Magnify: The Song of Mary

December 15th

Magnify: The Song Of Mary

 

We think our eyes are the part of us that see, but actually they’re the part that see in part.

Just because the image of something is reflected onto our retina, it doesn’t mean we see it clearly. Our soul is also a lens this image passes through, and how it can skew and fog our vision and blur and blind our heart. Our souls see what they are conditioned to see, and everything before us is framed by a way of seeing: lenses of tiredness, hurry, stress, fear, prejudice. We feel to see and so often fail to see. Fail to see ourselves as we truly are. Fail to see the world as it clearly is. And fail to see God. With us.

This teenage girl, these words she breathes into the air this day…

“My soul magnifies the Lord…”

Luke 1:46 (NKJV)

…She wore a lens which helped her see.

God.

The son Mary carries within her womb, when He eventually begins His ministry in Israel, in one of His earliest and most defining moments will teach- ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God’ (Matthew 5:8).

Blessed are you when your heart is clear as glass, when your soul is not obscuring the sight of your eyes, so you can truly see the face of God, right there. With you.

This first line of Mary’s song, “My soul magnifies the Lord”, helped her write the rest. And helped her see everything else differently: Herself, the world and God at work in the world.

Her words of deep heart-freeing joy in God, shatter the scars and free her eyes to see. Because true sight always begins with singing. With worship. With laughter and a dance.

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”

Luke 1:46-47 NKJ

Magnification.

Magnification is making the small, large and making the invisible, visible and making the obscured, obvious. Because our scarred souls are so adept at blindness. Our stone hearts so easily numb to joy. To Him.

Eyes that magnify, that look to see the small details of God’s presence in a life, see more. More of God.

Mary understood that her soul needed help to see and her seeing started with singing,  with pure worship.

A pure heart is the place where seeing happens. The place of true sight. The place of Hope. A pure heart is not about good behaviour or perfect religious practice. It’s about unburdening the soul of everything else- the mud of all our fear, anxiety and bitterness, by bringing it to God and leaving it there at His feet. So we, unbound are then free to see, to dance, to breathe and to live. With Him. Seeing Him. With us. Seeing Hope. With us.

‘I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people’

Ephesians 1:18

A camera lens captures an image in light so small that the human eye can easily overlook it, the human foot easily trample it down. But when that image is captured and held by light through the camera lens (light forming the image into thousands of multicolour pixels, in the form of a photograph) when that image is transferred onto a computer screen, photo paper or a canvas and made larger in the process- magnified- then we begin to see, in truth, all that it is, all the detail and beauty that were there all along, previously unseen. We begin to see things that were always present, but invisible to our clumsy human sight.

What does it mean for the lens of our souls to magnify the presence of God instead of all our fears? To enlarge the image of God with us, instead of our own whirling thoughts? To capture His glory, instead of being held captive by our anxieties and assumptions?

What if our souls, instead of blinkers, were magnifying lenses, so we could sing like Mary,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.’

Luke 1:46-47 NKJV

Or as the NIV translation reads…

‘‘My soul glorifies the Lord

 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,”

Luke 1:46-47 NIV

…to so focus on God that we see the finest smallest details in His story, His word, so we can catch our breath, like Mary, and breathe in the wonder of who He is; Breath taking, breath giving wonder.

We will always find, when we see the world through the clear lens of God’s presence in it, and the strengthening lens of God’s presence with us, that we see the world and ourselves differently.

In the singing of Her song, beginning with seeing God, Mary begins to see herself and the world around her more clearly.

She begins her song with seeing God…

‘And Mary said:

‘My soul glorifies the Lord

and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,’ Luke 1:47

And then she sees herself through His eyes, and His presence with her…

‘for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,

for the Mighty One has done great things for me –
holy is his name.’

Luke 1:48-49

And then, revelation becomes revolution as she sees the world through God’s presence in it, the presence of this true King establishing His Kingdom of Justice and righteousness on earth…

‘His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.’

Luke 1:50-53

And then she sees the story of her people through His presence in it…

‘He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful

to Abraham and his descendants for ever,
just as he promised our ancestors.’

Luke 54-55

Mary caught a glimpse of God’s heart and her seeing became a singing. The song of God’s intention for justice and righteousness on earth. A song of the upside-down right-way-up nature of the Kingdom of this baby born King.

This world doesn’t need another well written self help book, eloquent politician’s speech or perfectly planned social programme.

What this world truly needs is this song once sung by this insignificant teenager from Nazareth.

A song born within each of us when we look into God’s face. This song we discover at the centre of God’s heart. The song rising up from deep within when we see the world and ourselves through His eyes, finding the hope that has been there for us all along.

Because true sight always begins with singing. With worship.

With laughter and a dance.