Mary Sings I. Questions A. Why would Mary sing a new psalm of praise to God? B. How was Mary's song fulfilled by her Son in ways she might never have imagined? II. Base Text: Luke 1:46-55 III. Context A. Galilee and Judea in the waning days of Herod the Great (ca. 6-4 BCE; Luke 1:5) 1. 63 BCE: the dispute between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, sons of Alexander Jannaeus and Alexandra Salome, Hasmonean rulers, led to the intervention of the Roman general Pompey, who besieged Jerusalem, entered into the Most Holy Place, and re-installed Hyrcanus II, but only because he would be controlled by Antipater; the land of Israel loses independent status and becomes part of the Roman Empire 2. Antipater: an Idumean (Edomite), a powerful official under the Hasmoneans, made chief minister of Judea for the Romans; a masterful manipulator, he saw to it that his son Herod was married to Mariamne, granddaughter of Aristobulus II and the last scion of the Hasmoneans 3. Herod was appointed governor of Galilee in 47 BCE; he maintained good relations with the Romans and was able to shift allegiances where necessary to ingratiate himself with the ruler of the moment 4. 37-34 BCE: Herod fought against the Hasmonean Antigonus, ruler of Judea, and defeated him, and was declared the King of Judea by the Roman Senate, a title he would hold until his death in 4 BCE 5. The story of Herod's brutality, paranoia, and extravagance is well told by Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews; Herod advocated and sponsored all kinds of Greek festivals and buildings in other lands, but in Judea and its environs sought to act like a faithful Jewish person; he oversaw a grandiose expansion and renovation of the Temple in Jerusalem, which would heretofore be known as the Herodian Temple; he was hated by the people for being a half-breed and for his oppressive taxation 6. Thus, in the waning days of Herod the Great, the Israelites lived under the oppression of the Romans and the oppression of Herod, yet maintained the remembrance of independent rule within living memory 7. The Israelites would assemble in the synagogues and visit Jerusalem for the appointed festivals; they knew what God had done for their ancestors and the hope He extended for the Christ, the Son of David to come in the days of the fourth empire (e.g. Isaiah 9:1-8, 11:1-10, Daniel 2:1-44, 7:1-14, etc.) 8. Herod was also well aware of these prophecies and the hope Israel cherished and sustained and was on guard against any threats to his rule (cf. Matthew 2:1-23) 9. Based on Herod's death in 4 BCE, and the way Jesus' age is described in Luke 3:23 in light of Luke 3:1, it is generally believed that Jesus was born sometime around 6-4 BCE; thus these events would have taken place between nine and twelve months beforehand B. Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-25) 1. Luke begins his Gospel by introducing us to Zechariah and Elizabeth 2. Zechariah is a priest in the order of Abijah, and Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron; they served God blamelessly but were without children and in advanced age (Luke 1:5-7) 3. While offering incense in the Holy Place Zechariah is visited by the angel Gabriel who proclaimed his prayers would be answered, for his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son whom he should name John; he should never drink wine, for he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth; he would be great in the sight of God, and would be the forerunner of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and to prepare a people for the Lord (Luke 1:8-17; cf. Isaiah 40:1-2, Malachi 4:5-6) 4. Zechariah wondered how this was possible on account of his and Elizabeth's age; the angel struck him mute because of his unbelief, and he would not speak again until the child was born (Luke 1:18-22) 5. Elizabeth did get pregnant and secluded herself for five months (Luke 1:23-25) C. The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) 1. When Elizabeth was six months pregnant the angel Gabriel was sent to visit a poor peasant girl who was a virgin betrothed to be married in Nazareth of Galilee, a place of no reputation or significance; her name was Mary, and her husband-to-be, a descendant of David, was named Joseph (Luke 1:26-27) 2. The angel greeted her as the favored one, the one with who God was; he told her to not be afraid, for she had received favor with God, and would conceive and bear a son, and she should name Him Jesus (YHWH saves); He would be great, and be called the Son of the Most High, and God would give Him the throne of David, and He would rule over the house of Jacob forever and His Kingdom would have no end (Luke 1:28-33; cf. Psalm 2:1-8, Isaiah 9:1-8, 11:1-10, Daniel 7:13-14) 3. She wondered how this could be since she was a virgin; the angel told her the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and thus her Child would be called the Son of God; Gabriel also testified to her regarding the pregnancy of Elizabeth her relative, since the word of God has great power; Mary consented, calling herself the servant of God, that it would be done according to Gabriel's word (Luke 1:34-38) D. Mary Meets Elizabeth (Luke 1:42-45) 1. Soon after these events Mary went to visit Elizabeth; she entered Zechariah's house, greeted Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's child leapt in the womb (Luke 1:39-41) 2. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out how Mary was blessed among women and the fruit of her womb was blessed, and asked why the mother of her Lord had come to her; when she had heard the greeting of Mary, her child had leapt for joy; blessed is Mary for her belief, and there would be a fulfillment of what God had spoken to her (Luke 1:42-45) E. Mary, having received Elizabeth as a second witness to what the angel had promised her, thus sang in Luke 1:46-55 IV. Interpretation A. Mary's song in Luke 1:46-55 is often called the Magnificat, Latin for "she magnifies," based on Luke 1:46 B. Mary rejoiced in God (Luke 1:46-50) 1. Mary began her song by magnifying and rejoicing in God 2. She magnified the Lord and her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior (Luke 1:46-47) a. Strong parallelism, the hallmark of Hebrew poetry b. She rejoiced in God as her Savior: recognition of Jesus as "YHWH saves," and understanding the coming rule of her Son as the means by which God delivers His people 3. She praised God thus for she recognized that He had selected her despite her poverty and relative insignificance, and yet here she was, central to the fulfillment of all of what God had promised to her people: she recognized that future generations would consider her blessed, just as Elizabeth had (Luke 1:48; cf. Luke 1:42) 4. She confessed how God, who is mighty, had done something great in her; she confessed God's name as holy (Luke 1:49) a. She would be known as the Christokos and Theotokos: Christ and God-bearer b. In truth the Incarnation is the great miracle that allows all other miracles: God took on flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1-18); if He had not took on flesh, He could not die; if He did not die, He could not be raised! c. The Incarnation is the great scandal of Christianity: God humbling Himself, taking on the form of sinful man, inseminated into the womb of a poor peasant girl, subjected to the humiliation of birth and human growth and development, living as one without great esteem (Isaiah 52:14, Philippians 2:5-11) d. Yet we should have no expectation that Mary understood much of any of this; she did not come out with a full confession of her Child as the eternal second Person of the Trinity and all that: and yet she recognized the great power of God literally at work within her, and the imminent fulfillment of the hope of Israel 5. Mary declared how God is merciful to those who fear Him from generation to generation (Luke 1:50) a. She can certainly be reflecting upon her own devotion and faithfulness to God, and how God was blessing her b. And yet she is most likely speaking of God's hesed, where covenant loyalty meets steadfast love, a defining hallmark of God's posture toward His people, continually celebrated in the Psalms (e.g. Psalm 136) c. She knew that those who had prophesied of the Child she would soon deliver had lived 500 to 700 years earlier; she would have known the story of all her people had endured ever since, and yet they remained in their land and devoted to their God despite the oppression they endured C. The Grand Reversal (Luke 1:52-55) 1. Having praised God, Mary considers the greater meaning of what God is doing with and through her as it related more broadly: a grand reversal 2. Mary affirmed how God was demonstrating His strength and power: the proud have been scattered in the imagination of their hearts, princes are removed from their thrones, those of low degree are exalted, the hungry are filled with good things, and the rich are sent away empty (Luke 1:51-53) a. All of these principles have some antecedents in the Psalms (e.g. Psalms 10, 123) b. But here Mary began to see what God was accomplishing in Jesus: He was not being born to those of high estate, but to a peasant girl of Nazareth, and thus she could sing of how through her Son God would humble the mighty and lift up the humble c. Jesus would constantly affirm that those who exalted themselves would be humbled, but those who humbled themselves would be exalted (e.g. Matthew 23:12), and Mary applied that principle to the society and culture of the time 3. Mary reached the end of her song by affirming God's help to Israel His servant, remembering His mercy (= hesed, covenant loyalty) He spoke and promised to Abraham and his descendants (Luke 1:54-55) a. Israel has been laid low, yet again under the oppressive hand of a pagan overlord b. Thus Mary can hope that through her Son God would help Israel, display the covenant loyalty to Israel long expected, and restore the throne of David (e.g. Psalms 88-89) c. In this she went beyond the promise to David all the way back to Abraham! d. When she spoke thus, did she expect Jesus to overthrow the Romans and re-establish the glory of the Davidic throne? Not only quite possible and plausible, but very likely e. Whereas it would not be fulfilled in the way that most Israelites had come to expect, Jesus would indeed make good on the song of His mother, for in His life, death, resurrection, ascension, lordship, and imminent return Jesus would embody the story of Israel, provide a superior sacrifice, minister as a more effective high priest, and display the faithfulness of God to all of His promises, inaugurating a Kingdom which could not be shaken and which would overcome the power of the Romans and the powers and principalities which empowered the Romans (cf. Hebrews, Revelation) D. Thus Mary sang God's praise; she would remain with Elizabeth until she gave birth to John, and then returned home (Luke 1:56ff) V. Application A. The Drama 1. As Luke introduced his Gospel, he did not rush right into the story of Jesus' birth; he instead slowed the narrative down significantly and welcomed us into the drama of expectations of hope fulfilled 2. The people would have heard stories regarding what it meant to live under Herod (Luke 1:5) 3. The words of the angel Gabriel to both Zechariah and Mary are pregnant with meaning: for those saturated in the Hebrew Bible his words drip with the promises of Isaiah, Daniel, and Malachi, bringing the message Israel desperately needed to hear: what the prophets had foreseen happening "in the latter days" was now coming soon (Luke 1:13-17, 30-33) 4. Luke did not race through these matters; he sets them out fully 5. We have Elizabeth speaking from the Holy Spirit: the people of Israel recognized that no prophet had arisen among the people for just over four hundred years; that the Holy Spirit would now fill people to speak testified to now living "in the latter days" (Luke 1:41-45) 6. Then Luke recorded Mary singing what has every indication to be a psalm! 7. How many passages seem as "Old Testament-y" as Luke 1:5-80? 8. Luke did not preserve things just for the sake of preserving them; instead, he invited his audience to immerse themselves in Second Temple Judaism and to experience for themselves, for just a moment, the drama unfolding in the waning days of Herod the Great 9. They were dark days: Israel again under pagan oppression, ruled over by a half-breed Edomite who taxed and oppressed them to make a name for himself 10. Israel had been restored to their land for longer than kings had ruled over them; the Second Temple had endured longer than the First Temple, and yet there was no Davidic descendant on the throne; the people of Israel had barely survived existential threat after existential threat; the abomination that makes desolate had already plagued them twice 11. The Israelites knew their story; they knew who they were; they trusted in the righteousness and covenant loyalty of their God; but the plea of Psalm 89 was still very much alive 12. And in this dark times, hope: the Holy Spirit returns; the angel Gabriel visits Zechariah and Mary; every indication has come that "the latter days" were dawning 13. And yet the promise was still in the future: neither John nor Jesus had yet been born; even after their birth, it would take another 30 to 35 years to see the fulfillment of the promises 14. Thus Luke has saturated us in the drama, and we do well ourselves to sit in that moment with Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary, to bear the burden of the frustrations, pain, and oppression of the people, but to take comfort in the great hope that these promises are about to be fulfilled 15. While there is no Scriptural basis on which to bind or impose the Advent season, the way Luke has told his story invites us to experience the Advent season: less about the four weeks leading up to Christmas, and more about sitting in that moment in which the promises are being fulfilled, where hope has broken in, the light of the dawn has arisen, and the people of God worn down with grief, distress, and pain are reminded of God's promise 16. After all, Jesus has since lived, died, ascended, and reigns as Lord, but we also abide in this space and time of hope: we trust in God's covenant loyalty and how He is rescuing us in Christ while confessing that He has not yet returned; death has not yet been defeated; we have not received the glory of the Father in the resurrection; we do not yet see face to face (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, 1 Peter 1:3-9) 17. And so we continue to find ourselves within the drama, and can take great hope, comfort, and assurance in our lives of faith: God is faithful, and we are seeing the fulfillment of His promises as assuredly as did Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary B. The Grand Reversal 1. What did Mary sing? She sang of the Grand Reversal! 2. Having received the second witness of Elizabeth, Mary recognized how significant her situation was: not just that the Christ was in her womb, but that the Christ was in her womb, a likely 13 year old peasant nobody from nowhere 3. She thus had every reason to glorify God and to sing His praises! 4. But her psalm is not any old psalm; we do well to remember that there are many ways to glorify God, and many characteristics that can be emphasized 5. She emphasized how God lifted up the lowly and humbled the mighty: she saw it at work in herself, since God had elevated her station to be the Christ/God-bearer, and thus could perceive that in her Child God would elevate the lowly and cast down the mighty 6. She expected this within society, but also saw it nationally: Israel was laid low, but now in the Christ God would deliver His people just as He had promised 7. Mary had no idea of just how right she was: Jesus is the Grand Reversal, the exaltation of the humble, the humiliation of the worldly and exalted, the way of suffering to glory, to die in order to live (Matthew 16:24-28, 20:25-28, Philippians 2:5-11) 8. As Christians we do well to ask ourselves whether we can sing Mary's psalm or not: have we seen the evidence in our own lives of God elevating the lowly and casting down the mighty? Have we humbled ourselves under the shadow of the cross in order to draw near to God in Christ? Do we stand in the pretense of strength or recognizing our weakness and limitations in humility, having cast ourselves upon God in Christ? Have we suffered exile, loss, and humiliation with the people of God so as to obtain the glorification of Jesus? Where will we stand when Jesus returns to judge the world and lift up the lowly and cast down the mighty? C. Faithfulness 1. A major theme of Mary's psalm is a major theme of the Psalms themselves: God is faithful to His promises 2. Israel had every right to wonder as the reign of Herod drew toward a close, and yet the heralding of "the latter days" had begun 3. Mary was right to see how God was delivering His people as He had promised, and thus to understand her condition with the Child in her womb as part of that great story of faithfulness which began with Abraham, manifest in Israel, in power with David, and now all centering in the Fruit of her womb 4. As Christians we are invited to celebrate the faithfulness of God: He has done as He has promised, and so we ought to hold firm to the hope we have received in Jesus, for He will return in His good time (cf. Hebrews 10:19-25, 2 Peter 3:1-13) D. Luke welcomed us to participate in the great drama of God's faithful provision for His people; Mary well sung regarding God's greatness and holiness, the grand reversal of fortune in Christ, and the faithfulness of God our Savior; may we trust in God in Christ, humble ourselves under His mighty hand, and obtain the resurrection of life in Him! Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: And Mary said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour" (Luke 1:46-47). Mary was in the midst of momentous events. An angel had promised her she would conceive and give birth to the Christ. Now Elizabeth her relative was pregnant and testified how Mary was the mother of her Lord and how she and the fruit of her womb was blessed. Thus Mary sang a psalm of praise to God. Why would Mary sing a new psalm of praise to God? 2: "For he hath looked upon the low estate of his handmaid: For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name" (Luke 1:48-49). From what we can tell Mary was likely a thirteen year old peasant girl, a nobody from nowhere. And yet God had chosen her as the God and Christ bearer. Mary rightly glorified God for elevating her stature and perceived His power and strength. Why would God choose a peasant from nowhere when He could have chosen a girl in a far better economic and social situation? 3: "He hath showed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. He hath put down princes from their thrones, and hath exalted them of low degree. The hungry he hath filled with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away" (Luke 1:51-53). Mary perceived that God chose her for many reasons. God was humbling all that was exalted, and would exalt that which was lowly and humble. She had no idea just how right she was. Jesus has been the basis of the grand reversal ever since. The only way to find life indeed is to humble oneself, carry the cross, and suffer loss for Jesus. Have we humbled ourselves to follow the way of the Christ, or will we find ourselves humbled on the day of judgment? 4: "He hath given help to Israel his servant, that he might remember mercy (As he spake unto our fathers) toward Abraham and his seed for ever" (Luke 1:54-55). Israel was in a lowly and dire situation. They suffered depredation after depredation, experiencing existential crises again and again. Where was the promise of the Christ? When would God do all He had promised for David? "The latter days" was coming. God was fulfilling His promises. Israel was to endure for a moment in pregnant expectation. In a very real way we persevere in pregnant expectation: we have salvation in Christ, yet still wait for the fulfillment of the hope of the resurrection. God is faithful; despite all we may suffer, we are called to endure in hope, just like Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary did. How can we find our place in God's great drama of salvation?