As Christians and Westerners, we can become so accustomed to the message of the gospels and of Christianity and Christmas that we can forget just how revolutionary this event actually was and still is. I think a powerful passage to help us meditate on this is the song of Mary, the Magnificat, from Luke 1.

We read there:

Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth 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 on those who fear Him, From generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 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 seed forever.”

Luke 1:46-55

Let’s reflect on this passage for this Christmas season.

Mary begins by praising God for recognising her in her humility, “46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.” This is one of the most profound events in human history, and Mary truly is the most blessed of all women to have ever lived, because she was chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Our Lord and Saviour, the one through whom everything was made, was carried in Mary’s womb. Though he was conceived by the work of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, and he is eternally God the Son, according to the flesh, he is also a son of this woman and a descendant of King David. A true miracle, the glorious incarnation.

And Mary truly is blessed among all women to be part of the means of God bringing salvation in the world in the flesh. “The Lord who sits within her womb Shall rule, iron sceptre in his hand, He shall break chains, shun the tomb, And gather us in his hand.”

Next, she reminds herself of the power and might of our God who has used his power for the good of his people, “49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” Jeremiah reflects on how God’s mercies are new every morning. “Morning by morning new mercies we see,” is how we sing this in that great Hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, based on Jeremiah’s words. 

The Old Testament is brutally honest about the constant stubbornness and rebellion of God’s people. But God continually outdid their stubbornness with his application of mercy and grace, preserving a remnant, making sure that his promises were fulfilled, and when it came time for the advent of Jesus Christ into the world, there were still righteous and noble Israelites with which he could work, because he hag shown “His mercy on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” And he still does show mercy to all who fear Him. 

He has also opposed the proud, “51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” Whether it was the Pharaoh whom God humiliated in the Exodus, or David when he sinned with his friend’s wife, God has consistently opposed the proud and humbled them. Some, like David, were humbled to repentance; others, like Pharaoh, were lowered to destruction. The Lord chooses who shall reign, and he gives many rulers many chances to do the right thing and be good in their leadership. But he has consistently opposed those who abuse their power, while simultaneously lifting up the lowly.

Remember Joseph, remember Gideon, remember Deborah and Ruth, remember the great legacy of those of lowly estate who God has lifted up, and remember that he continues to do this today. God is a revolutionary in some senses, at least when it comes to this world. He is not a Marxist or a rebellious revolutionary like so many fallen human beings have been. He is a careful, methodical transformer of this world and its systems, so that when they have become evil and oppressive, he has dealt with them and put them down, raising a new leadership in their place.

This has been a hope of the righteous through all of history, because often the righteous have found themselves on the wrong side of oppressive and evil governments. The beast of Revelation is not simply a one-off future tyrant; he is the model of tyranny in this world, and Jesus has been the best toppler of tyrants the world has ever known. He defends his people and pleads the cause of justice, and he does this through his people as well, who are called to be salt and light in a world hostile to his gospel message of hope. Mary reflects on this as being part of the message of the advent of Jesus Christ. She warns the proud that their Overlord, Jesus, is here, and he carries the iron sceptre of righteous justice in his hand, and he will hold them to account.

And she finishes, “54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.” Some Christians, because of a strange and recent reading of the Old Testament without the proper lens of Jesus, like to only apply the term Israel to one ethnic group, and the promises to Abraham as uniquely applying to this group. But Mary reminds us here of what Paul does in Galatians: the seed through which God’s people will be blessed is Jesus Christ. The seed through which the world will be blessed is Jesus Christ.

The nation of Israel carried this blessing as they were like Mary in a way, they were the womb of the Messiah, the means through which the saviour would come into the world. But the ultimate expression of the blessing and promise is the seed, the descendant of Abraham through whom the whole world would be blessed, Jesus Christ, “16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16). Mary and Paul agree, the promises to Abraham’s seed find their fulfilment in the advent of the Messiah, the Christ, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who shall redeem his people.  

“He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of his mercy…” Mary speaks of this as being fulfilled in her day. But how can this be so if it is talking about the rescue of a physical nation in the land of Israel? It can’t, because not only was that nation not rescued, it was crushed by the Romans in a cruel and barbaric war a few decades after she sang this song. But if it refers to the Holy remnant, those whose hope in God and his Christ remained steadfast, then it most certainly was fulfilled because Jesus redeemed his people in her day,

“Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

Rev. 5:8-10

God has most certainly helped Israel. For His Son is the true Israel, and all who have repented of their sins and trusted in him have been made full citizens of the people of God, the city of God. A city that will lift up the lowly and humble. A city where the oppressor is made to repent, or he is denied entry. A city where we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ to this earth as a little child, a child who grew up to be a man, the God-man, who changed everything by his righteous life and death on that cruel cross. A city whose citizens hope in the one whom death could not hold. 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Mary sang the first-ever Christmas carol. Praise God for Christmas. Praise God for the coming of the Lord Jesus, who changed everything.