By Jason Schifo
Pastor, Community Evangelical Free Church of Mahomet
What is your favorite song to sing this Christmas season?
Maybe it is Charles Wesley’s famous “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”:
Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord!
Or the classic, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” by Wade and Reading?
Jesus to thee be all glory given; Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
Or something with a bit more bop like, “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms?
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock, Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring.Snowin’ and blowin’ up bushels of fun, Now, the jingle hop has begun!
All of us have our favorite Christmas songs.
The ones we love to sing that bring us back to Christmas moments long ago.
But I wonder how often how often we think about a song written by a little known female artist from a backwater town. No, I am not talking about Loretta Lynn, but instead, the song that Mary sang regarding the coming of Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 1.
As with all great songs, the critics have been harsh. They say that there is no way it could have been sung by a young Mary. It is too theological, too deep, too packed with meaning, too carefully structured, too poetic, too subtle, too finished to possibly have been sung by her. But friends as learned as the scholars are, I think they are short-sighted on this one.
“The Magnificat”, was sung by young Mary, and yes, it is a brilliantly woven tapestry of Scripture because it was sung from a heart full of all the Scriptures, prayers and hymns that she had sung both in the synagogue and at home. So when the Holy Spirit came upon her in Luke 1:45, He took what she had hidden in her heart and wove it into this beautiful song creating the “Magnificat” – a fitting name for a song sung about the coming of Christ into the world.
So as we prepare our hearts for Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s coming, I would love if we could spend a few moments together looking at this wonderful, yet not often sung, song.
Luke 1:46-48 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
Literally, Mary begins by singing, “My soul makes BIG the Lord”.
It is an interesting thing to sing because God cannot be made any bigger. He is by nature already as BIG as BIG can be. He already exceeds our understanding – But friends, He can be enlarged in someone’s life.
What Mary shows us is that we make God BIGGER in our lives when we think about His greatness. When we meditate upon any part of God’s Word our thoughts regarding God get larger. The fuller our knowledge of his greatness, the greater He grows, and the BIGGER He gets in our lives.
For many of us, God is much too small because the time we spend thinking about Him is far too small. Mary’s song teaches us that for God to be BIG in our lives we need to think about Him in BIG ways.
Imagine how making God bigger in your own life might impact the world?
I often wonder as Mary had begun to think bigger and grander thoughts about God if she might have thought, “If God who could do this with me, a young girl from a backwater town, then what could He do with all of Israel and the world?”
It’s not a question that is out of the realm of possibility.
And we know the answer to that question, don’t we?
The coming of Christ through Mary affected, impacted and changed the entire world. Think about it. More songs have been sung, more books have been written, more paintings have been painted, more hospitals have been built, more people have been fed, and more lives have been saved in the Name of Christ than anyone else in all of human history.
When you really think about that how can one not feel blessed?
Luke 1:48-49 For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
There has been much made about the generations calling Mary blessed, and I am not really interested in weighing into those discussions. Instead, when things get complicated, I like to refer to Occam’s razor, which says that sometimes the simplest, most obvious thing is the correct answer.
Mary was close to God, the work of God and because of that Mary was blessed, and called blessed. Do you know that you are called blessed?
Even though Mary was just a young girl, she understood something very important – that the most blessed thing that could ever happen is for God to be BIG in our lives. And this isn’t just for Mary, or some other people, but for you also. If Jesus Christ is truly born in you, then you too will be called blessed.
Jesus himself tells us…
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34)
Mary was blessed, and in Christ so are we!
Luke 1:49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
This isn’t just a story where God is mighty. Mary speaks personally of God’s “might” because she has experienced it when the “the power of the Most High overshadowed her” (Luke 1:35). She knew the words of the Prophet Isaiahwho told us He will be called “mighty God” (Isaiah 9:7).
One of my favorite Christmas albums contains the song called “He Who Is Mighty”, by Kate DeGraide, Rebecca Elliott. The chorus says so well what Mary is singing…
He Who is mighty has done a great thing,
Taken on flesh, conquered death’s sting
Shattered the darkness and lifted our shame
Holy is His name.
Mary knew that the Son she was carrying would be “the holy one” because the angel Gabriel said “therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)
Did Mary truly get how big all this really was? Probably not.
But that doesn’t stop her from praising God by saying, “Holy is His Name!”
And all this happens because the Lord looked upon her giftedness? No.
The Bible says, “for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant”.
God met her in her humility. And out of Mary’s humility will be born the Son of God.
Come on, you can sing along because Her song is ours to sing also.
This is how God comes to us, and how Christ is born within us. When we declare from our humble estate that indeed the God is BIG just like like Mary did.
Last year, our family bought our first home here in Mahomet after renting for 7 years. It is a nice house, and it is our house, but it certainly isn’t the nicest home in Mahomet. Please know that I am so thankful for our home, but I am also realistic.
As I drive around town, other homes have bigger yards, larger driveways, a few more trees, that red door we have been thinking about, but this home is our humble estate. A place where our family and friends can gather together. A place where we can pray and our prayers are heard. And it is a place where we try our best to make God BIG in our lives and the lives of others.
That is my prayer for each and every one of you also.
That from your humble estate you would celebrate yet again, in a BIG and beautiful way, that Christ has come into the world. And that like Mary you might sing this season, “My soul makes great the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
