Lent 1 - Mary 1 - Part 1

Welcome to this Lent Reflections series inspired in part by my local church’s current sermon series on Discipleship, and part by a Christian Heritage Book called Mother, Sister and Follower – sermons by C.H.Spurgeon.

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Luke 1:46-47

Mary – Mother of Jesus

It may seem peculiar to begin a Lent series – a time of fasting and repentance in preparation for the death of Jesus on the cross – with a song of joy proclaimed by Mary before even the birth of Jesus, but these reflections on the lives of three women known to us in the Gospels as Mary, will take us into Holy Week, I promise. These women – Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the sister of Martha & Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene, the follower of Jesus – are all noteworthy in the life and earthly ministry of Jesus; and they each have a significant role in Jesus’ final days. Join me as we journey with them towards the cross …

Latin quote on the staircase of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, translates to: Glorious star, lighting up all eternity, through which the days and ages take on the light of life.

The Magnificat, as Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1:46-55 is commonly known, is declared by a young Mary as she is greeted by her elderly cousin, Elizabeth and they together rejoice in their unusual pregnancy stories. As C.H.Spurgeon puts it in his Christmas day sermon of 1864, “Instead of two ordinary village women, we see before us two prophetesses and poetesses, upon whom the Spirit of God abundantly rested.” God’s Spirit upon and within each of them turned a common-day occurrence, as might happen at any mums and tots group across the country today, into a super-charged heaven meets earth encounter. Spurgeon goes on to encourage his congregation that we should ask God to make our encounters similarly profitable, “that we may not merely pass away time and spend a pleasant hour, but may advance a day's march nearer heaven.” After all, she – and we – have much to ponder, celebrate and share with others about the Word made flesh; Immanuel, God come down; and our personal faith encounters with the Lord Jesus.

At the time of Spurgeon’s writing, faith was a much more corporate affair than it is today. In the past 50 years, faith has become more personal, individual, so Mary’s words may not strike us in quite the same way has they did a Victorian or older congregation, but she uses personal pronouns: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” She sang no ‘Christ for all’ but ‘ Christ for me’.

“Beloved, is Christ Jesus in your heart? Once you looked at him from a distance, and that look cured you of all spiritual diseases, but are you now living upon him, receiving him into your very vitals as your spiritual meat and drink?” Spurgeon asks.

We can never know the same joy as Mary describes here, unless Christ Jesus is ‘truly ours’ – not you understand in the sense of ownership, but instead in the sense of his being so intimately entwined within our soul and spirit, much as an unborn child is bound with the body and life-blood of its mother.

But my circumstance is not the same as hers, you may cry; it was easy for Mary, she had been visited by a messenger direct from God! Nevertheless her song was a song of faith. There was no proof at this point – certainly not that she was carrying the Saviour of the world – nothing has changed since her simple question “How can this be?” And yet now she carries a conviction of faith in her very words. “For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” [v49]

"This day there are these among us who have little or no conscious enjoyment of the Saviour's presence; they walk in darkness and see no light; they are groaning over inbred sin, and mourning because corruptions prevail; let them now trust in the Lord, and remember that if they believe on the Son of God, Christ Jesus is within them; and by faith they may right gloriously chant the hallelujah of adoring love."

Even if we be the most insignificant of all God’s chosen ones, we ought to praise His Name all the louder, all the greater, in acknowledgment that his grace has been ladled upon us all the more because of our inadequacies. “The grace is great, but so is its giver; the love is infinite, but so is the heart from which it wells up; the blessedness is unspeakable, but so is the divine wisdom which planned it from of old.”

Likewise, when we doubt, we should bring to mind our past encounters and all the good and treasured things the Lord has given to us or brought into our lives. Just as Mary pronounces the wonderful and terrible – in the old-fashioned use of the word – actions of the Lord throughout Israel’s history, so must we ‘sing of the past’. Let our own lives provide us with words and music of our hymn of adoration; let us speak of those times where God has touched our lives – or better still, has touched the lives of others through our having been empowered and equipped by Him. “we have been tossed with tempest, but with the Eternal Pilot at the helm, we have known no fear of shipwreck; we have been cast into the burning fiery furnace, but the presence of the Son of Man has quenched the violence of the flames.”

Mary’s song finishes, as must we, with the Covenant. That promise “spoken to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” [v55] That Covenant of love & enduring faithfulness. The Covenant sealed by the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If Christ did swear to bring me to glory, and if the Father swore that he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward for the travail of his soul; then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful, till Christ shall cease to be the truth, till God's eternal council shall become a lie, and the red roll of his election shall be consumed with fire, thou art safe.

As we look ahead to the cross and the journey we take this year alongside Jesus, let us look back at the woman who gave birth to God made man. And as we prepare our hearts in ashes and fasting, let us lament the times we have not magnified the Lord with our words and actions.

But most of all, let us reflect on the Covenant of God, made and fulfilled to each and every person: that you are created in love; you are redeemed by faithfulness; and you are risen to glory in Christ.

And 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.

And 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.” Luke 1:46-55

Quotations taken from C.H.Spurgeon's sermon 'Mary's Song', first preached on Sunday morning, December 25th 1864, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.