Mary of Nazareth, the chosen and lowly mother of Jesus Christ (the Son of the living God) composed a beautiful song to celebrate and commemorate the occasion of Gabriel’s informative visit to her as well as the overwhelming reality that Jesus the Savior was coming soon.
I’d like to analyze a small portion of her beautiful and magnificent song:
Luke 1:51-55 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
People who genuinely believe the reality of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ should live like it. Anytime we hold a belief we are holding to a proposition that we believe is actually true, and if true it is only wise that we shape our lives (to the degree we can control this shaping process) around the reality of the truth.
In these few verses (Lk 1:51-55), we find at least 3 ways in which followers of Jesus can labor by God’s grace to shape our lives with the truth of what Jesus accomplished in his Incarnation:
- Kill Pride (51-52)
- Be Fed (53)
- Find Help (54-55)
Let’s think through how each of these ought to be reality in our lives based on the Incarnational accomplishments of Christ.
Kill Pride
The song of Mary seems to be a reflective mediation on her part regarding the plan and purposes of the sovereign God of the universe. Apparently Mary took some time, after she had been informed of her coming baby and the way in which he was conceived, to reflect and write down the wonder of what was taking place in her life and in the world.
As she does this she remarks of God that, “He has shown strength with his arm.” God is powerful, strong, and mighty beyond human attempts at description. Mary recognized this even as (perhaps) the baby within her womb kicked as babies do. The plan to save guilty, rebellious, turncoat sinners through the death of the eternal Son of God is a plan that only our mighty God could have brought to fulfillment.
Since God is Almighty and powerful, and this power is demonstrate clearly in the incarnational accomplishments of Jesus Christ, then people should see this and be willing to humble ourselves in his sight. He “scatters the proud in the thoughts of their heart.” There is no standing in his presence. It is the high point of insanity and irrationality to think that a human being has the chance of opposing God with success. Pride is the chief mark of rebellion and God, in his great strength and purposes, takes prideful people and scatters them as chaff in the wind.
Christmas Pride
It is amazing how Christmas time ironically draws out the poisonous pride in people. “Look at how much people love me! See all the gifts they bought for me! I must be something special!” Or “Wow, look at how much money I have and generosity I have. I buy the best gifts for others and they appreciate me so much!” Or “Can you believe those pathetic lights on that house? Ours are much more sophisticated and upper class.”
These are just a few of the millions of manifestations of rebellious, self-centered pride that comes venomously seeping from our “thoughts” and into our speech. Furthermore, if you think (even for a moment) that you are free from the sin of pride, no more prideful thought could go through your mind than that one.
But one of the major incarnational accomplishments of Jesus was to bring together eternal power and lowly humility. As he lay in the manger, the most awesome power in existence was in the form of a helpless baby who was unable to do the most simple of tasks for himself. Paul reflects on this conjunction of power and humility when he writes:
Philippians 2:6-7 [Jesus Christ], who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Having done this he has also killed all pride within the lives of his followers. How can we (smaller than the trees as we are) ever be comfortable with an arrogant, haughty attitude when our Savior demonstrated this kind of humility to rescue us from sin? We must kill pride. But how do we do it? Here are a few suggestions:
- Pray on your knees
- Be generous with money
- Never judge others (Mt 7:1 – does not mean be gullible but does kill our pride. Obviously, this passage needs to be understood well before applied)
- Cultivate a thankful heart
These are just a few of the ways you can consistently kill pride in the thoughts of your heart and live in light of the incarnational accomplishment of Jesus Christ.
Be Fed
As Mary continued to ponder the power of God in the Incarnation of his Son, she also reflected on the goodness of God to fill “the hungry with good things.” The prideful and rich are sent away empty, but those whose stomachs’ ache with emptiness will be satisfied with the richness and love of God.
With the same power he scatters the pride he also fulfills the poor and hungry. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is a vivid reminder that spiritual nourishment and food is readily available to those called to enjoy it.
In Matthew 5, Jesus makes a Kingdom declaration regarding his intentions in the lives of those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” stating they will be blessed. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are not the “good people” (like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day) of the world who have it all together. Nor are they the ones striving to be good. No, in context these people are those who broken, mourning, poor, and spiritually lacking. These people are truly hungry! They lack and need righteousness in their lives. Our Lord Jesus delcares to these that food is readily available.
The Hungry Eat Best
After all, it is the hungry who know how to eat the best. People who are always full of food don’t really understand what it means to feel deep hunger that leads to desperation. If a person is held captive for 3 days without food or drink, and is teetering on the brink of death as a result, and finally is brought a plate of ribs, fried okra, baked beans, and potato salad, then that person knows how to eat! The food will be inhaled and not a crumb will remain upon the plate. Desperation eats very Well!
Mary, the mother of Jesus, writes in her song that the mighty God who scatters the proud also fills up the hungry with good things. Perhaps when she composed that song she did not realize that in approximately 3 decades, she would witness the most excruciating event imaginable when her son would become the broken bread and spilled wine. She witnesses his very body being torn to pieces that God’s people might eat and live:
John 6:53-55 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
How do we live in light on the incarnational accomplishments of Jesus Christ? We eat. To do anything else is dishonoring to him and his mission. To say, “I’m full, I don’t need to eat,” is to shun the only hope any of us have for life. To harken back to the previous point, refusing the bread and wine of the body of Christ is pure human pride and rebellion. To eat is to say, “I’m needy.” To eat is to say, “I’m poor.” There is no place for pride here.
Find Help
So far we have seen that we should kill pride and be fed as ways of living in light of the incarnational accomplishments of Jesus Christ. He scatters the proud and he feeds the hungry.
As Mary continued to reflect on the accomplishments of Almighty God in the Incarnation she also concluded that people can truly find help in him. “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,” she sings.
As followers of Jesus Christ, living in light of his rescue mission for us, we should always and only run to him for help. Where else should we go? God alone has the words of eternal life!
It is important for us to understand that this help offered by God to his people is not merely theoretical, make-you-feel-better help. No, it is powerful, how-to-live-life help that actually allows us to live life the way he designed it to be lived.
Do you need help raising your children? The Lord helps his servants with parenthood. Do you need help with your marriage? The Lord helps his servants learn how to love their wives and respect their husbands. Do you need help dealing with your co-workers? The Lord helps his servants learn how to be missional at their places of work. Do you need help handling your finances with wisdom? The Lord helps his servants be wise not only with their money but with all their resources, teaching them how to glorify God with everything they have and everything they are.
It must be understood that all this help from God is freely given because of his grace and mercy. He sees us flounder in our sin, making horrible decisions, and facing the consequences in our lives of our decisions, and he mercifully gives us help. He teaches us in his word how to live life successfully (as he defines success) and he provides us with the Holy Spirit to illuminate his word to us and wake us up to its power. All this help is given by his mercy.
It must also be understood that God gives us an even greater kind of help than the how-to-live-life help. He gives us the prior-needed salvation (repentance and faith) which causes us to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. He helps us live and teaches us how to live.
CONCLUSION
Christmas is a holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, son of God, son of Mary. This amazing Savior accomplished so much in his Incarnation. As his followers we must strive to live in light of his incarnational accomplishments. To do this we must kill pride, be fed, and find help.
May we pray for the ability to carry out all three of these imperatives. There is no better way to celebrate Christmas than this.
