| |
LUKE 1:46 “AND MARY SAID, MY SOUL DOTH MAGNIFY THE LORD.” (KJV)
“And Mary said: my soul magnifies the Lord.” (NKJV, RSV)
“And Mary said: my soul glorifies the Lord.” (NIV)
“And Mary said, my soul exalts the Lord.” (NET, NASB)
“And Mary said, my heart praises the Lord.” (GNT)
PSALM 34:3 “O MAGNIFY THE LORD WITH ME, AND LET US EXALT HIS NAME TOGETHER.”
Catholic tradition looks at this event in Mary’s life and titles it the “Magnificat.” In this text, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, who jumps in her womb when Mary visits her. Elizabeth praises Mary’s blessing as the mother of the Lord and Mary responds with what is now known as the Magnificat, “My soul doth magnify the Lord.”
The Magnificat is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn. In Western Christianity, the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during the main evening prayer service. It may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read.
It would be very easy to magnify Mary in this totally, significantly unique occurrence in all of human history. Here, Mary and Elizabeth acknowledge the magnificence of God, the creator of the universe, completing His plan to become flesh and giving His life for the sins of everyone who would believe on Him. Wow!
So few knew of Jesus’ coming this way. I doubt that even Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah could begin to comprehend the enormity of what was about to happen. Jesus, the Son of God, Emmanuel…God with us, was coming to earth through a never-before virgin birth, and was going to live among us!
Elizabeth was right to acknowledge the blessing Mary was about to experience in being chosen to be Jesus’ earthly mother. She said, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” She knew that Mary bore the foretold and long-anticipated Messiah within her because the Holy Spirit revealed it to her.
So many times, we find in the Words of the Bible those who expressed and revealed truths that could only come from Heaven, that could not have been revealed by human understanding, but only by revelation of the Holy Spirit of God to their hearts. Only through the Holy Spirit could Elizabeth recognize and declare that “the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (verse 43)
It was natural for Elizabeth to attempt to elevate Mary because the Lord had chosen her to bear the Savior of the world. It has been natural for us through the ages, as we recognize the total miracle of that event, to be tempted to elevate her as well. But Mary’s first and Spirit-directed reaction was to magnify the Lord!
Yes, through the Holy Spirit, Mary confessed in verse 48 that “all generations will call her blessed.” But just before that statement, she expressed her gratitude that the Lord “regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.” The entirety of the Magnificat is about magnifying HIM.
“He who is mighty has done great things.” “He has shown strength with His arm.” “He has put down the mighty and exalted the lowly.” “He has filled the hungry with good things.”
I am quickly reminded of the words of John the Baptist (present in Elizabeth here as well), who later, during his ministry, was told by his own disciples that Jesus was baptizing, and all were coming to Him. John’s reply in John 3:30 was, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
How counter-culture…how anti-human nature is understanding the concept that someone other than me should increase in fame, popularity, attention and following and that I must decrease so they can increase. We see the exact opposite of this in politics, sports…sometimes, even in the church…if there is any way we are supposed to succeed in life.
Jesus said in John 12:32, “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Myself.” Human nature, self, sin…teaches us the same lesson. “If I lift myself up high enough, I can draw men unto me and bring about all the things I want in life from that!” Sometimes, we don’t even recognize we are saying that. But our actions, our words, our motivations can reveal that it is true.
We all want to succeed. We all want to have more and prosper in life. We all want to be respected and admired. But, who has ever achieved those things by making themselves less and making Jesus more? Rarely does one “win the race” by telling his fellow competitors, “here, you go before me.”
It has almost become cliché and very often criticized when a successful athlete thanks the Lord for the success he has just achieved, let alone give Him the glory for the talent God gave them. The fallen nature has always been about, “you must decrease so I can increase.” It is often our shameful pride which says, “my performance has certainly magnified myself.” Not Mary. Not John. As followers of Jesus, not us!
I want success in what I do in life. I just want Jesus to be magnified through me more…through my words, my actions and my deeds. I want my life to put the magnifying glass on Him, not me. That won’t happen if the magnifying glass is pointed at me, not Him.
I think I have shared this before. As I near the completion of this book, Hide the Word IV, and try to look at whether it will achieve any success…whether anyone will ever read it, buy it, study the verses and lessons in it or apply them to their lives…the Lord has to remind me again that the results of these books will be His, not mine.
At age 72, I know the days ahead of me are less than the ones behind me. I might worry about my legacy. I might be concerned about whether I have been successful in all my endeavors and goals in life. Or maybe, if I can keep my focus on what He has done through me and continue to make sure that those things have kept the focus on Him and not me.
Oh Jesus, help me to see how I need to more successfully decrease so that you may increase! Let me correct where I have failed in this before and demonstrate a life that longs to see you magnified in everything others see in me. As your followers, let us remember that it’s all about You, not us. Like Mary, please let my testimony be, “my soul doth magnify the Lord.”
Questions to consider: Why has this kind of thinking become so “counter-culture” to us? Why does the Bible instruct us to “humble ourselves” instead of allowing the Lord to do it for us? How do we humble ourselves? In what parts of our lives can we take actions that actually produce attitudes of humility, self-sacrifice and service that sees others as more important than ourselves? Who do you know that best exhibits a testimony of a life like Mary’s, recognizing their need to magnify Jesus in everything they do? Is that your goal? How can you make it more so in your life?
Scriptures to study: Job 26:24 “Remember to magnify His work, of which men have sung.”
Acts 10:46 “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.” Psalm 34:3 “Oh, magnify the Lord with me. And let us exalt His name together.” Psalm 69:30 “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” Ezekiel 38:23 “Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations.” Psalm 68:29 “My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.”
Psalm 71:14 “But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.”
Songs to Remember: “My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord,” Highpoint Collective, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC8dYByCSEc
“O Magnify the Lord,” Sandy Patti, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrJDNuzdioA
 
|
|
