Characters at the Cradle: Mary's Magnificat, An Introduction

by David Chadwick

The Christmas season is truly upon us! As a church, we are going through the book of Luke, studying the many characters at the cradle who surrounded the birth of Jesus.

Luke 1:46-55 is one of the most beautiful passages in all of the Bible. Known as Mary's Magnificat, which means "magnifies" in the Latin Vulgate translation, these verses reveal Mary's song of praise to the Lord after being given the news that she was pregnant with the Savior of the world. We now see Mary as a songwriter. A psalmist. A hymn writer!

In this chapter, Mary was visiting Elizabeth, her cousin, who was also pregnant. At the point of her visit, John the Baptist had been growing in Elizabeth's womb for six months. If you remember from last week, Mary was carrying the miraculously conceived Son of God in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As Mary and Elizabeth greeted one another, John the Baptist leaped for joy in the womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The worship of Jesus was displayed, and the recognition of his coming kingdom was detected, even from the womb!

In verse 45, Elizabeth blessed Mary's great faith for believing Gabriel's prophecy. The Magnificat was Mary's response to all that was taking place, and it was an eruption of praise.

Like David's psalms of thanksgiving, which always began by thanking God for what he had done, this song of praise does the same.

Today, let's look specifically at verses 46 and 47. Mary started off by saying, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Praise was her weapon. Much like in Psalm 103:1, all that was within her was praising her God and his holy name. Her cry out to God as her Savior showed that she was fully aware before Jesus ever arrived of her great need for a Savior.

Notice also that God is a personal Savior. He is loving, good, and kind. Surely Mary's beautiful relationship with God and her deep, abiding faith were important in God choosing her to carry and give birth to the second person of the Godhead. Mary truly was a beautiful human in so many ways.

During this Christmas season, I pray that we will all develop a personal faith in God that is as special as the one Mary had!

And that we all will sing the Christmas hymns with a renewed passion for the power of praise.