Today we’re looking at the world of the text of Luke 1:46-56. This is Mary’s song of praise called the Magnificat. To better understand this song we need to look a little deeper at Luke’s gospel, and also at Luke himself.

I’m trying something different today.  Today, I’m going to send my video devotional written devotional together as one email.  To watch the video click on it below, or to read, keep reading: 

Luke is a gentle doctor who is also a Christian. Being a gentile Christian puts him in an interesting position in the early church. The fact that he is a Gentile means that he is not fully accepted by many of the Jewish Christians. When you read much of Acts and much of Paul’s, you see that there was a division on what should happen to gentile Christians. Many Jewish Christians did not fully accept them. However, being a Christian also meant that Luke was not fully accepted by Gentiles. Most Gentiles assumed that Christianity was just an offshoot of Judaism. They saw Christianity as just another form of Judaism. So that left Luke as not being accepted by either group, Jews, or Gentiles. He was in many ways an outcast from so many.

You can see this emphasis for Luke when you read his gospel. One of my favorite Bible studies that I’ve ever taught was called disciple Bible study. This year-long class looks in depth at most of the scripture and gives a theme for many of the books. Luke’s gospel is seen as one for the least, the last, and the last period Luke has a special emphasis upon these groups within his Gospel.  Luke gives us the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, or what we call the prodigal son. Luke is always showing how God is seeking the least among us, how God is always seeking out the underdog.

So when we read Mary’s song of praise we see that same thing within it. God is helping the poor, God is lifting up the humble, God is sending away the proud. God is helping those whom others have forgotten or whom others have cast aside. God is always interceding on behalf of the week. Luke’s life story is one of being an outcast but finding his place in Jesus and in the body of Christ. We need to always remember that our greatest home is never in the factions of this world, but our greatest home is always within the body of Christ  

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