The Song

Mary’s song of praise in response to the confirmation that God had just given her is called, in some Christian traditions, The Magnificat. This comes from the song’s opening word in the Vulgate (Latin) translation of the Bible – Magnificat, which means ‘glorifies’. It’s a song that is a mix of psalm and prophecy, and it reflects the profound, humble, faith-filled, God-centred approach of Mary’s life.

Just look again at what she says about God – that He is the Lord, Saviour, the Mighty One, the Holy One, whose very nature is to be gracious and merciful, and who does amazing things for His people. This is all about God, not her – so let’s ensure we don’t take her prayer and make it more about her than Him!

But as well as her praise, there is a profound sense that the promises of old were about to be fulfilled. From Luke 1:51, there is a change in the tense of the verbs that Mary uses as she begins to declare the mighty acts of God. She starts to speak now in the past tense, as though these things had actually already happened; but in fact, through the Holy Spirit, she is looking ahead to what Jesus will do in the future. But so convinced is she of the future in Jesus, that she puts it into the past tense as though it were already done.

If God loved us enough to come into this world in person at that first Christmas time, then we too can be confident in all His promises towards us and sing our own song of gratitude to Him. More than that, we can speak those promises into being, by faith, as though they had already happened!