NATIVITY By Mike Herron

and child. Elizabeth speaks by a revelatory gift of the Holy Spirit when she calls Mary’s baby her Lord, (Kurios). Up until this point in history this title was reserved for Yahweh alone. From this time onward His Son Jesus Christ will share the honor. Mary was commended for her faith-filled response to God’s declarations.

46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. Mary uses the Hebrew technique of parallelism where two lines of poetry enhance the meaning of each other. Her soul, the immaterial part of her that responds to natural surroundings, begins to magnify God. Her spirit, the immaterial part of her that responds to God, begins rejoicing. This Greek word (aggiliao) means ‘ great joy and gladness, involving verbal expression and appropriate body movement‘ 5 much like Miriam’s joyful song and dance at the Red Sea. Her lyrics reveal her rich knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. God my Savior… is the key to this song of salvation. Mary’s exaltation from her low estate is a picture of God’s favor to the Israelite nation. ‘God has looked upon me poor, despised, lowly maid, where he could easily have found a rich, high, noble, mighty queen, a daughter of princes and great lords; so he might have found Anna’s and Caiaphas’ daughter who were the highest in the country, but upon me he has cast his pure, good eyes and used such a lowly, despised maid…’ 6

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