26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. 39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
We are looking at the theological depth of Mary’s mind, her thinking as well as her heart and feeling, and what do we see?
First, notice that Mary’s mind, her thinking, leads her to interpret her circumstances…not by what she feels, or by what everyone else might be saying, see reads her life, through the lenses of what God has said. In other words, she has been formed by the truth of God to deal with life, everything that comes at her, the expected and the unexpected, according TO who God is and what God has said.
Scholars and laity alike have marveled over these many decades about how Mary, a young girl, would be able to compose the song that she sang. In fact, those critical of the Bible, suggest that the theological depth and sophistication of the Magnificat is proof that in fact, Mary did NOT write it. No young maiden, they say, could have written something so beautiful and profound. Such are the fancies of faithless men.
As Christians, as those who know the Lord’s ways, we have no problem rejoicing in the Holy Spirit’s work in Mary to compose such a praise to the Lord. After all, her hymn is not the work of originality in that she comes up with all of this by herself or from her own thinking. Mary simply compiles what the Scriptures have revealed. She is repeating back, beautifully of course, the wonders, majesty and faithfulness of the Lord God.
Her song is filled with the psalms as well as various scattered expressions from what we call the Old Testament, and especially the Song of Hannah from 1 Samuel 2.
What amazes us as Christians is not that Mary, a young girl, could write down such thoughts that come from the Bible, rather, what is amazing is that this young girl was such a master of the Word of God. Mary clearly had been taught the Bible at home and had meditated and prayed the Bible for herself and at great length. She did not simply attend synagogue at 10:00 on Saturday morning and think, there, that is enough.
No, she read the bible as Thomas Boston put it, “as though it were written for her.” Mary so mastered the Scriptures, or rather, the Scripture so mastered her, that when her life took a most shocking turn from everything she had thought was to be her life, when everything got turned on its head, all she could do was look at her circumstances…and say, “If this is what God wants, then praise His name!”
She had so mastered the Word of God that she joyfully turned her own remarkable experience into biblical expression, explanation, submission and praise.
Brothers and sisters, do you see her? Mary thinks about her own life, every aspect of it, her wants, her desires, her hopes and her dreams in biblical terms. It’s not about her, what she wants, or desires or had planned. The glory of God, God’s truth was her frame of mind and frame of reference. It is how she viewed herself and the world.
If the Scripture is the expression of God’s mind, and we know it is, then our conclusion must be that Mary’s mind had become like God’s mind…and at such a young age. We are told, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus…We are told in I Corinthians 2, that we HAVE the mind of Christ.
Zechariah THE PRIEST, sings a song that is filled with the scripture promises of God. And we might think, well…he is a priest…that’s his job. Fair enough. But Mary does not come off poorly in comparison with the priest Zechariah…in fact, her song has the same depth, beauty, glory and honor as does the priest and she is but a teenage maiden!
Therefore, we must not think that diving deep into the word of God, living and breathing the character of the Lord, knowing His mind and heart and wanting nothing so much as to honor Him…we must not think this interpreting your life through the prism of who God is and what God has done is only for the so called professionals or experts.
Don’t mistakenly conclude that only pastors and missionaries should be so absorbed in the promises of God…Nope. How about typical every-day teenage girls? How about soldiers, housewives, carpenters, teachers…how about all of us?
The last couple of years of pandemic, shut-downs and government overreach and political intrigue has caused quite a stir. But I cannot help but ask, What are we listening to? Whose mind do you know better: The mind of CNN? Fox News? Kamala Harris? Donald Trump…or the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ? And if it is not the latter, then I trust you see with 20/20 vision…the problem.
If we knew the mind of the Lord we would know that we are not to be afraid…sullen, depressed or fearful of the future. We, if we had the mind of Christ, like Mary, we would be rejoicing, celebrating no matter the circumstances and the demonic intentions of a media driven culture.
In fact, we would be laughing at the powers that be, that think that they have the answers to man’s problems and that they, not the Christ of God, that they ARE they answer. Why don’t they simply build a big tower reaching to the sky to make a name for themselves!
Corrupt government is not man’s problem, it is a circumstance…a circumstance in which we demonstrate that the fear-mongering of political agendas do not run, rule or dictate our lives…Rather, the truth of God, of his Messiah will continue to lead our steps…because we have the mind of Christ.
But this could kill us…we might lose all our retirement due to inflation! Yes, you might…but again, the mind of Christ sees death as vanquished…as being defeated and lives as if it really believed that.
Do you remember in the Lord of the Rings, before a great battle, Pippin the Hobbit says to Gandalf the wizard?
PIPPEN: I didn’t think it would end this way.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
PIPPIN: What? Gandalf? See what?
GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
PIPPIN: Well, that isn’t so bad.
GANDALF: No. No, it isn’t.”
I would love to have seen a typical day in the life of Jesus as a young boy…to have a mother like Mary…A mother whose mastery of God’s word and love filled her speech…I can tell you…with my children now raising their children, I wish I had been much more like Mary than I was…I wish I were more like Mary…than I am.
Prayer: Father, it is so easy for me to wade through the Advent season without thought and without my heart being moved by the tremendous gift of Your Son and the reality of the love and sacrifice You made for the salvation of the world…for my salvation. I pray that I would be struck with fresh eyes and an inquisitive imagination to enter into the joy and wonder of Your love. May I live in awe and wonder this day, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Song: Noel.