Mary
said, “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has looked at the humble state of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty. He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy, As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.”
Luke 1:46-55
Luke 1 [39.] Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She called out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy! Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”
Luke 1 [46.] Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord.
My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
for he has looked at the humble state of his servant.
For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
Luke 1 [50.] His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty.
He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,
As he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and his offspring forever.”
Luke 1 [56.] Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house. Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of the father. His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”
Meaning:
Elizabeth had blessed Mary as the mother of her Lord and praised her faith (Luke 1:39-45). Mary answered with a song of praise, traditionally called the Magnificat from its first word in Latin. It is full of the language of the Old Testament, especially the song of Hannah, who rejoiced when God gave her a son, Samuel: “My heart exults in Yahweh!” (1 Samuel 2:1). Mary was a young woman from a small village, yet she knew the Scriptures well, and she saw her own story as part of God’s great plan for Israel.
- “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”
To magnify the Lord is to declare his greatness. Mary’s praise comes from the depth of her being, her soul and spirit. She calls God “my Savior.” Mary, like everyone else, needed a Saviour, and she rejoiced that God had come to save.
- “he has looked at the humble state of his servant”
Mary was poor and unknown. She called herself “the servant of the Lord” (Luke 1:38). God noticed her. The song celebrates a God who looks with favour on the lowly. Because of what God did, “all generations will call me blessed.” She is blessed not for her own greatness but because “he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.” The psalm says of God, “His name is holy and awesome!” (Psalm 111:9).
- “His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him”
Mary moves from her own experience to God’s dealings with all his people. His mercy does not run out. The psalmist wrote, “Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him” (Psalm 103:17). To fear God is to honour, trust and obey him.
- “He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly.”
The song describes a great reversal. God scatters the proud, brings down rulers, fills the hungry and sends the rich away empty. Hannah sang the same truth: “Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up” and “He raises up the poor out of the dust” (1 Samuel 2:7-8). Mary speaks of these things as already done, because in sending his Son God had begun to fulfil them. Jesus would later say, “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled” (Luke 6:21). James sums it up: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
- “He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy”
The song ends with God’s faithfulness to his covenant. He had promised Abraham that through his offspring all nations would be blessed. The prophet Micah said, “You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old” (Micah 7:20). Mary saw her child as the fulfilment of that promise.
The Significance of Luke 1:46-55
- Praise that begins with God
Mary’s song is not about herself but about God: his greatness, holiness, mercy, power and faithfulness. True worship looks away from ourselves to who God is and what he has done.
- God’s upside-down Kingdom
The world honours the proud, the powerful and the rich. God lifts up the humble and the hungry. The song warns those who trust in power and wealth and encourages those who feel small and overlooked.
Cross-References:
1 Samuel 2:1: "My heart exults in Yahweh!" Hannah’s song, which Mary’s song echoes.
Psalm 103:17: "Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him," mercy for generations.
James 4:6: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." The reversal Mary sings about.
Micah 7:20: "mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old." God’s covenant faithfulness.
Conclusion: Mary praised God her Saviour for looking on her humble state and doing great things for her. She celebrated his holy name and his mercy to all who fear him, and she rejoiced that he brings down the proud and mighty and lifts up the lowly and hungry. Her song ends with God keeping his promise of mercy to Abraham and his offspring forever.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible