Verse for the week of December 20th:
And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord’
(Luke 1:46)
This verse is part of what is called the Magnificat or Mary’s song. The word Magnificat means magnifies or glorifies. The context for Mary’s song is when Mary’s relative, Elizabeth comes and visits Mary while Mary is expecting with Jesus. Elizabeth is also expecting—her child is John the Baptist.
During this visit, Elizabeth exclaimed, ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!’
After Elizabeth’s pronouncement about Mary and how she is blessed; Mary begins her song with ‘My soul magnifies the Lord.’
I am always amazed at the Magnificat—that Mary rejoices over what is happening to her. It is obviously apparent that she has much more faith than I. For I know that it would in most likelihood be difficult to understand or accept the fact that one would be pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that one could be a virgin and yet be with child.
Within her entire song, there is not one word of doubt or questioning. She simply and powerfully acknowledges what God has done and that she is grateful to be a vessel for the Lord’s work. That in all of this, she sings praises to God and gives thanks for choosing her a humble servant to do magnificent things for the world.
As I read through Mary’s song, what always strikes me is that this is a powerful message of how God uses ordinary folks to accomplish the mighty acts of God. If God can use a simple 14-15 year old girl from a backwater town, maybe just maybe God could use someone like me. And her song then challenges me to be open and available to be a vessel for God’s work through me—that I need to step out of the way in order to allow God to work through me.
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