In her inspired exclamation of praise commonly referred to as the Magnificat, Mary magnifies the Lord for looking on her humble estate, and granting her favor in the hearts and minds of generations to come. She declared that God has shown strength with his arm, scattering the proud while exalting the lowly and humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. God has remembered his covenant with his people Israel, and with Abraham and his offspring. The faithful God has kept his word and will bring deliverance to his people Israel, to his church, and to his creation forevermore.

Mary stands alongside great heroes of the faith as a model for receptivity to Christ. Mary occupies a completely unique and unrepeatable position in God’s story. She is the only “God-bearer.” Most early theologians saw Genesis 3.15 as involving both Mary and Christ. Failing to properly recognize and honor Mary is just as unbiblical and unchristian as worshiping Mary.

Lord Jesus, help us to say with your mother, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”

“Worship in the New Testament is a comprehensive category describing the Christian’s total existence. It is coextensive with the faith-response wherever and whenever that response is elicited. Consequently, ‘our traditional understanding of worship as restricted to the cultic gathering of the congregation at a designated time and place for rite and proclamation will no longer do. This is not what the New Testament means by worship.’”

~ David G. Peterson, Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992. pp. 18-19

Let God Arise! Seasonal Focus
Emmanuel, God with Us, Matthew 1.18-25

Book Reading
Peterson, Engaging with God