Ben Fourie

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.“ Luke 1:46-47 (NIV)

In one of his books called ‘Sieners van die More’, the Afrikaans author, IL. De Villiers wrote a beautiful piece about Mary the mother of Jesus. What interested him was what went through her mind after the angel told her that she was to be the mother of the Son of God. Probably speechless and wondering how she was going to explain it to her fiancé, her parents, the extended family and to her religious community. Maybe she tried, said de Villiers: ‘It is God’s own son Joseph. We must rejoice. There really was an angel’, but what is the chance that anybody would belief such an explanation. The Bible tells us that Joseph also found it a farfetched story and decided to break off the engagement.

But Mary knew there was an angel, Mary knew that something out of the ordinary was going on and she made haste to carry out the angel’s instruction to visit her relative Elizabeth who was also pregnant with the baby that was to become John the Baptist. He was the one who was called to pave the way for the Messiah. When these two women got together and realized that God has touched them in a miraculous way, they each sang a song. Mary’s song of praise touches the heart because of the humbleness of her person and the beautiful simplicity of the words.

Right from the beginning Mary is almost invisible in the background while God is in the foreground all the time. Mary praised his greatness, calling Him the Mighty One. He is the one who: “… has filled the hungry with good things”. The only time that she comes into the picture is to praise God for being her Saviour who “has been mindful” of her humble state. Yes she is the mother of the Messiah but when she said that all generations will call her blessed, it is not because she is Mary, but because God “has done great things for me - holy is his name.”

Prayer: Dear Lord help me to give all praise to you. Amen