Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Friday after the Last Sunday after Trinity Sunday

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. Luke 1:46-55 (NKJV)

1:46 And Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, 55 as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.”

Devotion

This poor, ordinary girl was profoundly joyous over being chosen to be God’s servant. She rightly acknowledges in this song that she sings that God has had mercy upon His people time and again in the past: the Passover, the Exodus, the return from Babylon, and now He would perform a great and merciful act for His people through her.

As God’s presence was with His people in the tabernacle in the desert in the Old Testament, now God’s presence would be in the tabernacle of her womb. The God whom Mary called “my Savior” would now be within her. And the presence of that saving God within Mary’s womb would bring joy to the world as He brought joy to John the Baptist as he was in his Elizabeth’s womb.

God is with us; Jesus Christ is Immanuel. The girl who bore Him was the mother of God. That title is right and necessary. Mary was not just the mother of a human boy which God the Father adopted. The One within her was God from the very start. And so she must be called “the Mother of God.” As she received the Lord into her body, similarly we receive the Lord into our bodies through the Supper. Our Lord is within us, saving us and giving us eternal life.

The Virgin Mary is such a beautiful example to us of faithfulness to God. Have we been remiss in honoring her? Have we ignored her? Have we failed to call her “blessed”? Let us do so no longer. Let us join our voices with hers and say, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” No more fitting words were ever spoken by a Christian. Mary is truly a blessed example to us all.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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