At the heart of the Christmas story is the expectation of the
birth of a very special child. Of course, every parent and grandparent knows, every child born into their family is a very
special child.
But not every child has their birth greeted by angels, shepherds and travelers from the East bringing
gifts of Frankincense, Gold, and Myrrh. The Christmas child, our Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate born in Bethlehem’s manger is… if you like… beyond special.
Scripture tells us that Mary, the mother of Jesus will be counted as blessed for generations to
come. What I find intriguing about Mary, is that she who bore the most special child ever, claimed to be nobody special. Mary
is crystal clear that if glory were to be placed anywhere or given to anybody, then glory must be given to God.
Her great song of praise, known as the ‘Magnificat’, begins by proclaiming, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked with favor on the lowliness of His servant.”
The Message Bible transliterates those verses.
“I'm bursting with God-news; I'm
dancing the song of my Savior God. God took one good look at me, and look what happened— I'm the most fortunate woman
on earth!” To put it another way; “Look at me! I’m nobody. Yet
unbelievably God is doing something wonderful in my ordinary life. Better put on your dancing shoes, God is much greater than
we believe!”
To our human way of thinking somebody destined to be a King should be born in noble circumstances. To a throne. To richness. To the proud and significant. Yet the Son of God is born to
a young girl, struggling to make ends meet, in the middle of nowhere. The angel comes to one who realized that she was an
extremely unlikely candidate for God’s favor and can hardly fathom what is taking place.
There is a sense of “Can you believe it?” attached to the wonder in her words. ‘He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts 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.”
This hymn of praise is about a lot more than just Mary and the child she
bore. It is a song that is phrased and springs from the rich imagery of the Old Testament. It calls upon the listener to remember
the glorious past in such a way as it becomes a present reality. To magnify in our minds the notion that the God who has done
wonders in the past has wonders still to do in the future.
We easily forget that between the closing prophecies of the Old Testament
and the beginnings of the gospel story many years rolled by. The nation was not what it used to be. God seemed conspicuous
by His absence rather than by His Presence. So we are given these reminders that God hadn’t left the building or given
up on His people. Verse 50 “His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation
to generation.”
The
eternal nature of the great promises of covenant and blessings given to the Fathers of the faith are recalled. “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, according to the promise He made
to our ancestors, to Abraham and to His descendants forever." Mary is aware that what is happening to her has a significance for the whole people, not just for herself and her circle
of friends and family.
This
call to “Magnify the Lord with me” is not just about, “Hey… guess what I’m having a baby”
but is telling us that our conception of God has become too small and too limited. Remember what God can do! Remember how
God has worked! And as you remember… get ready… because God is about to do something you wouldn’t believe!
What
an awesome text this is to be focusing on upon the last Sunday before Christmas, as we move on to consider the implications
of Christ birth, the Son of God, coming and living and walking and ministering amongst us.
I
can’t speak for you but I’m prone to forget. I forget that when God shows up, God usually works through the common
place and the ordinary to do extraordinary things. I forget that in God’s economy the little things often turn out to
be the big things, and that the most important thing is showing love through the next thing we do.
I
lose sight of the fact that God wants to fulfill Gods purposes through an army of ordinary people. I forget that it’s
not about what I can do, but about what the Holy Spirit of God can work through me when in humility I admit I am powerless
and weak and lost. I forget that God is still God every day that God creates.
So
I invite you this day to hear Mary’s song. "My soul magnifies the Lord”.
To magnify something means you take something small and you make it bigger. I
ask you to pray that God will take our small smoldering simmering attempts at being faithful and make them grow into something
that changes other peoples’ lives.
I pray that God may use the limited expectations we attach to a Christmas holiday and
turn them into a true experience of celebrating the glory and majesty of the real message of Christmas – that God is
still in the business of redeeming and saving and renewing and creating.
Rejoice
in God. Rejoice in God. Rejoice in God! God looks with favor upon our life. God sees our life as fertile ground for His promises
to be fulfilled. And it’s not about us. If it were all about us then it would never happen. We are not that significant.
But when God breathes life into our daily routines, when God takes our daily lot and it becomes the work of building His Kingdom,
then our lives have a significance that is beyond anything we dare imagine.
Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and heaven and nature sing.
Today
we have welcomed a little one into the family of God. We have lit candles for Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. We have gathered
together to praise God in Advent anticipation.
Don’t
leave all of that here. Magnify it. It’s not enough. It’s just a taster. As Isaac Watts marvelous carol puts it,
“Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing”. It’s not about what we’re doing, it’s
about what God has done, is doing and will do throughout the whole of creation, heaven and nature now and forever. And rejoice
because it is the through the faithfulness of ordinary lives that the colors are added to the bigger picture.
"My soul magnifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
AMEN!
