Today's Readings: 1 Samuel 1:24–28; Psalm 85; Luke 1:46–56
Christmas is a singing time of year with seasonal music playing everywhere we go. Unfortunately, much modern Christmas music has little, if anything, to do with Jesus' birth. I love singing Christmas carols rich with theological truth about Christ's incarnation and the salvation he brings. Songs such as "O Come, O Come, Emanuel" and "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus." Like them or not, it's woven into the fabric of our being to sing. Scripture is full of songs of worship and praise.
Luke records what might very well be the first Christmas song. The angel Gabriel told Mary she would conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High and would name him Jesus. Can you imagine her shock when Gabriel tells her this news? How could this be when she is still a virgin betrothed to Joseph? Nazareth would be full of whisperings and suspicions about this pregnancy. Any explanation was impossible. Would Joseph believe her? What was going to happen to her? Scripture is silent about her initial range of emotions, other than that she was "greatly troubled" and soon hurries to see her cousin Elizabeth for support.
Oh, what we can learn from this teenage peasant girl from the backwater town of Nazareth! If ever there was a time to cry out in despair and questioning, this was it. Instead, Mary magnifies the Lord and rejoices in God. She didn't let her circumstances determine where she stayed. The Magnificat, Mary's hymn, opens a window into her thinking. It shows us the nature of this young woman whom God had been preparing to carry his only begotten Son in her womb and in whom he was entrusting the care and nurture of Christ.
Every sentence of Mary's hymn has God at the center as she recounts his power, his holiness, and his mercy from generation to generation. Mary sings of God's promises to Abraham and his descendants forever. She rejoices that God has looked with favor on her and is fulfilling his promises of the long-awaited Savior.
What gave Mary this peace when her world had been turned upside down? She held to the truth of God's character and his promises, and these truths became her anchor of hope and peace for her soul. It is so easy to allow our feelings to dominate during trials. The example of this teenage peasant girl teaches us an important truth. She knew God. She knew his word. She knew his promises. Mary could rejoice and magnify her Lord in the most trying circumstances because she was grounded in God’s revelation.
