Sermon on Luke 1:46-55, for the Festival of St. Mary, Mother of our Lord, "Magnifiers!"

 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today, August 15^th, we commemorate the Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus. Some Lutherans and other Protestants don’t know how to recognize St. Mary or are worried about seeming “too Catholic.” The Roman Catholic church encourages prayers to Mary (“Hail Mary’s), as an additional mediator between us and God. 1 Timothy 2:5 says there is only one Mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ. So, we believe our prayers go direct to God through Jesus, with no other middleman or middle woman is between us. Pastors, priests, and even Mary, the mother of our Lord have no special “inside channel” to God. But every person may bow their heads in prayer and call upon the Name of the Lord. So, we don’t elevate Mary in that way, but Lutherans go a middle way to honor the saints, not by worshipping them or praying to them, but by remembering their example of faith, and imitating their trust in the Lord.

St. Mary shines for her obedient trust in the Lord and yielding herself to God’s purposes. A great woman of faith for our youth to look up to; and today she sings of her faith in her beautiful Magnificat, for all generations to hear. The first word of her song is “Magnifies.” What does it mean to “magnify”? It means to make larger or greater, or to acknowledge the greatness of something or someone. Mary says: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” We don’t make God greater as though we were improving who He is. But we praise and acknowledge Him for His greatness.

Think about a magnifying glass. How does it magnify an object? It doesn’t change the size, but shows it more closely, more clearly. It enlarges the detail of something we would not have seen at a distance. The transparent glass doesn’t add to or change the object but helps view it larger than life. Do we really make God larger than life? No, but if you follow where I am going with this, the simplicity and beauty of Mary’s obedience made her a lens to enlarge our view of God, to see Him more closely, more clearly. She didn’t add to God—God is already God—but her life and this beautiful song of reflection on God, gives a transparent lens in her life, to enlarge the detail of what God had done for her and all humankind.

This praise for God welled up from deep within her soul. Her spirit rejoiced in God our Savior. God made us spiritual beings. He breathed into our bodies His Spirit, His breath of life. And from our very creation as body, soul and spirit—from the ground of our existence, we’re made for profound, mysterious, joyful union with God. Mary found that union in praising God her Savior. God’s greatest gift to us is Himself, and that was her joy! We often stand in awe of God’s salvation, His blessings, His provision for us—all precious things deserving our thanks—but our joy should first and foremost be in God, just like Mary rejoiced first in Him.

Think about how we receive gifts. Maybe children on their birthday or Christmas. When grandparents or auntie or uncle just happened to pick the perfect gift and the child is over-the-top with enthusiasm; how easy to love the gift and forget the giver. How much more awesome is it to have a family member who loves us so much, and thinks and cares about us, than just to get the gift they gave? Translate this to our relationship to God. How often do we crave and celebrate the gifts but ignore the Giver? How much better, like Mary, to delight in God the Giver, our Savior, with joy welling in our hearts, songs of praise on our lips to Him?

Her song goes on: “for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant”. Luther pointed out that she’s not celebrating her own humility here, which would be self-contradictory…a relative I never met supposedly used to joke: “Humble?!? I’m the humblest man in the world!” Mary isn’t doing anything like that here but acknowledging that she was a person of low position. She was not famous or powerful. She expected no personal glory. Just a peasant girl from a small town, whom God favored and chose for an unparalleled honor—to be the mother of our Lord. God’s miracle of entering human flesh would take place in her body. God did not choose someone high-born and entitled to receive this honorable calling, but an ordinary country girl with nothing remarkable to her name.

C.S. Lewis wrote about the miracle of the Virgin birth, that God miraculously created the sperm or the other half of the DNA, that combined with Mary’s egg, formed a human zygote and embryo, there to grow and develop according to all the established laws and timelines of nature. God inserted a new, miraculous event into the regulated world of nature, and this does not proceed to break any new laws. “Nature is ready. Pregnancy follows, according to all the normal laws, and nine months later a child is born…[so also] miraculous wine will intoxicate, miraculous conception with lead to pregnancy…miraculous bread will be digested.” The miracle is in the conception, but the laws of nature aren’t bent or broken in any other way. They aid and assist the miracle. His work continues within the world of laws and order that everyone, even peasants 2,000 years ago plainly knew and understood.

“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.” Her life became a beautiful magnifier of God’s mighty deeds for her and all people. Jesus’ birth is God entering human flesh for us and our salvation. He could have just created Jesus as a full-formed human adult, sent direct to earth, like He made Adam or Eve. But instead He worked inside His amazing creation and chose Mary, a willing servant, to do His will. Her life became a magnifier for God’s mighty deeds, a lens to see God’s hand at work.

Our lives can be the same. We can be “soul magnifiers” to show God’s hand at work. God may not work as dramatically in your lives, as with Mary. Being Jesus’ mother was a one-time honor. But even Jesus said, the greater blessing than being His mother would be to “hear the Word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28). So even for Mary, to hear and keep God’s Word—to be Jesus’ disciple—was a greater blessing to her than being His parent. You hear the Word of God and keep it, and your life will be a lens to magnify the Lord. You will become magnifiers as you witness to what God does in your life! Being transparent and bringing focus to what God has done for you, you help others see and know God’s power. It doesn’t need to be miracles and dramatic changes in your life, but simply God’s grace and daily provision.

We jumped over the phrase, Mary sang: “all generations will call me blessed, for He who is mighty has done great things…”. She confessed by faith, that future generations would know her, little, lowly Mary—and call her blessed. We’re doing that now! Blessed Mary, because of what God has done. One of the greatest responsibilities for every generation of believers, is to faithfully pass the torch of faith to the next generation. To tell the mighty deeds of the Lord so they know and magnify His name. She knows her fame from generation to generation wouldn’t stem from herself. She wasn’t rich, mighty, or powerful. Not entitled, nor had she deserved or earned anything. God looked on her low estate and blessed her.

She wants future generations to know Him. She will be remembered for what God has done. By God’s great mercy Mary played her prominent role in the story of salvation. God’s great mercy is for all who humbly submit themselves to His will and purposes. Her life testified to God’s work. How does the next generation, the young, know us? Will they remember us for our faith and God’s work in our lives? Do we talk about God’s work in our lives? I need the reminder to talk to my children about God’s work in my life. Remember, she was not exalted for her wealth, power, prestige, or flashy service. She was a small-town peasant girl who merely trusted in God, obeyed, and followed. It was huge, not by her own work, but God’s work in her.

You don’t need to be grandiose or famous, but simply follow Christ. He will use your gifts and talents, however humble and modest. He gave them! He made you! Whether you are a great, bold leader like Peter or Deborah or Samson; or a quiet disciple with an unwritten story, like so many of those “behind the scenes” disciples. Or perhaps you are a quiet faithful mother like Hannah or Mary, or simply one of countless saints who brought friends and family round the table to hear and reflect on God’s Word together. To pray in time of need. To lend helping hands where you saw a need. To be the shoulder to lean on. Countless faithful grandmothers and grandfathers are remembered by their children and grandchildren. I’ve heard many stories about the different faith-influencers in their lives. They passed on the faith from generation to generation, and we remember them for God’s merciful work in their lives.

Again, passing on the faith to the next generation doesn’t require dramatic stories or exaggerated events to show God has done great things for us. You are one of a kind to God. You don’t have Mary’s role or mine, or your next-door neighbor’s. Follow God faithfully in your calling, as a member of His united body in Christ. Part of a bigger whole but fulfilling your unique place and function. God’s work in your life may be as simple as seeing all your children baptized, brought up in the faith, and kept safe and healthy into adulthood, so they can pass the torch of faith along. Maybe God carried you through a crisis or health challenge. A tragedy or a loss, a divorce, or the death of loved ones. It could be your ongoing struggle with sin, and how God daily dresses you for a new and better walk, rather than the old worldly way. Identify and share the mighty things God has done for you. But always point back to Jesus. His life and record of mighty deeds is ultimately the blessing for all of us. 

Be soul magnifiers! We magnify the work of the Lord. Hold it up, enlarge it, peer at it through a magnifying glass. Study what God has done for you in Jesus Christ. He came low to earth, He was born for us, lived, taught, died, and was raised for us. Magnify the Lord for the strengthening of our faith. We need to continually zoom in, take a closer look, pause, and celebrate God’s work in our lives. Magnify, glorify, lift, and praise His work. We don’t add to His greatness, but we notice it: transparent lives to let His light through, focusing attention on our God and Savior. We were made for rejoicing, and spiritual joy in Him! And with eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith, we rejoice that through crisis and blessing, through famine or feast, He continues to do great things for us! Only when this chapter of life on earth is over, and the new chapter in heaven is beginning, will we fully begin to see how true it was, from generation to generation, that God has done great things for us! Until then, we have an awesome record of His saving might in the life and story of Jesus, and all whose lives He touched. In His Name, Amen.