Scripture: Luke 1:46-55; Micah 5:2-5; Luke 1:28-38; 1 Samuel 2:1-10; Genesis 18:1-15 Series: Advent
An Advent sermon on the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) paired with Micah 5:2-5. Wilson opens by clarifying Catholic Marian doctrines (Annunciation, Assumption, Immaculate Conception) and argues Protestants, by minimizing Mary, lose a powerful biblical witness and risk docetism. He situates the young, lowly Mary against Old Testament prefigurations (Hannah, Sarah/Elizabeth) and the muted Zechariah, highlighting that Mary alone says yes to God. The Magnificat is read not as meek but as revolutionary—God casting down the powerful, lifting the lowly, and redistributing to the hungry. Drawing on Bede, Anselm, and Ambrose, the sermon ends by calling every Christian to be a Theotokos-like Christ-bearer who magnifies the Lord.
Illustrations: marian-doctrines-clarified, hannah-prefigures-mary, sarah-elizabeth-too-old-mary-too-young, priests-like-roughnecks, zechariah-fails-mary-passes, eulogos-word-origin, magnificat-as-revolution, docetism-minimizing-mary, anselm-mary-mother-of-recreation
December 22
Magnify
Micah 5:2-5
Luke 1:46-55
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be the one of peace. If the Assyrians come into our land and tread upon our soil, we will raise against them seven shepherds and eight rulers. - Micah 5:2-5
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name; indeed, 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 imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” - Luke 1:46-55
The biggest difference between Catholics and Protestants has to do with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Catholics talk about Mary all the time. Mary is a central figure spoken of daily in prayers. She is given major feast days, holy days of obligation, like the feast of the immaculate conception earlier this month. There’s the feast of the assumption of Mary, as well, earlier in the year.
Now, for those of you who didn’t grow up Catholic I want to clarify what the immaculate conception, the annunciation of Mary, and the assumption of Mary. There are major misunderstandings around this. First, the Annunciation of Mary is when Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit and this is announced to Mary. The Holy Spirit is not the Father of Jesus in a genetic way. The annunciation celebrates the miracle of Christ being formed within the body of Mary. Then there’s the assumption of Mary, which is the Catholic doctrine that Mary’s body did not decay, but was assumed into heaven. I think this one’s a stretch. And then, finally, the immaculate conception of Mary, which was that Mary was born without original sin so that she could be the vessel within whom Emmanuel, God with us, could enter the world. The immaculate conception is the immaculate conception of Mary, not Jesus.
All of this Mary talk is a hangup for a lot of Protestants in conversations with Catholics. There are also all the pictures of Mary. All the prayers to Mary. A question of the biblical evidence for all these doctrines. What is lost for Protestants in this confusion of Mary is a great biblical figure and witness of God’s love and power, as well as evidence of who we should be as Christians.
Young Mary
Mary was young. The Hebrew word used in Isaiah means young woman. It’s translated in Greek as Parthenos, which is a term of describing the Parthenon in Athens, a temple where virgins are dedicated, people who are consecrated for religious tasks apart from marriage. The Greek word has these pagan connotations, but the Hebrew and Aramaic doesn’t. Nevertheless, we know that she’s young. Maybe 12, maybe 13. We know, at least, she’s not 25. She’s a teenager. And she is betrothed to be married. Well, Joseph is seeking marriage with her. They didn’t have a registry or a set of engagement photos. Long engagements weren’t a thing in the ancient world. We also know about her cousin, Elizabeth, who’s older. Mary, the life of Mary is prefigured earlier in the Bible in the life of Hannah. In the Book of Samuel, Hannah, is married, but cannot bear a child. She prays to God and says that if he gives her a child, she will offer him in ministry to God. The miracle happens and Samuel is offered to God. Hannah then sings a great song to God with a similar power to Mary’s song here in Luke 1:
Elizabeth, her cousin is prefigured in Sarah from the Book of Genesis. We have a symmetry with both Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth is too old to bear a child. Mary is too young. Elizabeth is too old. Two forms of barrenness that are overcome by God.
Elizabeth and her husband don’t live in Nazareth of the north. They probably lived near Jerusalem. Her husband, Zechariah, is a priest of the order of Levites, Priests in the period of second temple Judaism.
Priests functioned a little like roughnecks: they would be two weeks on, two weeks off. They did this because their job was really, really bloody and hard. He was slaughtering animals and serving as a link between God and the chosen people.
Angelic Visit
An Angel comes to Zechariah but Zechariah doesn’t understand and he is struck mute. Still, the promise comes true. God graces a child to Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Soon after, Gabriel comes to the young woman, Mary, but there is a reason the angel came to Zechariah first. We see how a holy man handles being sent a vision of God. Zechariah doesn’t pass the test. He is struck mute. Zechariah has spent a long life dedicated to God and he can’t handle it. How will Mary respond?
The angel comes to Mary, a young woman, 12 to 15. The plan is to marry Joseph. To be a good wife to Joseph and a good mother to the children they have together. To raise them in faith. That is the expectation her family has of her. That is probably the expectation Mary has of herself. That is not the expectation God has of her. The angel
“…came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Mary was confused. It is alright to be confused by God’s call. Mary didn’t say yes immediately and the angel didn’t give up because of her confusion.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:28-38 NRSV
Mary passes the test. She says yes to God. She does what Zechariah couldn’t do. She does what no one else could do. Mary says yes to God, and then she praises God with this amazing song.
Magnificat
The first word of it in Latin is Magnificat.
My soul magnifies the whole. Just holding on to that one phrase. My soul, my psyche, my purpose, my person is to magnify, to glorify Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God my savior. My soul is magnifying the Lord, the spirit, the movement, the activity of my life is rejoicing in the God who saves me, the God who rescues me. For God has looked favorably even on the low state of his servants.
She is not the mother of many. She is not the wife of a wealthy person. Mary’s got nothing going for her. She knows that, and she sees that. God knows that too. And yet God looks on her favorably.
In the song, she moves beyond that moment to all moments, to generations. Generations will call me. Blessed. The word she uses is eulogos, or well said. It is the root of Eulogy.
Generations will look on her for this amazing blessing she has received. For the mighty one, the strong one has done great things for her. The great thing is Jesus. Jesus comes into the world through her. The Eastern church calls Mary theotokos, the God bearer. Her body bears God into the world. It’s a big concept. The whole thing, this incarnation thing, this Christmas thing.
Protestants, in our ways of minimizing the importance of Mary, fall into this temptation of the heresy of docetism. Docetists over-spiritualize the life of Jesus so that he is not really human. When we don’t make Mary human. When we make her a statue, an image, we don’t make Jesus human. Mary is only brought up in nativity scenes and at Christmas and in meekness. Although Mary never calls herself meek, she calls herself lowly. She doesn’t call herself meek. She’s portrayed as meek and quiet, beautiful and passive. But this version of Mary is not what Scripture says here.
Mary is one of the least meek figures in the Bible. She sings, “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;
What happens when the powerful are taken from their thrones? What happens when kings are no longer kings? It’s a revolution. The Magnificat is talking about the revolutionary nature of God, God’s sovereignty over the kings, not just knocking them down. She sings about how God is looking out the for rest of humanity, and in this Mary is working from politics to political economy. She is moving from talking about governing styles to how resources are distributed. God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
This does not refer to the physical descendants of Abraham, but to his spiritual children.1
The mercy of God has come. Mary sees this. Mary knows this. Assured this, her life cannot be the same. Motherhood changes everyone. Mary is changed by Jesus. Her life could not be the same.
To Mary God gave his only-begotten Son, whom he loved as himself. Through Mary God made himself a Son, not different but the same, by nature Son of God and Son of Mary. The whole universe was created by God, and God was born of Mary. God created all things, and Mary gave birth to God. The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation. He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary. God, then, is the Father of the created world and Mary the mother of the re-created world. God is the Father by whom all things were given life, and Mary the mother through whom all things were given new life. For God begot the Son, through whom all things were made, and Mary gave birth to him as the Savior of the world. Without God’s Son, nothing could exist; without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed.2
Mary also shows us what it means to carry Jesus in the world, and that is what every Christian is called to do. We don’t
Let Mary’s soul be in each of you to proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Let her spirit be in each to rejoice in the Lord. Christ has only one mother in the flesh, but we all bring forth Christ in faith.3
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.