Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : December 21, 2003
The First Great Song of Christmas
4th Sunday of Advent
If you ask a group of teenagers what they look for in music, you will get all kinds of answers. Even if you're talking about one kind of music like rock music, you'll still get someone who likes it because of the beat, another who likes it because of the music, others who like it because of the lyrics, and still others who don't really know what they like about it, but they just like it. They will tell you it's great music for any number of reasons. But who's to say if the songs they are listening to today will be considered great 100 or even 2 years from now? What really makes a song great? Very simply, people simply have to like it, for whatever reason, so they'll want to hear it again and again.
At Christmas time, we like to hear all the great Christmas songs and carols that we haven't heard for a year, like Silent Night and Handel's Messiah. This morning we will hear the very first great song of Christmas: Mary's song. Mary's song is The First Great Song of Christmas because it relates two very important points: that we need to be humble because of our sins, and that God has lifted up the humble because of our Savior.
Usually when we think of great songs, they are upbeat and happy songs. In Handel's Messiah everybody knows the Hallelujah Chorus because it's the most upbeat part of the Messiah. But when you listen to the entire Messiah, some of it isn't very happy at all. Actually, much of it is rather sad because it talks about our sinfulness. But that makes the Hallelujah Chorus all the more joyful. It's like climbing a mountain. The Rocky Mountains don't have many peaks that rise over 14,000 feet. Would that be a great feat to reach the top of one of those mountains? Not necessarily. If you drove your car up to within 50 feet of the top, that wouldn't be very impressive. But if you climbed all the way from 7000 feet, now that would be impressive. And you'd have more to rejoice about when you go to the top.
Mary's song is the same way. But it doesn't rejoice in anything she did. It praises God for everything he has done for Mary and for all people by sending a Savior from sin. But people who can't see what God has done for them won't think this song is very great at all. It only holds meaning for those people who sorrow over their sins. Dr. Martin Luther once said that when the Lord wants to make us happy, he first of all makes us sad; when he wants to make us rich, he first of all make us poor; and when he wants to give us life, he first of all lets us die. What Luther understood so well was also captured by Mary's song. It's the First Great Song of Christmas because it tells us that we need to be humble before God because of our sins.
Let's look at the circumstances Mary was in when she said the words of her song. She talks about those who are humble, those who are hungry, and those who are in trouble and in need of help and mercy. Mary was in real trouble when she spoke these words. Just a few days earlier, the angel Gabriel had come to her in Nazareth and told her that she would have a son. Why would that trouble Mary? Because she wasn't married. Today's society is much more lenient on unwed mothers. In Mary's time, she could have been stoned to death for being an adulteress. You can imagine what the people of Nazareth must have been thinking about Mary and her condition. Even today the Jews say that Mary was guilty of adultery. What disgrace and humility she must have endured!
But that would have been easy to endure compared to the reaction she could expect from Joseph. He was engaged to Mary. What would he think of Mary when she told him, "Joseph, I know you're not going to believe this, but here goes: I'm pregnant, but I'm still a virgin. But it's O.K. because it's God's Son that I'm carrying." What would you have thought if you were Joseph? It was certainly original. I'm sure no one had come up with that excuse for being pregnant out of wedlock before. When he found out, he was going to divorce her because he could only assume that she had been unfaithful. It took an angel to convince Joseph to take Mary home as his wife.
And maybe Mary could even see later on, when Jesus had grown up. When he claimed to be the Messiah, everyone would laugh and scorn him, even his own brothers and sisters. His family would be the laughingstock of all Galilee. Yes, when Mary heard the words of the angel, some very difficult days indeed were ahead of her.
So she decided to visit Elizabeth, her relative. Right when she got there, the unborn baby John leaped in the presence of the unborn baby Jesus, and Elizabeth exclaimed, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" (Luke 1:45) And Mary responded with the words of our text.
With all the pressures and troubles weighing on Mary, we could understand if she started in on all those things that she faced. She could have complained about the circumstances she was in and the hard life that awaited her. But instead, she speaks with great joy. Mary's joy was so great because she realized her position in the grand scheme of things. She was a sinner. She would have gone to hell if God didn't do something about it. What joy she must have felt to know that she would be alive to witness the coming of the Savior! What joy she must have felt to know that she was hand-picked by God to be the mother of the Savior! But her song doesn't focus on that -- her song focuses on the joy that was hers because of what God would do for her as her Savior.
Mary was humble before God because she realized her desperate need of a Savior. And now she was privileged to be the instrument through with God would bring that Savior into the world. That's what filled her with joy. That's what made her song great. We also will never be able to see how great Mary's song of joy was unless we are ready to humble ourselves before God because of our sins. We will never know what the birth of the Christ-child really means until we are ashamed of what we are. How ashamed would you be if every person in this room could see all the wicked thoughts you have ever thought, every wicked word you have ever said, every wicked thing you have ever done? You would be ashamed, wouldn't you? Just think how ashamed before God you would be, and how ashamed of you he would be. Of course, God already knows everything you've done wrong -- every last thing. Things that you hide from your friends, family, even your spouse -- all are laid bare before God before whom we must give an account. That's why we need to humble ourselves, because we have nothing to offer him for our sinful, selfish lives. We can only beg for his mercy.
If someone could characterize your life in one word, do you think they would choose the word humble, or something close to it? Repentant is basically a synonym. When we come to God as repentant, humble sinners, then we see that God has lifted up the humble because of our Savior. Only in our humility over our sins are we ready to see what Mary saw in the child she bore. He is, first of all, a mighty Savior. Mary says, "For the Mighty One has done great things for me." Mary didn't see how she could have a son when the angel visited her. According to the science of the age, such a thing was impossible. But the angel had reassured her that "Nothing is impossible with God." God did the impossible for Mary, and he also did it for you and me. We were going to hell because of our sins as surely as falling off a mountain with no climbing gear and no net. But God was the one who snatched us from that fall to our eternal doom, and has transported us to the foot of a manger where we can gaze upon the child who would live a life of perfect humility before God. Where our arrogance failed, Jesus' humbleness succeeded. Where our selfishness kept us from God's presence, Jesus' selflessness opened our access to God's presence. Where we only earned eternal damnation, Jesus earned eternal life. Certainly Jesus is our mighty Savior. Only God could have done that.
But not only is he our mighty Savior, he is also a merciful Savior. Mary rejoiced, "His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation." God had to be merciful, or else we would have been lost. And that mercy he dispenses freely in the Son he gave into death so we would live. As Paul said to the Ephesians, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." (Ephesians 1:7-8) We can never understand how God could love us so much that he would die for us. Yet that is exactly what he did, so that those who believe in him "will not perish but have eternal life."
We have so many examples of how God's mercy has extended to sinners throughout the Bible. Adam cast God's perfect creation into sin, yet God immediately promised a Savior. God saved Noah and his family to keep that promise alive. God kept that promise when he sent his Son. Even the Apostle Paul who loved to see Christians hurt and killed was changed by God into one of the greatest missionaries the Church has ever known. He has been merciful to us in our generation as well.
And once God has lifted you off your knees to see your Savior, now you are empowered to serve him. God used many men and women of high standing and prestige -- David was a king, Joseph and Daniel were high in government positions. But David started as a humble shepherd until God lifted him up. Joseph and Daniel were slaves and prisoners until God lifted them up. Amos the prophet was a fig farmer. The apostles were unschooled, ordinary men. All were humble through faith and repentance. All were forgiven by God's grace in Christ Jesus. All were lifted up to do great things for their God who had done great things for them. And also Mary was humble because of her sins and lifted up because of her Savior. Her life was not easy or perfect. But she was forgiven, and that's all that mattered to her.
God has given you every reason to sing for joy -- he has lifted you up through faith in Jesus. Now what kind of song can you sing because of what the Lord has done for you?
