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The Book of Luke, The Worship of Mary and Elizabeth, Part IV – Lesson 10Luke 1:46- 54, And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Let us pick up where we left off last week in our discussions regarding Mary as an ideal or model disciple.
A disciple is a learner, or a scholar.
The word is found in the Bible only in the Gospels and the book of Acts.
But it is a good Greek word and always means the pupil of someone, in contrast to the master or teacher.
The word disciple has in it the concept of a disciplined one.
One who is bound by the words of another.
In all cases it implies that the person not only accepts the views of the teacher, but that he practices what the teacher teaches.
In the widest sense it refers to those who accept and act upon the teachings of another.
A teacher in the classroom at the end of the term should have disciples in her class.
His or her students by that time should have accepted and are acting upon the teachers teachings.
There were disciples of John the Baptist, disciples of the Pharisees, and of Moses.
But its most common use in the scriptures is to designate the followers of Jesus Christ.
The disciple of Christ today may be described as “one who believes His doctrines, rests upon His sacrifice, imbibes His spirit, and imitates His example.”
We can see in our passage that Mary is the embodiment of a disciple.
Let us consider some of the ways in which Mary provides us with an ideal or a model of discipleship.
(1) Mary is a model disciple in her faith in the word of God, and in her submission to the will of God.
Mary is not a model for disciples in being the mother of the Messiah.
This is something that Christ was clear about and anyone who does not know that does not know the scriptures.
It is true that Elisabeth blessed Mary as the mother of her Lord (1:42), and that future generations will bless her as such also (1:48).
While this is true, the fact that Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, must be kept in its proper place.
Jesus Christ instructed us that being obedient to God’s will and His word are more important than being humanly related to Him.
A disciple is only favored by doing God’s will and no favor comes because of that disciple’s earthly relationships.
Faith pleases God and blessings flow from God in accord with faith, not relationships.
Note the scripture of Mark 3:31-35,
And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto Him,
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
In yet another text we read:
Luke 11:27,28, And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Jesus Christ never placed Mary on a pedestal because she bore him and was careful to make that plain as we have read in the scriptures.
While bearing the Messiah was a distinct privilege for Mary, that for which she is most highly praised is her faith and her obedience.
This is evident in the blessing pronounced by Elisabeth, which subtly contrasts the belief of Mary with the unbelief of Zacharias:
Luke 1:45, And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
From the Amplified Bible: Luke 1:45). “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the Lord” (The essence of faith)
(2) Mary is a model disciple because she knew the scriptures.
We cannot read the “Magnificat” of Mary without realizing that she has drawn deeply from the treasure of her heart and that treasure is from the scriptures of the Old Testament.
Not only does she think biblically, she also expresses herself in biblical terms.
This in itself is a mark of a model disciple; to think Biblically.
When anything comes up during the day do you remember that you are a Christian, a Christ like one!
(3) Mary is a model disciple in her grasp of the grace of God, and in her gratitude toward God for bestowing grace on her.
If there is any one concept which captures the spirit and the essence of God’s dealings with men it is the concept of grace.
Mary’s “Magnificat” reveals the depth of her grasp of God’s grace, which is not only shown to her, but to all the people of God, from generation to generation.
Grace is the essence of true doctrine and the cure to that which is false.
Grace will erase the kinks of your heart and smooth out the falseness that leads you astray.
Concentrate on the grace of God and your doctrine will be right.
As the writer to the Hebrews put it:
Heb. 13:9, Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day were largely legalists, who focused on the letter of the law, but missed God’s grace in it.
This was not so with Mary.
(4) Mary is a model disciple in her grasp of the purposes and promises of God.
Mary’s “Magnificat” focuses on much more than just her own blessing in the bearing of Messiah.
Indeed, she does not just focus on the child, but on the results of the coming of the child who is the Messiah.
We know now that this includes both His first and His second comings.
Mary has a great breadth of understanding.
She looks backward, to the covenants which God has made with Abraham and with His people in the Old Testament.
She looks forward to the ultimate righteousness which will be established when Messiah reigns on the throne of David.
Mary has a good sense of history and a broad grasp of God’s purposes and promises.
She understood the big picture of God’s working.
She had a broader understanding of the law but the scribes and Pharisees worshipped the law.
(5) Mary is a model disciple for we see in her praise an evidence of reflection and meditation on the things of God.
All that we see in these few phrases of praise points to the fact that Mary meditated on the word and on the works of God.
We have further corroboration of this from two other statements made by Luke:
Luke 1:29, But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and cast in her mind (kept revolving in her mind) what kind of salutation this should be.
Luke 2:51, And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these saying in her heart (she treasured all these things in her heart)
Meditation is like tasting delicious food.
Think of food that you want to hold in your mouth long and not swallow it for a while so you can enjoy the taste longer. God’s word should be like that.
When He says Taste and see he means that it should be kept in the heart and tasted as though it were a gourmet meal.
Every part of the word is like that, made to be tasted and tasted and tasted some more.
Mary may not be all that some have held her to be, but she is a magnificent model of discipleship.
She is a woman who grasps the Word of God, who meditates upon it, and who is obedient to it. She is a woman who had a good grasp of what God was doing in history and in society. |