Mary’s Joy
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Mary’s Joy
December 12, 2010
by Rev. William “Buck” Day
Let’s turn to God’s word. We are going to look at a passage from Luke, a famous passage from Mary. So follow along as I read God’s word for us today. (Luke 1:46-55)
“‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 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 powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.”
God’s word for us this morning! Would you join me as we pray?
Lord God, thank you for your word, thank you for this wonderful song of praise. Lord we ask that you would quicken our hearts by the power of your Spirit to hear what you have for us today. We ask that in your name, Jesus. Amen.
Well as we think about this topic of joy, what kind of images come to mind for you? As you think about these pictures, what kind of words begin to kind of resonate in your mind? Are things like bright, shining, exuberant, exultation, elation, shouting for joy, are those the kind of things that come to mind for you when you see pictures of people who are expressing joy in some way? What does a person act like when they have joy? Is this the kind of actions that we see? Joy is one of those emotions that connect with us at a very deep level, don’t they? When joy is expressed we usually see it in things like singing, leaping, raising of hands, shouting. Does that ring a bell with anyone?.. like worship, perhaps? There is something that we do for a long time which is worship and it is a joyful act. Joy is very close to the heart of God. It is a part of who he is.
The psalmist tells us that God is the source of joy, in Psalm 4. It says that he is the object of our joy and it says that joy is the natural outcome of our relationship with God. “In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” So joy is a part of what we think about when we think about God, isn’t it?…and when Jesus comes on the scene that joy just continues to get ramped up. At Jesus’ birth the angel comes and what does he say? He says, “I bring you good news of” what? “Great joy”, right? As Jesus is heading towards the cross, Paul tells us that “for the joy set before him, he endured the cross.” Jesus was joyful and yet, I think when we think about joy and Jesus, we don’t usually make those connections very much, do we? I mean, when I think about Jesus, I usually think of him in terms of being accused of something, or there are people around him who are trying to set him up or trick him, and eventually try to figure out how to get him arrested to get killed, right? As you think about that, that, in and of itself, would not necessarily be a very joyful existence. And yet, he was filled with joy. He was gregarious. He was winsome. I think he enjoyed life. He described himself as a bridegroom. Think about the joyous metaphor that is. He defended his disciples when they were accused of not fasting and in Matthew 11 it says “he came eating and drinking.” Isn’t that great? “He came eating and drinking” and people around him called him a gluttonous man, or a drunkard. And we usually think, “Whoa. That’s not Jesus.” But we have to maybe look at that and say, here’s a guy who was full of life, who enjoyed the good things of life. He went to parties, he went to weddings, he enjoyed it. He was far from sullen, far from gloomy; and for us as his followers, Scripture says we are to live with that same kind of life. That is supposed to be who we are. And I can confess for myself I know that many times that’s not the case.
And yet the joy of the Lord is to be our strength. And joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit; the things that come as we embrace the Spirit and let it run through our life. Joy is those things that help us endure the hardships of our life when there is joy there. Joy is a critical part of the makeup of the DNA of followers of Jesus Christ. So when we come to Mary’s song, sometimes known as the Magnificat, which is what we just read, it is really like an aria in an opera. It is where the action stops for a moment, where everyone can savor what is going on more deeply.
The ancient theologian, Origen, says that, of Mary’s song, he says, “Mary does not add anything to God by this song; but Christ is magnified in us through our image of him in our soul.” Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s blessing on her is one of exuberant joy between her and her God. I think it is in Mary’s song that we can begin to see how joy can get sourced in our lives, how it can get cultivated, how it can begin to grow. Granted it is not growing outside right now unless you have a greenhouse, but it can grow in us. So let’s take a look at this song of Mary and take a look and see how we can increase our joy in our own lives.
To start with I think we can say that joy comes from being used by God. In our text, Mary calls herself a servant and that she will be blessed. We think about that and we go, “Yeah! That’s true.” She served and she was blessed.
Ask anyone who has been on a short term mission trip who gets blessed more—those who serve, or those who get served? Invariably nine out of ten times it is those who serve. It is those who serve. I was on a hillside in Takata, Mexico which is just east of Tijuana. I was there with fifty high school students. We were in three different locations in this little colonia, and we were building ten by sixteen foot what we would call sheds but really were to be new homes for the families that lived in that colonia. As we worked during over the course of that week I watched how our kids worked and how they played and how their lives changed in that process. They began to see that they could contribute something significant to the lives of someone else. They could see the blessings that they were and that they could give. I think they began to see how God cold continue to use them to make a difference when they returned home. Jesus is the one who said it is more blessed to give than to receive, didn’t he? Mary knew she was being used by God and it expressed itself in the joy of her song. Do you know that God wants to use you, too? God has something for each of us to do–the big things for sure, but also in the small seemingly insignificant things of life, as well. God wants to use those gifts that he gives us. He wants to have us use the abilities that he has endowed each of us with, perhaps in ways that we have never imagined. Do you want to do that? Do you want to do that? I think that starts by simply saying “God, surprise me.” As you get up in the morning take a moment and say, “God, surprise me today! Do something in my life that allows me to serve.” And, as you walk through your day, then look for those surprises; look for those opportunities to be a blessing. You will find that the joy increases in your life as you are being used by God.
Well if joy increases when we are used by God, joy also increases when we know that God’s mercy is upon us. Mary, it says, sees herself as lowly in her song. By lowly she doesn’t mean that there is some self pity, “whoa, whoa, is me”; or that she was of low economic standards, even though that was the case. She was poor. Rather, when she says lowly she is talking about a low, humbled state. Beyond that she understands that God has done great things for her. As you put that together, you begin to see that Mary knows the grace of God that has been given to her. God has granted her great mercy. Then it says in verse 50 of our text, “and to all who fear him.” Mary’s joy is that she is being exalted, she is being lifted up by God and that same joy can be ours too.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Proverbs tells us. Wisdom is understanding that God is in charge and we are not. Wisdom is understanding that God is the Creator and we are the created. Wisdom is understanding that we are broken people. We are broken people who have nothing within us that entitle us to stand before a Holy God. And that wisdom is what causes us to fall on our knees and cry out for mercy. As we cry out for mercy before our Holy God, God is the one then who lifts us up and calls us his children. Think of the joy that it brings of being lifted up by someone who should condemn you. That is a source of joy, and if you think about that, then you know why Mary sings with the joy that she does in this song. And the great thing about that is that it is also an invitation to all of us, to all generations. It is something that we can join in with with Mary. Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, that he might exalt you. For when you do that you know that God’s mercy is upon you.
And our joy also increases when we see God fulfill his promises. Mary’s song comes out of many Old Testament verses; they’re kind of in her head as she sings forth and no doubt one of those verses was from Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64 that probably most of us know much better from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that says, “…what no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” You see, our God is a promise keeper. Our God is a promise keeper. He has kept his promises. He kept his promise to Abraham— that he would provide an heir for him. God kept his promise that he would rescue his people from slavery in Israel; and God kept his promise that he would provide a king for David’s throne. That’s what he is doing in Mary’s midst. Mary is the first-hand witness of God fulfilling his promises. God is doing great things. He is doing great things in Mary’s presence and he will continue to do great things from generation to generation. We have confidence in a God who can and does and will build a song of joy into our hearts just as he did into Mary’s. For God’s promise is that he will not abandon his people. He will be our God and he will provide a way where there is no way—and that way is Jesus. We are fellow heirs of the promises that God makes to his people. Because of Christ, we are the inheritance of God’s promises. We inherit those.
God keeps his promise for all who follow Christ that we might have a life of joy. We might become heirs of all that God has in mind for us. And to that I say, as we sang, “Joy! Joy! Joy!” For we have no idea what awaits us. We have no idea; but as we begin to try to get our heads around it, our hearts swell with joy just as Mary’s did. So I invite you to embrace the promises of God, as a child of God; and as you do, you will have joy overflowing.
“I have everything I need for joy,” Robert Reid said. His hands were twisted, his feet were useless. He couldn’t bathe himself. He couldn’t feed himself. Can’t brush his teeth or comb his hair or even put on his underwear. Velcro strips hold his shirt on and his speech drags out like a worn out audio cassette. You see Robert Reid has cerebral palsy and the disease has not allowed him ever to drive a car or to ride a bike or even to just take a walk. But his disease didn’t keep him from graduating from high school. It didn’t keep him from going to Abilene Christian University where he graduated with a degree in Latin. You see, cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at St. Louis Junior College. It didn’t keep him from going on five overseas missions. Robert’s disease didn’t keep him from becoming a missionary in Portugal. In 1972 he left on his own to go to Lisbon. When he got there he rented a hotel room and started studying Portuguese. Not long after that he found a restaurant owner that would feed him after the lunch hour. He found someone to help tutor him in his Portuguese. After that he stationed himself in one of the local parks and he distributed brochures of Christ and within six years he led seventy people to the Lord, one of which became his wife, Rosa.
Max Lucado tells a story and he says, “I once heard Robert speak and I watched the men as they carried him in his wheel chair onto the platform. I watched as they put the Bible in his lap and then I watched as he took his stiff fingers and he opened the pages and he made his way through the pages to where he wanted to read.” He said, “I also watched the people in the audience cry tears of admiration for Robert, as well. And Robert could ask for all the sympathy, all the pity in the world; but he did just the opposite. He held up his bent hand in the air and said, ‘I have everything I need for joy.’” We do too. We have everything we need for joy. So in this Christmas season, let your heart be filled with that joy that we might sing out the way that Mary did. That joy starts at this table right here. That is where we want to go now. Let me pray for us.
Lord God, thank you. Thank you that you are a source of our joy. You are the one that gives us joy unending. Lord we ask that you would allow us to be filled with that joy for you have given so much. Let our hearts swell with that. We ask it because of our Savior who allows us to become children of the Most High, Jesus. Amen.