Magnify and Jubilation

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

MAGNIFY AND JUBILATION  

Luke 1:46-55

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. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

NIV           

This is referred to as the song of Mary and for the sake of space, we have condensed each phrase, otherwise, each one is a single line, as it shows in the scripture. Nevertheless, we may well take each statement separately. First, Mary makes it known that her soul glorifies the Lord, and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior. The Greek word, megalunoo, translated as glorifies is also translated as magnifies. We can see mega which we take to mean really big, or very large, however, in conjunction with lunoo, it means to make great, to see as very great. Would this not be our story also? Should our soul, the seat of my feelings, desires, and affections not speak of the glory of the Lord, to speak of His greatness, His majesty, His power, magnifying Him as the largest there is. When we look at anything with a magnifying lens, we see what we are looking at as larger as well and we see all the details that we cannot see with our naked eyes. Therefore, with our innermost being, we magnify the Lord, making Him the largest person in our lives. There is nothing more important or larger in our lives than the Lord. In addition, Mary said her spirit rejoices in God her Savior. It is interesting the Greek word, agalliaoo means more than to rejoice, but exult, rejoice exceedingly. We needed to amplify this word exult, because it is defined as to feel or show triumphant elation, or jubilation, to be delighted in God our Savior. Of course, there is no perfect comparison to being elated, jubilant, and delighted in God, but when we receive a present from a loved one, we would usually show some elation, or be jubilant and thankful for the thoughtful gift. We have received the perfect and most thoughtful gift from God, who is our Savior. God has gifted us with the forgiveness of all our sins, and given us Jesus Christ as our Savior so that through our faith in Him, we have eternal life. How can we not magnify God our Savoir and live out our days, filled with a constant state of rejoicing, being elated and filled with jubilation? Because both our soul and our spirit are engaged in giving all the praise and honor to God Almighty, our Lord, and Savior, our whole being serves to magnify God, to show Him as larger than life, and reveal all His details because we are His image bearers.