Day 11 - Luke 1:51-56
10 Dec 2023
You can listen to an audio version of this blog post here -
“He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
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 offspring forever.”
And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.”
Have you ever heard something about a friend of yours that you’d not heard before, and just thought “that’s just typical of them.” Perhaps someone tells you about how they helped them out. Or they passed on some funny comment they had made.
As Mary continues her song of praise she is full of amazement at what the Lord has done for her. Yet, at the same time, as she considers what has happened to her she isn’t surprised and she doesn’t want those who listen to her to be surprised. The way the Lord is acting towards her is just typical of the way he always acts.
These verses have a double meaning which show that. In one way Mary is prophetically pointing out what will happen through the child that she is bearing. But in another way she is looking back and reminding us of things the Lord has already done. By saying all this it’s as if she is talking to us and saying “don’t be surprised at everything I’m saying. After all, this is just the kind of thing the Lord does”.
He is the Lord who rolls up his sleeves and gets involved to rescue his people (vs 51 “He has shown strength with his arm”).
He is the Lord who turns the tables and brings down the proud and raises up the humble (vs 51 and vs 52). A few years ago I watched a series of “24” with Rachel over the Christmas period. It’s a gripping drama, with lots of twists and turns. But after a while I started to learn what was going on. Whenever someone seemed to be good I was expecting (rightly!) things to turn and for them to be revealed as a bad guy. I learnt that no situation would turn out the way I expected. There was a predictable unpredictability to it.
Whenever God works he works in an unexpected way. Mary is reminding us that if we look back through the Bible there has always been a predictable unpredictability in who the Lord has used and saved. Think about the stories of Joseph and David as examples.
Why does the Lord do all this? Because he delights to show mercy. And ultimately because he has made a covenant with his people to save. Promises which stretch back to Genesis 12 - to Abraham. What is happening now is a sign that the Lord is faithful to his word.
And if it depends on his promises and his mercy, then we can trust him. This does not depend on us.