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December 10
I am a Protestant. Among other things that means I don’t pray to or through Mary. I don’t esteem her like my Catholic brothers do. Nor do I think she was herself preserved and exempt from all stain of original sin. There is no need for an “immaculate conception” the way we Protestants view things.
But too many Protestants have thrown out the mother with the baby's bathwater. Mary, the mother of Jesus, certainly provides one of the most significant portraits of spiritual devotion in the entire Scriptures.
If I can only attain to one thing in my whole life; if I can only ever reach one milestone, one mountain top, one goal, may it be to be able to say without any guile or hesitancy or doubt, as Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.”
Compared to that, everything else in my life, in the words of the song "Hurt," is an “empire of dirt.”
Who can imagine what thoughts and feelings and fears and doubts swept over this young maiden, chosen to carry in her womb the Savior of the world, chosen to learn of His mission, chosen to stand at his feet while he died a sinners death?
And there she was time and time again, “treasuring up these things in her heart.”
Who can imagine the disconnect between what she had been told and given, and what was being whispered about her, and about her husband to be Joseph. No wonder she took off to visit her cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth pregnant herself with the boy John, as in the Baptist.
And to be told, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
And so, on this the thirteenth day of Advent 2005, I give you Mary’s song, often called the Magnificat, based on the opening words of the Latin text, “Magnificat anima mea, Dominum.”
There is a lifetime of joy, of wisdom, of spiritual uplift in these words, and I hope they will lift your heart today.
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 empty away.
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.”
(ESV)
Joel Gillespie
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