Magnificat Message: God-News!

Luke 1. 46 - 55

And Mary said, I'm bursting with God-news;

I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.

God took one good look at me, and look what happened - I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten,

the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.

His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him.

He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts.

He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud.

The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold.

He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.

It's exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

As I read the gospel this morning and that passage we know as the Magnificat, it occurred to me that those words were probably not exactly what 13 ish year old Mary said! Eugene Peterson's translation of the Bible (above) might be closer to what Mary really said. Also the picture above might be closer to what Mary and Elizabeth looked like as they celebrated each other's pregnancies and as John leapt in Elizabeth's womb at the presence of his cousin Savior. Isn't it a wonderful thought to imagine Mary "bursting with God-news!"