DAILY DEVOTIONAL – December 28, 2020
“Immaculate Immanuel (Advent 2020)”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You alone are the sinless Son of God. We praise You for the glorious mystery of Your love and power that we see revealed to us so humbly in a manger. Amen.
Scripture: Luke 1:46-55
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
Devotional – “Immaculate Immanuel”
The passage we just read is known as the Song of Mary, otherwise known as the Magnificat (Latin for ‘magnify’). It is a song of joy and elation that Mary sang after seeing that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant despite being baren and advanced in years, just as the angel Gabriel told Mary would happen. Mary also rejoiced in what she Elizabeth said to her when she first heard Mary’s voice. Elizabeth said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” – Luke 1:42-45
Mary’s song is filled with so much beautiful content and so much deep theological meaning, I would like to take a the next few daily devotionals to dig into it a bit.
One of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church that has long been controversial, and that is often brought up during the Christmas season, is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception that teaches Mary herself was without original sin from the moment of her own conception. As always, if we turn to Scripture and let it speak for itself, the truth is clear; Mary was not without sin. In fact, as we will see, Mary herself confesses her need for a Savior!
Look again at Mary’s song, focusing on how she describes herself and the Son of God in her womb.
My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
The angel Gabriel declared that Mary was “favored of God” not because she was perfect or worthy, but because she knew well her unworthiness that kept her hopeful and faithful in God’s promises of old; promises that would come to pass in her womb. Later, once her son Jesus was older and grown, about to start His ministry, in an amazing act of humble faith in John chapter 2 at the wedding of Cana, Mary would bow her knee to her son, receive his rebuke, and no longer live as His mother, but worship Him as her God and King.
St. Augustine said, “By exalting yourself you cannot reach up to God, but when you humble yourself, God reaches down to you.”
This is what Mary is and should be praised for. When God reached down to her, when she was confronted with the glory of the Almighty God and Gabriel stood before her, she was troubled and confessed her unworthiness, she fully yielded to the will and Word of God and declared herself to be His servant, and that is exactly what made her worthy of being the mother of our Lord.
Our Lord Jesus was and is 100% God and man, being like us in every way except without sin. As we confess in the Apostles Creed He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary. This is an incredibly important distinction. There is a huge difference between conception and birth. The eternal holiness and righteousness of the Word of God who has existed with God from the beginning has never been dependent on any man or woman, and certainly did not need Mary to be sinless in order to be born sinless Himself. The angel Gabriel made it clear how Christ would be born of sinful mankind yet remain sinless even from the very moment of conception. He said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore (i.e. by the power of the Holy Spirit and NOT Mary) the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
To suggest that Mary had to be perfect in order to conceive the perfect Son of God not only completely ignores the words of the angel Gabriel in Scripture, but also suggests that Mary herself was not in need of saving, that Christ was not the only sinless Son of God, that Christ died on the cross for the whole world except Mary, and would suggest that she was somehow equal in righteousness to the Son of God she bore. This also ignores the clear testimony of Scripture itself about all of humanity, including Mary.
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” – Romans 3:10-12
The hope and beauty of the conception and birth of Christ, is found not in trying to explain away the mystery of the birth of the sinless God-man, but by rejoicing that God’s love, mercy, and power is mightier than sin, and that even now, in your heart and my heart, the Christ child can be conceived in order to give us new birth through faith in Him.
I’ll leave you today with Luther’s words in his commentary on the first verse of Mary’s Song:
Thanks for joining me for another daily devotional in God’s Word, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
