We are going to be going over the portion, what is called Mary's Song, and this is, at least in ecclesiastical circles, this is the Magnificat. And the reason the word magnificat, that is Latin for in verse 46 where she says, my soul glorifies the Lord, that we would norm the older English, my soul magnifies the Lord, and the Latin version of that is magnificat. So that's where we get the title for that Mary's song. Just for your trivia, sort of collection. Okay, let's get started. Now remember the context. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary, says that she's going to have a child by the Holy Spirit. Mary simply responds, how is this going to happen? It's not a matter of questioning. It's simply, I don't know how this is gonna go. But what we're getting, and this is what I would, if I was gonna put a title on this particular section, is a glimpse into the heart of a God lover. We don't know how she became a believer, but she's obviously the real deal, she's in love with the Lord, she has a new heart, and we get a glimpse into that here with Mary's song, okay? So it says, at that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea. Okay, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. Now just some geographic information. Nazareth, where Mary is, is about 60 miles from Jerusalem. 60 miles. So approximately about three day, two, three days journey walking. There's no indication Joseph is with her, so this is before they started to live together, get married, so it's before that. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, verse 41, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now we talked about the filling of the Spirit because it's used in two different senses in the New Testament. One, it's a way of life, because we have Acts 6 where they had to choose these apostolic helpers to be in charge of the food distribution to Greek-speaking widows. So they look for men full of the Holy Spirit. That's a way of life. Mature believers, so it's used that way. But here the filling of the Spirit is used for the Spirit, as it were, got control of somebody in an unusual way. And here, it's simply that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. He got hold of her in this unusual way. That's really all it means. In a loud voice, she exclaimed. This was the Holy Spirit causing her to speak. Blessed are you among women, blessed is the child you will bear, but why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? So here the Holy Spirit is causing her really in that sense to prophesy that she was saying Mary is the mother of her Lord. And the Holy Spirit simply caused her to say that. That's all we know. As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Now, how we handle that, I really don't know. It's just, you know, you say, well, the baby, is the baby possible to leap for joy? Is the baby able to cognitively have joy? But the point is, is that the Lord caused the baby to respond. And this is the baby within Elizabeth, which was to be John the Baptist. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. So Elizabeth is simply confirming what the angel Gabriel said to her. Any questions about that? I mean, it's really quite remarkable. We gloss over this, but we talked about this last time we were here in Luke chapter one, that Mary, who would be probably, we don't know exactly when she was married, but most likely the tradition is that Mary, quite young, puberty, 12 to 14 years of age, somewhere after that, she was married. And that's basically all we knew. We don't know exactly her details. But her life was radically changed. Nazareth was not a big town. Everybody knows she's pregnant, she's gonna show. And when you say it's by the Holy Spirit, it's a little sketchy. But she had to live with that. That shadow over her, you know, for the rest of her life, actually, in her town. And this is how the Father treats those whom He loves. He singled her out to be the mother of God-becoming man, and yet she had to live with this least-perceived shame of the community, where everybody knows everybody. And when you can't escape it, Priscilla and I lived in 77, 78, in a little town of Ohio, 500 folks. And when things were good, that was great. But when things went bad, which they did, you can't escape it. Everybody knows everything. you're looking to leave. That's basically it. But she gets to Mary's song, the Magnificat, beginning in verse 46. Now, of course, my background is Rome Catholicism, where Mary is elevated to this huge role. And you say, whoa. And of course, we talked about it. It's in some circles, a lot of circles actually, in Catholicism, Mary is called a co-redemptrix, meaning that she's in some sense intimately involved with our salvation. But And you say, well, biblically, where would you get that? Well, you don't, because Catholicism uses the Bible. They don't submit to the Bible. But, and then there's very folksy, because we talked about this. Everybody's praying to Mary, which is true. And the idea is Jesus is portrayed as this stern judge. And of course, you want to get something. You want him to answer prayers. Well, you know, he's kind of a tough nut. So, you know, what's the easiest way to get him to respond to you? Go through his mother. I mean, it sounds so hokey, but it's really true. That's the idea of no son says no to his mom. And so you go through Mary to Jesus. And, but it's just so amazingly unbiblical. And we're gonna see Mary was a blessed woman because the Messiah comes through her. I mean, obviously that's true, but she was just a, she was a believer. Now, within Catholicism, they have this concept of Mary that she was involved in what is called the Immaculate Conception, meaning she did not have original sin. And the problem is you say, well, where would you say that in Scripture? We know Jesus didn't have original sin. He wasn't blamed for Adam's first sin because in Hebrews 4, it says he was without sin. Okay, we talked about that the last time. Is there any place that says anybody else was without sin? Nope. So if you're submitting to Scripture, you got nothing. But of course, Catholicism says there is this that it actually trumps scripture that Mary was conceived without original sin. And of course, then they go on to say that even after she gave birth to Jesus, that she was a perpetual virgin. Whereas we would say Scripture speaks kind of, he had a bunch of brothers and sisters, James and Jude at the end of our New Testament are his half brothers. So it's just all, it's just make-believe. But she was a blessed woman. We do not want to fall into the trap of simply then in response to the outlandish claims of Catholicism, we don't want to ignore Mary because she was significant. She was significant, but she was just a godly woman, young, godly woman, who was faithful. And the Lord, in his love for her, put her through lots of stuff. Remember, her whole adult life, Jesus begins his ministry approximately around 30 years of age, so she has to live with his shame, and then she has to have a son who does nothing wrong. Let's get parenting. This is not gonna be easy. You know, if his brothers or sisters said, you know, you never blame him. Yeah, you're right. He never does anything wrong. It's like a skit about a family, you know, that's messed up. But this is really true. Just the difficulties of having a perfect child. And how do you handle sibling rivalry and all sorts of stuff? Because the other brothers and sisters, they were born, you know, coming into the world with a bad heart because of original sin. So you just have to kind of fill out the picture, have a little dose of realism, that it wasn't an idyllic scene at all. This is quite difficult. But we have no evidence she's ever complained. And even when Jesus does his public ministry, approximately three years, and how he's abused at the end, she has to live with that. I was just thinking in Luke 11, how Jesus deflects attention to Mary. Luke 11, 27. Yes. It says, as Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. And he replied, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it. Yes. He's putting things into perspective. Yes, she was remarkable, but. She's just one of the folks. And this is where we begin the Magnificat, where it says, and Mary said, my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. And obviously if she's sinless, which is the way Catholicism portrays her, she doesn't need a Savior. That's the whole point. But she does acknowledge her Savior because she's a sinner like everybody else, and she desperately needs a Savior. For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me, holy is his name. Notice that at every turn, she wants to make sure that the Lord gets the glory. This is a great illustration of how do we respond correctly. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. She was well-grounded. It's interesting. She was a well-grounded believer. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful, which he was very merciful to Israel, to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors. and says Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. So he stayed until Elizabeth was in her ninth month, right before she's giving birth, and then Mary goes back, she's pregnant, she goes back 60 miles, walking, and that's glossed over as though that's sort of, she took the train, you know. And no, it's really, you know, it's just amazing. You know, one of the things that I'm trying, and I'm just going to Eastern Europe where, but it's not like a third world country. That's not true. The trains may not be all that great, but at least they're running. And, but you get this, one of the things that this has nothing to do with the text, it strikes me is that where we live in the United States, where we live around here, life is pretty easy. It really is. You know, my life revolves around apps on my phone. Everything, you know, in the house works. You know, we have, compared to the rest of the world, we have square footage, compared to the rest of the world, where everything is big, roads are wider. It's just an easier place to live. It just is. But like anything, you take it for granted. So, this issue of this magnificat, the response of Mary. Now, it's interesting, in one of the major evangelical commentaries on this section, they will make the point that not, virtually today, none of the scholars think that this song is really Mary's. What are you talking about? Because it was too profound for her? It was just too well thought through? And you say, no. Now, notice that in here, it doesn't say the Holy Spirit, she was filled with the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say that about Mary. It did about Elizabeth, not about Mary. She just responded. This is her response. That's it. So she is a grounded believer who loved her Lord, and that was her response. And so from that, this I want to focus in on that this is a glimpse into the heart of a God-lover. That's what it is. And the Lord gets all the credit. The Lord is in control. That becomes very obvious as we read through Mary's song. And no complaint, all is well, even though this is just the beginning. She's got her adult life. It's gonna be heartache and difficulty because of this. But God gets the credit and He's glorified. Jay? Just like a challenge on the, because we're inferring that she's found out that she's pregnant before she was married. But here she's, she has the baby in Bethlehem, then she sees Elizabeth out of town, and she's about a month pregnant when she gets back to town. And most people don't even announce they're pregnant for three months anyway. And so it could have been a secret, presumably. I mean, we can infer from the silence of the text as well. Maybe nobody ever knew. It was a nine month, pregnancy instead of a 10-month, you know? Well, I don't know, because Elizabeth knew she was pregnant. Of course, that was because of the Holy Spirit, we would assume that. Yeah. Yeah. It's just as possible, though, that maybe the townspeople weren't good at math, and maybe they didn't know. Like, she was gone. She was out of town. So I'm just throwing it out there. Maybe just the family was wise. Well, it's just, her life was hard, but maybe nobody knew that she, nobody presumed that she was pregnant out of wedlock. It's possible, right? I suppose, I suppose it could be possible. That's a point. Not likely, but possible. Yes, Tony. It's a good point. The people who are saying that it couldn't be Mary's song, what did they do with the angel? It might not have been the Holy Spirit, but the angel spoke to her and told her this was going to happen. You find this in these conservative commentaries. You find they have to give lip service to liberal scholars in their field. And the liberal scholars, they don't believe the Bible's God's Word. They don't believe the supernatural things that are taking place within it. But there is this, in this academic realm, there is this desire to sort of, you think you have to pander to these academics in New Testament who don't believe the Bible. And I just think that is a waste of time, because they don't care what you write. They're not going to read it. I mean, they're not taking you seriously, why do you have to kind of pander to them? It doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. The fact that they don't think that's Mary's song, you think, well, I mean, textually they got nothing to rest on. You know, it's just their opinion, and so it's the way it is. It just seems crazy to me, and I think that's one of the difficulties of being in the academic realm as far as Bible study. I think there's this desire to pursue acceptance from your peers. The fact that the bulk of your peers don't believe the Bible, to me, that just disqualifies them. Why would I even be interested that they would give approval to what I write? I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Yes, Brad, what do you got? Laurie, and then Bradley. I was just going to say, this reminds me, this Mary song reminds me kind of like a psalm of David, right? And it's interesting that she even brings up, you know, in 51 and 52, that he's scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts and he's brought down rulers from their thrones. Those seem to be like kind of negative things from a worldly perspective, and David does that too. It's like it really calls out God's holiness. It's not just his mercy and his kindness and his gentleness and how he's showing favor to her, but he's just and he's righteous. You're right. No, no, no. She gave, we would say, a balanced picture. The good side and the dark side, as it were. Yes, Bradley. So I was just thinking in Matthew, we get a little bit more of the picture painted as far as what was kind of in store for Joseph and Mary. So in chapter one of Matthew, starting in verse 18. Yes, yes, yes. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. So just, you know, it probably would have been like that. Public. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, now, it is fascinating that in the Lord's plan, you know, He plans in all this embarrassment in believers' lives. And so when we go through things because we're faithful, you know, we tend to whine or complain about things. These are people He loves. He's going to take them to be with Him forever. These are the kind of folks, but because He loves you, He takes you through difficult times to make us more Christ-like. But difficult times are more the norm. We see those. We just see them. Yes, Joni. So the verse that Bradley just read, my version says, faithful to the law. Yes. So was the law, or is that the law of Christ, or is that the law? So it was faithful to the law to not expose her for some reason? I thought it would have been the opposite. Yeah, because really it's to, she should be stoned to death. She should be stoned to death. So how is that faithful to the law then? Well, I suppose it was faithful. Okay, now that's a good point because I've come across that also. It was faithful to law in that that meant she was immoral, that he should not marry her. That's true. Now, the stoning portion seems to have But we see this in Israel. They don't really follow the Mosaic laws. They seldom actually follow it. They seldom. You know, there's many years where they didn't celebrate the Passover. And you kind of think, well, how? And then they lost the book of the law in the temple. It got lost for years. And you think, how could this be? Well, because there's a bunch of unbelievers. There's a bunch of unbelievers. But at least I would say that he was faithful to the law in that he wanted to put her aside and not marry her. The fact that he didn't have her stoned to death, probably that was not even done much at all. Because like most things in the Mosaic law, they don't really follow it. But Joseph wanted to be faithful within that context. That's the best answer I could give. He obviously loved her, and he wanted to be faithful, yet do it the best possible way available to him. Because when he found out, and we'll close here, she had to have told him, it's by the Holy Spirit, right. And he obviously didn't believe her until the angel spoke to her, spoke to him and told him, no, this is by the Holy Spirit. Because you can imagine she had to explain it to him, why is she pregnant? So he initially didn't seem to believe her, because he was gonna put her away. But then Holy Spirit appear, I mean, the angel appears to him and talks to him, explains it to him, and then he's fine with it. Okay? So, in your life, just as my life as believers, there are going to be some strange twists and turns He takes you through if you want to be faithful. And do not be surprised. Do not be surprised. This is how the Father treats those whom He loves. Let's pray. It is kind of amazing, the whole story surrounding Mary. But you meticulously piece together each life of your children. In each of our lives, as we love you, has been choreographed very carefully for how you want to use us. Difficulties you do bring, you weave into our lives. for the purpose of causing us to love you more. Help us just to be concerned, to be faithful. And whatever happens with our faithfulness, that's up to you. And whatever you do is right, and we just love you for who you are. And it's all because your son died for us on the cross. So thank you for this, amen.