Christmas Playlist. 1: Mary's Song – What is God like?

Four songs that bring you to the heart of Christmas

1: Mary's Song – What is God like?

This Advent in our weekly sheets we're going to be looking at the four songs of the first Christmas, which were heard before, during and after the birth of the baby who lies at the heart of the real Christmas. The reflection will be adapted from Alistair Begg's book, 'Christmas Playlist' (buy it here. This week we're looking at Mary's Song – What is God like?

After discovering she is pregnant, Mary goes to the home of Zechariah and her relative, Elizabeth. While she is there, Mary breaks out into song, the first Christmas song in history (Luke 1:46-55), also known as the Magnificat. This is a song not about herself but about God and she describes God using two words: mindful (nothing to do with the Buddhist-based practice of mindfulness) and mighty.

Mary sings that God has been mindful of her even though she seems to be insignificant (v48). She glorifies – focuses on the greatness of – the Lord because although she may be very little in the eyes of the world, she is valuable in the eyes of the One who made the world. Mary also rejoices that God has been mindful of his people, Israel. Around 2,000 years before Mary sang, the God about whom she sang had made great promises to Abraham saying that his descendants would become a great nation who would be a blessing to all nations. Throughout the Old Testament, God reminded Abraham's descendants again and again that he remembered them and would keep his promises. He said he would do this through a son and Mary recognised that it was her son that was the sign that God had remembered his people and would fulfil his promises to them. Here is the God of Christmas, of history. He is a God who knows you, and he cares about you, and he makes promises to you, and he acts to help you.

Secondly, Mary sings that God is mighty, mightier than all the rulers of the earth. But he sometimes also uses his power to take away from us the things that make us think that we are mightier than we truly are, and that make us forget the God who is mightier than we are. He scatters the proud so that they can become humble. And then he lifts them up. He helps those who are humble enough to say I don't actually have it all together. I don't have all my questions answered. I have struggles that I need help with.

So what do you think about when you think about God? Mary might well have answered that question God is mindful of us and more mighty than us. And the truth that God is both all-caring and all-powerful made her heart “rejoice” - and it's a truth that causes hearts to rejoice still today.