Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Luke 1:39-55
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  December 19, 2021

Has it happened yet? Has Christmas fatigue already set in? Maybe not quite yet as Christmas is a week away. But we’re awfully close aren’t we? Do you feel those burdens starting to pile up? The busyness that hasn’t let up and the pressure that continues to mount. The house isn’t clean yet for the company that’s coming. You can’t seem to find that perfect gift for that special someone that’s so hard to shop for. And in all the hustle and bustle, you realize that all your good intentions for private devotion and Advent preparation have been left behind. 

And so, maybe we came here today weighed down and defeated. Life has humbled us once again. We’ve been stretched to the limit. We can see our failures and our shortcomings. Even our best efforts never seem to be enough. If that’s you, and even if it’s not, you’ve come to the right place. For what we hear today in the Gospel reminds us that being weighed down with burdens and made aware of weaknesses does not disqualify us from God’s attention or care. It does just the opposite. No, these things properly prepare us for the work God does best. You see, our God is a God who lifts up the humbled. 

And perhaps that important truth is never more clearly seen than in the story of Mary and her Magnificat. That’s what her song is called. So how do we get there? Just prior to our gospel reading for today, Mary has been visited by the angel Gabriel. He tells her that she is going to conceive a baby in a miraculous way. And he tells her something else to show that the impossible is possible. Her relative Elizabeth, who was old and well past childbearing age, was already six months pregnant. So Mary gathers her things and she’s off to see Elizabeth. And that’s where our reading begins. 

 “In those days Mary got up and hurried to the hill country, to a town of Judah. She entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” As many times as I’ve heard this story, I don’t think I ever pondered how quickly Mary accepted what Gabriel told her and how quickly she acted. Luke tells us she hurried to the hill country to see Elizabeth. Like Abraham, who went the very next day when told to sacrifice Isaac, Mary hurries to see Elizabeth, to see the proof that what Gabriel told her was true. 

“Just as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? In fact, just now, as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy! Blessed is she who believed, because the promises spoken to her from the Lord will be fulfilled!”” How comforting and reassuring this must have been for Mary! You have to think that Mary was concerned with how people would react to her news. Eyebrows raised in suspicion, fingers wagging in condemnation is probably what she suspected and haven’t we done the same without knowing all the details. But she receives none of that. Instead, she sees that Elizabeth is very much pregnant and as soon as she says hello, John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb. God’s promise to Zechariah that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit, even in the womb was fulfilled. And now also Elizabeth is filled with the Spirit and speaks words of blessing. All of this is wonderful for Mary, reason for rejoicing to be sure. 

However, not none of this was the reason for Mary’s Magnificat. Instead, she sang because her heart was filled with joy for another reason entirely. Listen to the first thing the angel said to Mary:  “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.” But she was greatly troubled by the statement and was wondering what kind of greeting this could be.” Mary was already distressed and Gabriel had said nothing yet of a virgin birth or of God becoming man. No, she was troubled because God was favoring her, because God was choosing her, because God was with her. And why would that be troubling? Because Mary knew she was a sinner. She knew she was nothing more than a humble slave or servant. She knew that she deserved none of the things that Gabriel was telling her. Favor? Forget it. Blessing? Blight is more like it. God with her? 

And isn’t that our initial reaction too? We strive and we strain to reach up to God only to fall so desperately short. We look to ourselves and by doing so only pile up more burdens. Martin Luther once said, “How completely does God spurn that which is high! And we only strive madly and frantically after vain heights…; again and again we step out of God’s horizon, so that he might not see us in the depths, the only place where he looks.” As the truth of the angel’s words sank in, Mary learned an important truth about her God. He rejects everything the world is inclined to choose and chooses everything the world is inclined to reject. And that’s what made Mary sing. That’s the substance of her song. Let’s hear it again. 

“Then Mary said, My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, because he has looked with favor on the humble state of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones. He has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.” 

First of all, Mary deflects all attention from herself and gives it to God. In Hebraic parallelism, she magnifies the Lord. She calls him, “God my Savior,” a name for God found frequently in the Psalms. Mary realizes that she’s worthy of none of this. Instead of focusing on herself, Mary spends most of the time describing the character of God who exalts the lowly and humbles the proud.  We might call the way the Lord acts the “peculiar ways of God.” He does things the exact opposite way that we would do them. Just look at the examples in the life of Mary. In verse 48, “He has looked with favor on the humble state of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” You would think that if God were going to choose a woman to be the mother of his only Son, he would have found a rich, renowned, noble and mighty queen. What about the daughter of Annas or Caiaphas, who held the highest position in the land. But no, he finds a poor, lowly maiden. Blessed now to be saved by her own flesh and blood Son. 

And God didn’t just do this peculiar work for Mary, but also in the lives of his people. How? He Lifts Up the Humbled. Three different times she mentions his exaltation of the lowly: verse 50, “He has mercy is for those who fear him”; verse 52, “He has lifted up the lowly”; verse 53, “He has filled the hungry with good things.” But it’s not just that, but on the flip side, God opposes the proud. Mary also mentions this three times: verse 51, “He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts”; verse 52, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones”; verse 53, “The rich he has sent away empty.” What causes Mary to sing is that God loves to reverse the way this world works.

God’s way is the exact reverse of the world’s way. And we see that way most fully embodied in God made flesh. Mary saw that too. “He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.” Mary recognizes the dawn of the final fulfillment of all of God’s promises for his people. This final fulfillment is Christ. And notice that Mary speaks of it in the past tense, as already accomplished. Even though Jesus is not yet born, Mary’s faith allows her to understand that when God makes a promise, it’s as good as done. 

Have you come here today humbled by life, weighed down and burdened, burnt out by the hustle and bustle? You’ve come to the right place. God is in this place. He’s kept his promise and sent his Son. He’s looked at our humble state, wallowing in the depths of sin, and has lifted us up. He has done great things for us by taking away those sins, by creating faith in our hearts, by sustaining that faith through his Word and Sacraments. Holy is his name! He’s shown us mercy and strength! He’s filled us up with good news. He’s kept his promises. Our God Lifts Up the Humbled! And so Mary’s song is our song. We too can proclaim the greatness of the Lord. We can magnify him. And we do that by focusing on all that he has done. 

Let’s magnify God this Christmas by being in his house, by hearing his Word, by telling the good news of all that he’s done for us in Christ. It all starts this week as our Children will magnify him on Wednesday, as we have the opportunity to magnify him on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We are blessed because the Mighty One has done great things for us! Holy is his name! AMEN.