Magnifying God – Luke 1:46-56

Wikipedia explains Mary’s prophetic utterance, known as the Magnificat, this way:  The Magnificat (Latin for “[My soul] magnifies [the Lord]”) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos.  Theotokos means God-bearer.  This is an unfortunate title for Mary.  She did not bear God.  She bore Jesus, the Son of God who took on human nature.  It is an attempt to honor Mary, but it goes too far and has led to inappropriate thinking about Mary’s role and service.

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.  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.  And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”   

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.  (Luke 1:46-56 ESV)

In response to Elizabeth’s prophetic utterance Mary also  prophesies.  In the Latin translation of the New Testament, the Vulgate, the first word of her utterance is magnificat (“he/she/it magnifies”), and this has given a name to this hymn of praise, The Magnificat.  So here are two women prophesying by the power of the Holy Spirit, teaching us, men and women, powerful truths about God and His Messiah.

The reasons Mary praises God are twofold:

1) He has reversed her humble fortunes and exalted her.  Much as Hannah prayed in 1 Samuel 2, Mary acknowledges that God delights to use the lowly to accomplish mighty things.  His reversal of their fortunes comes because they fear Him.  That means they look to Him alone to accomplish anything good in their lives.  They are not arrogant but trusting and dependent on him.

2) God is fulfilling His promise to Abraham by bringing His salvation to the nation through the son who will be born to her.  God told Abraham that He would make him a blessing to all nations, and indeed, Jesus has been just that, the greatest gift and mercy God ever gave us.

Mary remained with Elizabeth through the time of her delivering of her son, John, before returning to Nazareth.  That left her with six months to go before her own birthing of Jesus.  This was a sweet service to Elizabeth, was an opportunity to be out of the public eye for Mary who no doubt had begun showing, and was a chance to be affirmed in Mary’s faith in what God was doing through her.  God was magnified.