Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Magnificat


Primarily due to the overwhelming excesses of the Roman Catholic Church Mary has been kind of left by the wayside. Protestants like to point out Christ's discussion of who his family is in Matthew 12 to downplay the veneration of the mother of Christ. However I'd like to take the time in this third installment of our discussion of the Gospel of Luke to have a Protestant look that while falling short of veneration still gives Mary a fair hearing.

Protestants have a tendency to forget about what Elizabeth says about Mary when she visits in Luke Chapter 1 and Elizabeth has this to say about her:

46 And Mary said:
"(My soul exalts the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 "For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
49 "For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
And holy is His name.
50 "AND HIS MERCY IS UPON GENERATION AFTER GENERATION
TOWARD THOSE WHO FEAR HIM.
51 "He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
52 "He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
53 "HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS;
And sent away the rich empty-handed.
54 "He has given help to Israel His servant,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and his descendants forever.


How are we to take this? I'd like to hear some thoughts from the blogosphere...

1 comment:

Gary said...

It is a clear hymn that is to be sung in churches and is a clear argument against Psalm-only positions.

And this has nothing to do with the fact we sung this at my church this past Sunday...

;D