Twelve Extraordinary Women, Week 17
Notes
Transcript
MARY’S RESPONSE OF WORSHIP
MARY’S RESPONSE OF WORSHIP
Mary, filled with joy and bubbling over with praise, hurried to the hill country to visit her beloved relative, Elizabeth. There’s no suggestion that Mary was fleeing the shame of her premature pregnancy. It seems she simply wanted a kindred spirit to share her heart with. The angel had explicitly informed Mary about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. So it was natural for her to seek out a close relative who was both a strong believer and also expecting her first son by a miraculous birth, announced by an angel.
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,
17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
While Elizabeth was much older, maybe even in her eighties, and had always been unable to conceive, and Mary was at the beginning of life—both had been supernaturally blessed by God to conceive. It was a perfect situation for the two women to spend time rejoicing together in the Lord’s goodness to both of them.
Elizabeth’s immediate response to the sound of Mary’s voice gave Mary independent confirmation of all that the angel had told her. Scripture says,
It happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:41–45 NKJV)
Elizabeth’s message was prophetic, of course, and Mary instantly understood that. Mary had learned from an angel about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Nothing indicates that Mary had sent word of her own circumstances ahead to Elizabeth. Indeed, Mary’s sudden arrival had all the hallmarks of a surprise to her relative. Elizabeth’s knowledge of Mary’s pregnancy, therefore, seems to have come to her by revelation, in the prophecy she uttered when the Holy Spirit suddenly filled her.
Mary replied with prophetic words of her own. Her saying is known as the Magnificat (Latin for the first word of Mary’s outpouring of praise). It is really a hymn about the incarnation. Without question, it is a song of unspeakable joy and the most magnificent psalm of worship in the New Testament. It is the equal of any Old Testament psalm, and as we have noted before, it bears a strong resemblance to Hannah’s famous hymn of praise for the birth of Samuel. It is filled with messianic hope, scriptural language, and references to the Abrahamic covenant:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth 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 on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
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 seed forever. (Luke 1:46–55 NKJV)
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
It is clear that Mary’s young heart and mind were already thoroughly saturated with the Word of God. She included not only echoes of two of Hannah’s prayers (1 Sam. 1:11; 2:1–10), but also several other allusions to the law, the psalms, and the prophets:
• “My soul magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1:46).
• “My heart rejoices in the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:1).
• “My soul shall make its boast in the Lord” (Ps. 34:2).
• “My soul shall be joyful in the Lord” (Ps. 35:9).
• “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God” (Isa. 61:10).
• “And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47).
• “God is my salvation” (Isa. 12:2).
• “There is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior” (Isa. 45:21).
• “For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant” (Luke 1:48).
• “If You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant” (1 Sam. 1:11).
• “He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer” (Ps. 102:17).
• “Who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 136:23).
• “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).
• “Then Leah said, ‘I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed’” (Gen. 30:13).
• “And all nations will call you blessed” (Mal. 3:12).
• “For He who is mighty has done great things for me” (Luke 1:49).
• “And holy is His name” (Luke 1:49).
• “Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things” (Ps. 71:19).
• “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad” (Ps. 126:3).
• “No one is holy like the Lord” (1 Sam. 2:2).
• “Holy and awesome is His name” (Ps. 111:9).
• “The High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isa. 57:15).
• “And His mercy is on them who fear Him from generation to generation” (Luke 1:50).
• “So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him” (Ps. 103:11).
• “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children” (Ps. 103:17).
• “My righteousness will be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation” (Isa. 51:8).
• “He has shown strength with His arm” (Luke 1:51).
• “You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand,and high is Your right hand” (Ps. 89:13).
• “He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory” (Ps. 98:1).
• “The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations” (Isa. 52:10).
• “He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts” (Luke 1:51).
• “You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm” (Ps. 89:10).
• “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21).
• “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly” (Luke 1:52).
• “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory” (1 Sam. 2:6–8).
• “He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry, and sets others in their place” (Job 34:24).
• “He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He has sent away empty” (Luke 1:53).
• “He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness” (Ps. 107:9).
• “He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever” (Luke 1:54–55).
• “He has remembered His mercy and His fulness to the house of Israel” (Ps. 98:3).
• “O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!” (Isa. 44:21).
• “You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old” (Mic. 7:20).
• “O seed of Abraham … He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham” (Ps. 105:6–9).
Notice how she praised the glory and majesty of God while repeatedly acknowledging her own lowliness. She took no credit for anything good in herself. But she praised the Lord for His attributes, naming some of the chief ones specifically, including His power, His mercy, and His holiness.
Mary’s worship was clearly from the heart. She was plainly consumed by the wonder of His grace to her. She seemed amazed that an absolutely holy God would do such great things for one as undeserving as she.
HER RELATIONSHIP TO HER SON
HER RELATIONSHIP TO HER SON
Throughout Christ’s earthly ministry, Mary appeared in only three scenes. On two of those occasions, Jesus Himself explicitly repudiated the notion that her earthly authority over Him as His mother entitled her to manage any aspect of His saving work. He did this without showing her the least bit of disrespect, of course, but He nonetheless clearly and completely disclaimed the idea that Mary was in any sense a mediator of His grace.
The first of these occasions was during the wedding at Cana, when Jesus performed His first miracle.
John 2:1–4 (ESV)
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Scripture suggests His reply to Mary was somewhat short. Yet, it was to show the timing was His, not hers. Then He turned the water to wine. After that, Mary always remained in the background.
Mary appeared again during Jesus’ earthly ministry when Mark records that the demands of Jesus’ ministry were such that He didn’t even have time to eat (Mark 3:20). Jesus’ own close family members began to be concerned for His safety, and they concluded (wrongly, of course) that He was beside Himself (v. 21). Scripture says they went to Him intending to physically pull Him away from the crowds and the heavy demands that they were making on Him.
Meanwhile, some scribes came from Jerusalem and accused Jesus of casting out demons in the power of Beelzebub (v. 22). Mark painted a vivid picture of chaos, opposition, and vast multitudes of needy people all pressing in on Jesus. It was into this context that His immediate family members came, seeking to get Him away from the multitudes for His own safety and sanity’s sake.
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.
32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.”
33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
The crucifixion was the third and final time Mary appeared alongside Jesus during the years of His public ministry.
THE SWORD THAT PIERCED HER SOUL
THE SWORD THAT PIERCED HER SOUL
Mary had probably always had an idea that this day would come. She had surely heard Jesus speak (as He did often) of His own death. Years later, as Mary stood watching a soldier thrust a sword into Jesus’ side, she must have truly felt as if a sword had pierced her own soul also.
While Mary quietly watched her Son die, others were screaming wicked taunts and insults at Him. Her sense of the injustice being done to Him must have been profound. After all, no one understood Jesus’ absolute, sinless perfection better than Mary did. She had nurtured Him as an infant and brought Him up through childhood. No one could have loved Him more than she did. All those facts merely compounded the acute grief any mother would feel at such a horrible sight. The pain of Mary’s anguish is almost unimaginable. Yet she stood, stoically, silently, when lesser women would have fled in horror, shrieked and thrashed around in panic, or simply collapsed in a heap from the overwhelming distress. Mary was clearly a woman of dignified grace and courage.
As a matter of fact, in the waning hours of Jesus’ life, it was Jesus who came to her aid. Already in the final throes of death, He spotted Mary standing nearby with a small group of women and John, the beloved disciple. For the final time, Jesus acknowledged His human relationship with Mary. In his own gospel account, John describes what happened: “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:26–27 NKJV).
26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
So one of Jesus’ last earthly acts before yielding up His life to God was to make sure that for the rest of her life, Mary would be cared for.
That act epitomizes Mary’s relationship with her firstborn Son. She was His earthly mother; but He was her eternal Lord. She understood and embraced that relationship. She bowed to His authority in heavenly matters just as in His childhood and youth He had always been subject to her parental authority in earthly matters. As a mother, she had once provided all His needs, but in the ultimate and eternal sense, He was her Savior and provider.
After Jesus’ death, Mary appears only once more in the Bible. In Luke’s chronicle of the early church, she is listed among the disciples who were praying together in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). Her name is never mentioned in the epistles. It is clear that the early church never thought of making her an object of religious veneration the way so many have done in the subsequent annals of various Christian traditions.
14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
Mary herself never claimed to be, or pretended to be, anything more than a humble handmaiden of the Lord. She was extraordinary because God used her in an extraordinary way.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. 2005. Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books.