Christmas: Mary’s Song

^{Christmas: Mary’s Song                     Kelly Durant 12-24-23}

^Luke 1:46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹ for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
⁵⁰ And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
⁵² he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;

53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

2. Christmas is all about Jesus, right? Some want it to be all about gifts, Santa, and parties, but the truth is it is about Jesus! We worship Jesus from the time He was born! Now, think about this, Jesus Himself chose His own mother! And what kind of a mother did He want? He wanted one like Mary! Joseph should be respected as well, he stuck with Mary not fully knowing all that was going on! Well, the angel did come to him in his dreams, right? The Manger scene of Jesus with Mary & Joseph is beautiful, and we should focus on them every Christmas and discover new things from God about how this all came about.

Some call her “The Holy Virgin Mary,” and we as Christians honor her as the most humble, willing, servant that was worthy to be Jesus’ vehicle for His arrival on earth; she is the means by which He could come into this world but with purity, through someone worthy and pure. 

There are many traditional prayers made for Mary, but I think some in the Christian faith have it all wrong, we should be focusing in on the song in prayer that she did instead of repeating prayers that men in the past have made to her. After all, if her heart was as the heart of Jesus, shouldn’t we give some attention to her words? We can honor her without worshipping her and look at her as one who was preparing the way for Jesus’ coming.

3. In her prayer she starts out praising the Lord! Do you and I do that enough? God does do great things for us and we must praise His name always! Her spirit rejoiced to know she would be sharing her life with Jesus, raising Him from birth until being a man. She could foresee that all Christians for all generations would look at her as “blessed” recognizing that she was humble and willing, a chosen one by God for her attributes.

She recognized that God was doing a great work in her and she honored God as Holy for that! That should make you and me all reflect deeply and ask; do I accept what God wants to do with me and what He is doing in my life? Do I accept His plans for me with humility, proclaiming Him to be Holy even when I do not understand it all? Even if God’s plans seem to create a conflictive situation for me? Mary recognized it was God’s mercy on her, (which takes humility) and we too must praise God like never before knowing that His mercy is on all of us, through Jesus, and it is forever! And for all who will receive Him! Lord, thank you for your mercy on me!

She also was very pleased that the proud people would be brought down! She knew that Jesus’ life and words and His Kingdom would be established and that He, being the Messiah, would conquer and put in their place all the evil proud rulers on the earth. She knew that He would be strong to overcome all evil powers and make things right. The complete fulfilment of this is still yet to come, as Jesus will return as a warrior with His angels to eliminate all evil doers and separate the wheat from the weeds, the sheep from the goats, and the righteous from the unrighteous. 

 

4. How prophetic Mary knew Jesus would accomplish this: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” Knowing how this world is full of so many poor humble and often sad ‘hungry spiritually’ people, she was inspired and rejuvenated with this insight from God, that there would be true justice! Imagine how she witnessed the horrible abuses by the Roman government, abuses which all authorities have done. When Jesus was born the Romans were imposing a tax and everyone had to travel back to their birthplace to pay it! That’s the governments of Satan’s world, always scheming to get richer! Jesus was destined to do many miraculous and amazing things and I am sure she was amazed by Him and His wisdom every day when he was growing up! Imagine how she felt when she would get the news of all the healings and wonderful things He did throughout all Israel! And now, as it has been for over 2,000 years, Jesus still is our only hope for real justice in the world!

 

She knew He would be the expected Messiah, the promised one to come to save Israel, but she had no idea how the future “Israel” would be made up of Christ believers, how God’s people would grow to include mega millions from all nations and tribes…for perpetual generations.  She knew God’s mercy would be on everyone continuing His promise, of salvation, which began with Abraham of which she was a descendant. Recall that Abraham had faith, the exact thing we all need to please God! Do you have real faith in Jesus? Mary definitely had amazing faith, a wholehearted trust, and a love for God that made her soul be glad!  So glad she wrote a prayer in a song!

Christmas, being a day to remember when Jesus came, is beautiful pause in our day-to-day activities! Enjoy it! Share God’s love with family and friends! And share it even with strangers! And if you get touched by the Holy Spirit, write to Jesus a song, or a prayer as Mary did! Have you ever done that? Wrote a song or a prayer down for Jesus? You could, or should, as Jesus touches all of us in a profound joyous way! Honoring Him by all means possible is worshipping Him! Worship Him today, and every day! Be humble like Mary, and the angels, the shepherds, and the kings!