“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord … “ (Luke 1:46)
The two accounts of Christmas in Matthew and Luke each has a different personality. In Matthew, I see an author who loves to cite his references, with the zeal of an accountant, or a former tax collector, I suppose. Matthew starts with a genealogy ordered in three groups of 14, practically a spreadsheet of Jesus’s ancestors, including Kings Ahaz and Hezekiah. Matthew quotes Isaiah nine times, including Isaiah 7:14 at Christmastime. His tale contains deep emotional color: the irony and humor of bumbling academic stargazers, the tangible glory of their three gifts, and the deep tragedy of the slaughter of the innocents. Matthew seems left-brained in his approach to prophecy, and gets first placement in the canon.
In Luke, on the other hand, the creative right brain reigns supreme. Luke 1-2 is a musical, where everyone’s bursting into song — even if you don’t count the angels in Luke 2 (I mean, technically he doesn’t say they’re singing, but come on, how could they keep from singing?). And Luke’s songs constantly allude to Isaiah. Simeon’s song in Luke 2 quotes Isaiah 42:6 exactly, but Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55 contains subtle echoes of Isaiah integrated into her lyrics, especially of the four names of the third child from Isaiah 9:6.
It seems to me that this young woman, after receiving Gabriel’s message, would seek out Isaiah 7:14, since it’s clearly about her. (It’s a bit like how you look for your face in a group photo, but several times stranger.) Who knows, maybe in a “coincidence” the synagogue reading was exactly the right passage? God works that way.
Then Mary would keep reading, or listening to someone read to her, which was more common in those days (Paul’s letters were probably read aloud multiple times to his churches). Two chapters later, in Isaiah 9, she’d see who her baby son was going to be, even finding four names for him in Isaiah 9:6. I have to imagine that her response in joy would be to compose and sing a song.
This song is full of true wonder, and Mary herself is a wonder. The Greek Orthodox call Mary “Theotokos,” from the Grek “theo-“ meaning God, and “-tokos” meaning carrier, or “God-bearer.” Fr. Stephen Freeman writes, “The very phrase, ‘Mother of God,’ or ‘Theotokos,’ is an impossibility, a contradiction in terms. And yet, it is true.” (glory2godforallthings.com, “The Walls of Paradise – and the Fire of God”) That the God-bearer would be an anonymous teenager is something “wonderful” in the full sense of the term, and she would give birth to the “Wonderful Counselor.”
“Wonderful Counselor”: Mary sees from this that all God’s works are wonderful, and she delights in the surprising inversions, from her low estate to blessedness (Luke 1:48), the mighty brought down (52), the hungry filled and the rich sent away empty (53).
“Mighty God”: Mary names God as the Mighty One (49), who has shown the strength of his arm (51) to lift her up. God is changing the world, through her! Mary is confident that a change is going to come, and it will be God’s doing.
“Everlasting Father”: The duration of the changes are farther than Mary’s eyes can see, through generations of fathers and children. The song closes with a reference to the fathers in general and to the father of fathers, Abraham — “As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.” (55 NKJV) She also declared that her song will be sustained everlastingly, “From generation to generation.” (50) She will be, in a sense, an everlasting mother.
“Prince of Peace”: This is the name least on Mary’s mind. Her song is full of upheavals, not peace. As Simon tells her in Luke 2:35, a sword will pierce her soul. But she knows the ultimate goal is mercy and rejoicing, so though her song is in a militant key, it will lead to peace. Mary knows this is not about some abstract principle of peace, it’s about a person who is Prince of peace, and that person comes and goes as He pleases.
What convinces me most that Mary knew Isaiah well is her song’s first line: Her soul “magnifies” the Lord. She magnifies the Lord because God has magnified His own word repeatedly, not least through Isaiah’s words.
God magnified the meaning of the words of Isaiah so that instead of applying only to King Hezekiah around 700BC, they also applied to her son hundreds of years later. God is magnifying the tiny life inside her womb as she speaks. God works, again and again, by magnifying the humble, like his servant Mary Theotokos. He is likewise humble, always patiently waiting for his servants to say “Let it be to me according to your word.”
(Image credit: 13th-century icon of the Great Panagia from the Saviour Minster in Yaroslavl. Public domain, USA. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oranta.jpg)
