And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy. His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors.
Luke 1:46-55

Dear God, it’s been right at nine years that my wife and I have been going to a Catholic church, and while I am still not Catholic, I have read the Magnificat many many times. But I don’t know that I’ve ever really taken these words that are attributed to Mary and looked at them from her perspective. What were the experiences and emotions that propelled these words out of her mouth? What insights was she having with you that we now get to see 2,000 years later?

To set the context, Mary has just arrived at Elizabeth’s after finding out she is pregnant. We don’t know if she has told anyone else yet. We don’t know if anyone knows. But when she walked in the door, Elizabeth gave her all of the affirmation she needed, and Mary just seems to explode with these words.

• My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior: This is just flat out worship. Recognizing who you are first and foremost. Her soul magnifies you and her spirit rejoices in you.
• Because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant: She is in awe of you noticing her and counting her as worthy of this honor. She has probably always felt like her life would be limited and humble from beginning to end.
• Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy: She’s already had some time since Gabriel visited, perhaps on her journey, to think about her place in history. If what he said is true, then she will be known as the mother of the Messiah for eternity. She had no idea how this would play out, but in her mind she was aware enough to know that this would elevate her to a place in history that women of the time simply never would achieve.
• His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him: She knows a savior is coming. Like Zechariah, she probably has the wrong idea about what that savior will look like, but she knows that those who hear you are within your mercy through the generations.
• He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly: Again, she probably thinks Jesus is coming to topple Rome. She likely thinks her new baby will bring about Israel’s freedom from the rule of Rome or any other country. The new paradigm that Jesus will bring probably never occurred to her.
• He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty: I would imagine when you are poor and oppressed there are two main things that hit your radar: hunger and shelter. In her mind, this seems to be an outreach to the poor as well. After all, she is poor. Will the Messiah lift up and provide for the poor as well? Will he topple the wealthy? That seems to make sense to her, but that’s not necessarily the way you work.
• He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors: She thinks revolution is coming. Just like Zechariah doesn’t have it completely right, Mary doesn’t yet appreciate that Jesus came for the gentiles too.

Father, what I see here is a young woman figuring things out much like the rest of us do. She is worshiping you, but without perfect knowledge. But that’s okay. You’ll take it anyway because you know her heart is pure in it. She will learn over the years. She will become disillusioned much like I have. And I still have a long way to go. I don’t understand what you are doing in my life or the lives of my wife and children. But I’m here to worship you. I give you my worship and my praise.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen