Matt Chandler - Magnify

Good afternoon! It’s good to see you. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab them. We’re going to be in Luke chapter 1. While you’re turning there, I had one of those «I’m glad I live in 2018» moments yesterday. My wife was rapping—because I am not allowed to do that—and she said, «Hey, did you get that deal for Reed?» I was like, «Well, you were getting that deal with Reed.» You could just feel the tension there. Then she picked up her phone and ordered it on Amazon. We went to a high school football game, and when we got back, it was on our front porch. I thought, «It is a different day!» My head’s kind of been spinning since that happened, right? It’s just a good time to be alive, maybe on that front.

So, for me yesterday was a vivid reminder of that. Last week, we looked at the angels of the Lord exploding in the sky in front of the shepherds, delivering good news of great joy—not great news of good joy, but good news of great joy for all people. We talked about how what we see there involves not only kingdom economics but also the way God does things differently than we do. We also saw a theology of breakthrough that, in given times and places, the Holy Spirit of God might just show up and do something miraculous and mighty out of nowhere, in an instant.

Today, as we approach the celebration of Christmas morning, I want to orient our hopes around the greatness of God and the frailty of being human. That might sound counterintuitive for a Christmas message, right? It may seem strange to want to talk about the greatness of God and the weakness of humanity right before Christmas, but I’m saying yes, because I don’t think there’s better news in the universe. If I could distill the sermon into a sentence—which won’t save you from the sermon—it would be this: the coming of Jesus pulls us out of our prideful imaginations and into the freedom of not being our own.

So, that’s where I’m going: the coming of Jesus ultimately pulls us out of our prideful imaginations and into the freedom of not being our own God. With that said, let me tell you about the text we’re going to be examining today. The passage is called Mary’s Magnificat, and it’s a song of praise that Mary sings after Gabriel shows up and informs her that she will be the mother of the Messiah.

If you know the story, the angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah and says, «Hey, I know you’re old; I know your wife is old; you’re going to have the front-runner to the Messiah.» Zechariah is like, «That’s impossible! What do you know, angel?» It just seems a little cocky to take that stance with an angel of the Lord, so he is muted, told to write «John» on a board or something, and to tell his bride to name him John. That’s how it plays out.

Then Gabriel shows up to Mary and lets her know that the Messiah will come through her, prompting her to run to Elizabeth. Apparently, they’re related. It’s like, «Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this!» This is a paraphrase, and you probably won’t read it word-for-word in the Bible like this, but she shows up and greets Elizabeth, and John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb when he hears Mary’s voice. Those two ladies hang out together, according to the text, for three months, marveling at what God is doing in their day. It’s in that context that we read Mary’s song, so we’re going to pick it up in verse 46 and read all the way through verse 56.

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. 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.»

Now, there’s a juxtaposition taking place in this song that leads me to the sentence I stated above. You have this juxtaposition of how God interacts with the humble and how God interacts with the proud. What you have on display in Mary’s song, after hearing from Gabriel that Christ was coming through her, is a song that draws a line between God’s approach towards the humble in heart and those who are proud in heart. So, I want to tease this out, but I think it’s important that we…