The Lodestar

Mary’s song recorded in Luke 1:46—55 is called the Magnificat, after its first word in the Latin Vulgate text: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum,” meaning “My soul magnifies the Lord. It is the song that the mother of Jesus sang, glorifying God for blessing her to be the bearer of the Godchild.

Mary knew that, though she did not belong to an aristocratic family, she would give birth to the King of the world. Despite her low social status, this is enviable. She is a working-class woman, known as a carpenter’s wife, from the downtrodden village of Nazareth in Galilee.

If God chose a princess to lend her womb for him to be born, it would have been easier for him. His birth would give him royal authority, respect, and influence. The Pharisees would never have questioned his teaching authority, nor would the Sadducees dare to stand up to him.

But if he had chosen that, no leper could come near him. He would not have walked the dusty road to Jericho to meet Zacchaeus to transform him, or met the blind Bartimaeus to heal him. When he met the hungry crowd, he could have just ordered the Department of Civil Supplies to feed the hungry instead of receiving the five loaves and two fish from the poor boy.

But he chose a humble woman to identify with the poorest, the needy, and to comfort the bereaved. He came to the world to serve the sick, the poor, and the needy; the way for that was to be conceived in the womb of a humble, poor, despised woman.

Mary is unique, not by virtue, but by divine choice and her obedience to the holy will. Her poverty was God’s opportunity, and as the most ordinary woman, she became blessed over all the rich women who ever lived.

(To receive this devotional daily in your WhatsApp, click here.)