Luke 1:50-56 50And his mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. 51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52he has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the humble; 53the hungry he has filled with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, in order to remember his mercy, 55just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 56And Mary remained with her about three months, and she returned to her home.
The next part of Mary’s song of praise focuses and extends God’s grace to others. The subject of all the verbs is God. God was gracious to Mary by choosing her to bear his Son, indicating that she was indeed special. Bug God extends mercy to all generations, not just to her. Mercy () is related to compassion and kindness, especially to those who are poor or in need. God shows mercy through his providential grace to all people and forgiveness to those who seek salvation.
Verse 51 uses the image of God extending his arm. In the Old Testament, the same image was used for God’s salvation of Israel, especially from Egyptian slavery (Exodus 6:1; Deuteronomy 3:24; Psalms 89:13; 118:16). God was about to bring a new and greater form of salvation through Jesus. Both John and Jesus would call people to account and speak of the need to repent and believe. This message would especially be needed by those who were proud in themselves. Pride is the deep human problem that sets us up against God’s sovereignty. Selfishness empowered by the root of sin causes many relational problems.
Verses 52 and 53 follow an ABBA pattern, with the “A” referring to the proud and the “B” referring to the humble. Verse 52 continues the theme of pride by showing God’s response. The parallelism in this verse answers how God scatters the proud: by dethroning the mighty. Those who use their power to abuse and take advantage of others are only in their position because of God’s mercy. God can and sometimes does remove rulers from history. Every leader of every organization, group, and nation should acknowledge God’s sovereignty and supremacy lest he or she be judged and removed through God’s power. God levels the playing field by exalting the humble. God cares for the poor, neglected, and abused who humble themselves before him. Jesus later taught, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
Verse 53 reverses the pattern above by first dealing with those in need who are hungry. God cares for the poor and hungry by providing daily bread. Jesus gave a special blessing to the poor (6:11) and fed the crowds bread and fish when they were hungry (:10-17). God provides not just the basic essentials to survive but gives good things that are pleasant to eat. Those who have all they need and are rich in the world go away from God spiritually empty, like the rich young ruler of 18:18-30. The primary difference between these two scenarios is one’s position before God: humility brings exaltation and blessing; pride brings rejection and emptiness. Mary’s song next focuses in verses 54 and 55 on God’s extension of mercy to Israel. The covenant God made long ago to Abraham that through him all people would be blessed would now be fulfilled.
There is a lot in this story unstated, with many questions leading to only assumptions and guesses. For example, did Mary have any contact with Joseph after her encounter with Gabriel? The storyline implies that the answer is No; she went directly to the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Did Mary see John born? Mary stayed with Elizabeth to about the time Elizabeth gave birth (six months pregnant plus three months stay), although there is no mention at that point that John had been born yet. The following verses imply that John’s birth came right after Mary left. However, by that time, Mary would have started to show signs of her own pregnancy. Luke was not interested in the minor details that curious people might have. His focus was more on the miraculous births of John and Jesus and how these fulfilled God’s plan of salvation for all people. Salvation history was of utmost importance because it involves all who come to God in Christ with humility and faith.
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