Luke 1:39-55- The Magnificat

Worshippers—that is one of the most fundamental things that we are as human beings.  We are made to worship, we will find our joy and satisfaction in worship, yet because of our sin we are bad at worship, in fact we invert it and seek worship for ourselves.  We must look to the Scriptures and the aid of the Spirit to help us worship correctly. There is a whole book in the Bible, the psalms which help shape our worship.  Luke is considered the first hymnologist of the Church.  Right at the beginning of His gospel we find several songs of praise.  Each has a Latin title based on certain words from the song.  There is Mary’s Magnificat; Zechariah’s Benedictus; the Angel’s Gloria in Excelsius, and Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis.  Some have even suggested that Elizabeth’s Spirit induced declaration v42-45 is another song, but this is more a prophetic declaration than a worship song, especially since the object is Mary and not God.  The Nativity, the time of Jesus conception and birth is such a joyous occasion that songs are used to mark it and signal the joy of those who witnessed it.