a dank prison and it is almost as if that was enough to open the prison doors.
She speaks of the character and grace of God to those who fear Him
She speaks of God’s sovereignty and love for those who are considered as little in this world:
Mary was a no one in the eyes of the law but God still saw her and performed amazing things. A thing that God loves to do this. Those who think they are something whether in the world or as a Christian do not see the wonders that someone who is lowly of heart in Him sees. The great Christians of the past will be surpassed by those who are unknown and they shall receive glory from God.
It is only God who is mighty, the One who can do it all, the One who is above all; He can do great things for each one of us if we are humble. He fills those who are hungry for Him. The One who is her Saviour will be born to her who will save all who come to Him.
And we all know Mary is called blessed. Absolutely! Whilst there are those who take it too far we should not forget her humble submission to the will of God knowing what the consequences could be. And indeed she was blessed to be the one who would give birth to the King of kings. In the latter verses from 51 on we see that the Promise given to Mary is the Messiah who is coming to reign. In the eyes of Mary she viewed what she said as if it had already come to pass. And though we know that Jesus did not fulfil all of the Messianic prophecies at His first coming He most certainly will at His second.
And she speaks of God’s mercy to Israel in particular:
The object of God’s mercy is Israel and as in the Psalm 80 the recurring theme is that ‘we shall be saved’. Indeed Paul says that they will be. And now the Lord is speaking again to His people for His ‘promise is to His people, to their children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord shall call’. Mary sees what is happening to her as the fulfilment of God’s word. Though she was young she knew the Scriptures. She was not concerned so much with her immediate blessedness in having a child rather than the blessedness that the child will be to her nation Israel, to Abraham and to His seed forever. How unselfish of her! Her perception is amazing.
Mary echoed the song and prayer of Hannah, who also was promised a child who was Samuel. Listen to how similar it is to Mary’s magnificat:
1 And Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in the Lord.
I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
2 “No one is holy like the Lord,
For there is none besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
3 “Talk no more so very proudly;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the Lord is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed.
4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken,
And those who stumbled are girded with strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
And the hungry have ceased to hunger.
Even the barren has borne seven,
And she who has many children has become feeble.
6 “The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
8 He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.
“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
And He has set the world upon them.
9 He will guard the feet of His saints,
But the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
“For by strength no man shall prevail.
10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces;
From heaven He will thunder against them.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
“He will give strength to His king,
And exalt the horn of His anointed.”
Mary then left Elizabeth around the time of the birth of John the Baptist. She most probably was there for the birth but she may not have been, we are simply not told.
What is left to say? For us to call ourselves Christians we have to believe in the virgin birth. We also have to believe that Jesus died and rose again from the dead forever to reign. Miracles are part and parcel of the Christian life.
When God calls you, when God says something to you, then submit to His will for He can work out the consequences. God has all the details of our lives sorted out, we simply have to trust Him. He works miracles in our lives, intervening at just the right moment every time.
But if we are not humble, if we think we are something, then we will find ourselves opposing God and God opposing us. There is no room for pride. God works in those who are given to Him and know they are powerless. We can do nothing of ourselves.
Next, we should praise and thank God for the good things that do happen and for those things that will. Mary is our example in this and we should follow her.
In fact, we should use Mary as an example of discipleship: she knew the Scriptures, she knew prophecy, she knew to praise, she knew to pray, she knew to trust God and on she was humble in the sight of the Lord, therefore we call her blessed. And indeed we shall be blessed if we follow in her footsteps but even more so if we follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus who also knew what it was to be humble, though He is Lord of all, creator of all, as it says in that famous of passages:
5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be exploited.
7 Instead he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant,
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
Mary called Jesus ‘her Saviour’. She herself recognised her predicament before God as a sinner and was doubly blessed to be the bearer of God Himself and bring into the world the One who would save her and all who would put their trust in Him. Mary was at the foot of the cross when they crucified Him where we all also ought to be. She looked upon Him in His suffering and her own heart was pierced. But He suffered and died for her and for us. And then she was there rejoicing again in the upper room after His resurrection and ascension.
She responded to the kindness of the Lord and willingly became His servant, how do you think we should respond?
Communion
Communion
Jesus said:
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sin so that we could come to Him and cast all our burdens onto Him for He cares for us. He loves you and invites you to come to this table to remember what he has done for you.
Let’s pray.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Benediction
Benediction
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Ellis, E. E. (1996). Magnificat. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (3rd ed.). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.