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Sunday School Lesson
The Affirmation Of The Promise (Luke 1:39-56)
loud voice. She referred to Mary as the mother of my Lord. Elizabeth blessed Mary. She “spoke well of her” (eulogeo) and “congratu- lated” her (makarios) on helping bring about the promise of the Messiah. Eliz- abeth understood that she had been favored by Mary’s coming. Verse 45 makes it clear that even though Eliza- beth blessed Mary, she real- ized that God was the hero of the story by fulfilling his promise.
Mary also recognized her blessings. Her heart was full as she gave her Magnificat (Latin for “magnify”). In powerful poetry and in word- ing that draws a bead on many Old Testament con- cepts, Mary glorifies the Lord and rejoices in God. Her whole being was caught up in this divinely inspired mo- ment. Notice the parallelism between her soul and her spirit. Mary recognized that she was just God’s humble servant, but she also realized that she would receive some
recognition for what God was doing in her life. He, after all, is the Mighty One and holy is his name.
Glorifying God Luke 1:50-56
Mary knew that she had been blessed beyond meas- ure, and four verses under- line that fact (46-49). However, six verses are not about Mary at all; they are about God (50-55). Mary glo- rified God for eight things which are rich in their Old Testament allusions to God’s deeds and sound very similar to Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.
First, Mary glorified God for his mercy. This is espe- cially important when we feel helpless. Mary noted that God extends this to those who fear him, from genera- tion to generation. She closed her Magnificat with a similar wording about God’s merci- ful promise to Abraham and his descendants forever. Sec- ond, she recognized that God had performed mighty deeds with his arm. Arm is a sym-
bol of his power. Third, God had scattered those who are proud. These were people who had an elevated view of themselves. Fourth, the per- fect candidates for this arro- gance were the rulers which God would bring down.
Fifth, in contrast to the ar- rogant rulers, God would lift up the humble (those who are lowly of mind). Sixth, God would fill the hungry with good things. He has al- ways had a heart for the poor. Seventh, in contrast to the hungry, God would send the rich away empty. God’s econ- omy is different from ours (Luke 16:19-31). Finally, God would help his servant Israel.
God’s mercy is the quality that gives rise to his deeds. These deeds look backward to the miracles in Egypt and forward to the wonders of Jesus. God gave Mary and Elizabeth three months to- gether to dwell upon the af- firmation of his promise through the babies in their respective wombs.
Few things feel as good as affirmation. What could be more significant than “mak- ing firm” the promise of the Messiah? In our lesson today Elizabeth affirmed Mary, and Mary magnified God.
Blessing Mary Luke 1:39-49
The story line in this week’s lesson picks up from last week. Mary embraced God’s plan for her life, and then Gabriel departed. Then Mary departed. Excitement no doubt motivated her to go with haste to the south from Nazareth. Zechariah and Elizabeth lived in Judea (and according to tradition, prob-
ably fairly close to Jerusalem). When Mary ar- rived and greeted Elizabeth, three things suddenly hap- pened: 1—John the Baptist leaped (skipped) in Eliza- beth’s womb; it’s mentioned twice in our text, and the tim- ing of the skip is probably the significant part. 2—Elizabeth spoke by divine inspiration (she was filled with the Holy Spirit). 3—Elizabeth affirmed Mary as the mother of “her” Lord.
Elizabeth blessed Mary. In fact, she pulled out all the stops. Elizabeth used both major words for blessing, and she blessed Mary in a
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