As a protestant, I’ve always felt a natural aversion to the song of Mary as leaning towards Roman idolatry. When she sings “from now on all generations will call me blessed,” it disturbed me and challenged me. How should I understand this phrase, when there are millions of Catholic believers around the world that interpret this as confirmation of a position I disagree with? The easy answer is to just shrug and flip the page. In fact, if I weren’t committed to a five-ish year journey of commenting on the whole New Testament, my temptation to do this very thing on this pass through Luke. On closer inspection, I’ve fallen in love with this poem. It rightly finds its place repeated among the Odes of the Septuagint as a song that should be sung by all believers.
Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
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.”
—Luke 1:46–55 (ESV)
1. Abraham’s Promise Fulfilled in Mary and Me
As with many pieces of Biblical poetry, the keys for unlocking the layered intent of the author lies at the end, where the climax is reached with the clearest statement of intent. Skipping to there we discover that Mary’s song is not about honoring Mary, but verse55 reveals that this is about the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham.
12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” — Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV)
15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. — Genesis 15:5–6 (ESV)
17:5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. — Genesis 17:5–7 (ESV)
In this context, “from now on all generations will call me blessed,” is not a statement about Mary herself, but a declaration for all that call Abraham the father of their faith. This song is a declaration for every believer in Christ in the style of some worship songs and hymns that proclaim “I am blessed,” I am loved,” or the “You do all things well, just look at our lives” boasting of the old Kevin Prosch song His Banner Over Me. With the centrality of the Abrahamic blessing now clear, the seven separate phrases in Mary’s song referring to the generational nature of the blessing reinforce that this is a song of the fulfillment of Genesis 12, Genesis 15, and Genesis 17.
2. The Suffering Servant, Israel and Christ
However, this song is not just about a fulfillment of Abraham’s promise. The singer refers to their state as humiliated. The word for the humble state, is one of destitution. The one who has been abused and pillaged and plundered. Mary’s song is also about the conditions of Israel (c.f. verse 54) in the first century under Roman rule even as much as it is about the young virgin who finds herself pregnant before marriage. It is the nation of Israel in the first-person, decrying their shame and declaring the inauguration of their mighty saviour so that from now on all generations will call her blessed.
Another clear referent of the humiliation through the repeated theme of the “first-person” voice of the song as a suffering servant of verse 48 and 54 is the messianic promises of Isaiah 53.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
—Isaiah 53:11–12 (ESV)
So this song is the prophetic voice expressing words from the mouth of the Christ. This song draws together the threads of Isaiah’s suffering servant with the fulfillment of Abraham’s promise as can be expected of the Pauline companion Luke, so that the one who will be called blessed by all generations is also Jesus, our Lord, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the same and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
3. Summary
In this way, the first-person singing this song echoes multiple voices joined together in harmony. Yes, Mary, but also the first-century Jewish believer that saw the inauguration of a new kind of kingdom, the messiah, and the Christian of today all join in chorus to say: “my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit praises God my saviour, for he has looked upon the humble state of his servant and from now on all generations will call me blessed because of the mighty deeds he has done for me.”
Reference: Observations on the Greek Structure of the Magnificat
