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.
__________
How did Mary feel about being chosen to be the mother of the Savior? I can easily imagine her feeling overwhelmed, scared, stressed, and confused. She may have also had to deal with the ridicule and rejection of family and neighbors because of the unmarried pregnancy. Perhaps this is why she went to visit her relative Elizabeth.
But in her response to meeting with Elizabeth, we can see that her main reaction is joy in the Lord and praise for what He has done. Her response is often referred to as the “Magnificat.” This is the Latin term for “glorify.” We’re going to look at the first part of Mary’s song today, in which she focused on her response to God’s choosing of her. We’ll look at the second half tomorrow in which she speaks more generally about the character and actions of God.
Mary’s first words are a description of the praise that she is lifting to the Lord, and the joy that this brings her. Mary is very aware of her unworthiness for being chosen as the mother of the Savior. She speaks of her lowliness and humble state. But her words indicate that God wasn’t overlooking her humble state. Rather He was mindful of it. As I stated a couple of days of God, God has gone out of His way to illustrate grace throughout this narrative.
Mary comments that all generations will call her blessed. Why will they call her blessed? Not because of her intrinsic piety or holiness. Not because of anything in her except that the Lord chose her. She will be called blessed because the Lord has been gracious.
The same is true for us. We have been chosen by the Lord to believe, to follow Him, and to serve Him. We are truly blessed because of the Lord’s favor. We have been given the righteousness of Christ. We have been brought into His family. We have promises from the Lord that are beyond amazing, chief among this is the promise of resurrection and an eternity in the new creation in His presence.
And all of this is by His grace. He has been mindful of our humble state. As Jesus put it in the Beatitudes, He is mindful that we are poor in spirit. But in His grace, He has given us the kingdom.
And so we respond as did Mary: We rejoice and praise the Lord.
Lord, may my life today give glory to You for your amazing grace to me.
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