Bible Commentary on Luke Archives

Though the Magnificat is sometimes referred to as a Christmas song of Mary, she didn’t actually sing it after Jesus was born, but about nine months before His birth (see Luke 1:39-56).

Regardless, the significance of the song is not when she sang it, but what it is she sang. Here is an except from a sermon I preached on the Magnificat many years ago:

Mary’s song is a beautiful reminder of all that God has done for us and has promised to do for those who follow after Him. It is a new song that burst from the lips of Mary based on what she knew Scripture to say.

This song, for me, seems to end abruptly. All of a sudden, it’s just over. It stops. Maybe Mary drifted off into humming her tune. Maybe Luke didn’t record all of her song. But I think her song ended just as recorded here—with an abrupt stop.

Why? Because her song is not over. This was just the first verse of millions more to come. She sang many more stanzas throughout her life, and the men and women of God throughout time who allow the words of Scripture to penetrate their minds have added many more words to this song.

You can add your own verse too. Your life is a stanza in the greatest song ever written. You are part of a divine symphony. How are you playing your piece?

It’s like the end of the book of Acts. Acts 28 ends without any conclusion. It seems that there should be an Acts 29. And there is. There is no end to Acts, because you and I are continuing to write chapters in that book which records the acts of the Christians in the church. You and I are Acts 29, and 30, and 31 and on and on. It’s similar with Mary’s song. You and I are writing more stanzas.

“It must never be forgotten that whenever Christ has entered into the human heart, a new song has been put into the mouth of the believer. Christianity in the heart means music in the life. A religion without joy is a landscape without the sun. Christianity without the elevation of music is as an eagle with broken wings.”

Mary’s song really is beautiful, and if she actually sang it (the text reports that she “said” it (Luke 1:46), I really wish we had the music as well. This song is full of depth and beauty which reflects the heart and mind of Mary, and shows us why God chose her to be the mother of Jesus.

Click here to the rest of the sermon on Luke 1:46-55, the Song of Mary. Check out these links if you would like to learn about other Scriptures on Christmas or meditations on Mary.

The Troubles of Joseph and Mary

By Jeremy Myers

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One of my favorite passages is Isaiah 28:27-28.

…caraway is beaten with a rod, and cummin with a stick. Grain must be ground to make bread…”

Do you ever feel like the caraway, the cummin, and the grain in this verse?

Do you ever feel like life is beating you with a stick? Like you are being ground to pieces?

Do you ever feel like all the world is against you? Like nothing goes your way? Like even God has turned away from you?

You have financial problems, and health problems, marital problems, family problems, job problems, car problems, and on and on it goes.

Joseph and Mary faced many of these troubles as well, and they had the added pressure of being the parents of the promised Messiah. Imagine that burden!

Yet as they faced their troubles and obeyed God, He sent angels and shepherds and wise men to welcome the birth of their son.

Just as with Mary and Joseph, troubles and trials in life are tools in the hand of God to mold us and shape us and make us into something beyond our imagination. When trials and troubles come into your life, you may feel like you are getting beaten with rods and ground into powder, but as Isaiah 28 says, grain must be ground to make bread.

God is making you into something great. In whatever trials you are facing, ask God these kinds of questions: Say, “Father, what are you trying to teach me in this situation? How can this trial make me more like Jesus Christ? What chaff in my life are you trying to grind out of me? How can this troubling time make me better instead of bitter?”

God wants to change your troubles into trumpets if you will only let him perform His work in you.

(This Christmas meditation is drawn from a sermon on Luke 2:1-20 I preached several years ago when I was a pastor. For more Christmas meditations, see Scriptures on Christmas.)

Murder in Church

By Jeremy Myers

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Do murder and worship mix? I think not.

Yet it happens in churches all across the country every Sunday. People raise their hands to God in worship, while thinking murderous and hateful thoughts about the person in the next pew. And such thoughts, according to Jesus, are the spiritual equivalent to murder.

But this is nothing new.

Luke 6:6-11

In Luke 6:6-11, Jesus asks a question of the religious leaders about one of the big theological issues of the day. The question essentially is this: “On the Sabbath, is it better to save a life or to destroy a life?”

Clearly, the answer is that it is better to save a life, but since work could not be done on the Sabbath, the religious leaders of the day had come up with an answer to help pious Jews figure out whether or not they could help someone on the Sabbath. (I wrote about their answer here.) Jesus was aware of this answer, and purposefully acted contrary to it by healing a man with a withered hand.

According to the theologically-approved answer, Jesus should have waited until the Sabbath was over to heal the man. After all, he apparently had been this way for some time. A few more hours wouldn’t kill him. But Jesus ignores all that, and helps the man anyway. Right in front of all the religious leaders.

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The Primary Problem with Theology

By Jeremy Myers

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The primary problem with theology is that it asks questions. This doesn’t sound like a problem, until you realize the danger of questions.

Don’t get me wrong, I love questions. I think everything should be questioned. But following the theme of Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time to ask questions, and there is a time to shut up and do actions.

Yesterday we looked at a famous theological question from the days of Jesus, and I suggested that Jesus hated the question, especially when the person that the debate was about was standing right in front of Jesus with a need that could be met.

When theology gets in the way of loving others, Jesus throws theology out the window.

But curiously, to make His point, Jesus begins by asking a question. I indicated previously that the reason Jesus asked the question is not because He didn’t know the answer, or because He thought His audience didn’t know the answer.

The reason Jesus asked the question is because He knew the answer, and He hated the answer.

By asking the question, Jesus is saying, “While you religious leaders come up with your theologically correct answer to determine whether or not you can heal on the Sabbath, here is a real, live human being who is hurting and in need of your help, and all you can do is sit there and debate about him like he was a log blocking the road.”

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Theology be Damned

By Jeremy Myers

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In Luke 6:9, Jesus asks a dumb question.

He asks whether on the Sabbath it is better to save a life, or to destroy it.

The answer is easy. It’s better to save a life. Right?

Well, not so fast.

The question Jesus asks was actually a famous theological question in His day. Today, it might be like asking, “Tell me, is hell real or not?” or “Is the atonement limited or not?” or “Is homosexuality a sin or not?”

The question Jesus asked a hot question in the days of Jesus, and the best and brightest Bible scholars of His day had constructed a neat and tidy three-point answer to that question. The Jewish Rabbis taught the following:

1. On the Sabbath, healing to save a life is not only permitted, but a duty. Though it was the Sabbath, Jews are required to perform work if it will save the life of a person who would otherwise die.

2. Caring for the seriously ill is sometimes allowed on the Sabbath, but only under certain restraints and conditions (which the Rabbis go on to explain).

3. Treating minor ailments is prohibited. This is because a minor ailment is not life threatening, and can therefore wait until after the Sabbath is over. Also, treating minor ailments often required the grinding of herbs to prepare medicine, and grinding is one of the prohibited forms of work.

So that was the official answer to the question which Jesus asks.

But then… why does Jesus ask it?

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The Christmas Song of Mary

The Troubles of Joseph and Mary

Murder in Church

Luke 6:6-11

The Primary Problem with Theology

Theology be Damned

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