Luke 1:61-63
They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”

The protest of the crowd shows that they are unaware of what God is doing. Surely the father of the house will not sanction this breaking of custom. This wonderful child should be named after his father or a prominent relative.

So they motion to Zechariah to find out what the name of the child should be. The translation “they made signs,” reads as if Zacharias was deaf as well as dumb, however, 1:20 is specific “you will be unable to speak.” Zacharias had heard everything, and all the friends did was to nod and to motion toward him; they may even have spoken to him.

By repeating the name his wife gave, Zechariah echoes the instructions of the angel, not the crowd and custom.

He goes the way of God and amazes his neighbors.

He did not say, as had Elizabeth, the child would be called John, but His name is John.

In the original text John comes first with emphasis, and we should not overlook the force of the present, “is” not “he will be called.”

The angel had already named the boy and Zechariah accepts the name as an accomplished fact.

Have you ever had to hold to the course God determined for you and overrule the counsel of friends or relatives?

In what ways has God’s favor on you caused people to talk?

Luke 1:59-60
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

In observance of the law, when the baby was eight days old, he was circumcised. The circumcision ceremony was an important event for the family of a Jewish baby boy. This ceremony was a time of joy when relatives and friends came to celebrate the baby’s becoming part of God’s covenant nation.

The day of circumcision was also the day when parents would formally announce the child’s name. Family lines and family names were important to the Jews. The people naturally assumed the child would receive Zechariah’s name or at least a family name.

They were surprised Elizabeth wanted to name the boy John. Zechariah had communicated to Elizabeth all the angel had told him, so she knew what the child’s name was to be (1:13).

Zechariah and Elizabeth knew what family and friends did not know; John had been given his name by God and that he had a God-given mission to fulfill.

Conviction
Stubbornness wants its own way at any price. It’s the way of someone who will not listen to a better idea, who acts simply in order to exert the power of their own will.

Conviction is the settled confidence God is leading and you intend to follow, come what may. Conviction isn’t our will against the advice of others; it’s our will surrendered to God’s will.

Elizabeth had the conviction to name her son John.

Elizabeth’s quality in the naming of her son is the courage to depend on God’s strength alone, the confidence that God has said, “I’ll show you the way.”

We should trade our stubbornness for God-guided conviction.

Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols.
1 Samuel 15:23 (NLT)

Luke 1:57-58
When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

Elizabeth gave birth to a son, just as the angel had said (1:13). From the wording of this verse, it seems probable no one had known about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. So when the neighbors and relatives heard the Lord had shown His great mercy to her, they rejoiced.

News that Elizabeth, an old woman who had been childless all her life, had given birth would have astounded everyone. They would have considered this God’s mercy on her because children were considered to be blessings from the Lord. In her old age, God had taken away Elizabeth’s barrenness and had given her a son. This was cause for great rejoicing.

“Mercy”
It seems like such an old word; an old quality, as well. Like a store owner handing a crying kid a piece of counter candy; before the strip-mall era. Or like a doctor taking time to talk to a patient; before the new health care era.

Today, efficiency is the keynote, mercy the forgotten quality.

But where God is worshiped and honored, mercy may still be found; in the close call that could have been tragic, in the phone call that lifted your spirit, or as for Elizabeth here, in the fulfillment of a dream.

Look around today for moments of God’s mercy to you.

Surprise someone with this quality which has been all but forgotten in the rush to get more done.

Luke 1:56
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Because travel was not easy, long visits were customary. So Mary must have stayed almost until the day of John’s birth.

Mary must have been a great help to Elizabeth, who was experiencing the discomforts of being pregnant in her old age. In addition, Elizabeth certainly helped Mary.

During these three months, Mary surely discussed with Elizabeth how to handle what would be an extremely difficult social predicament. She would have to return home and explain her pregnancy to her family and her fiancé.

Hopefully, when Mary went back to her own home, she was even more strengthened in her faith by Elizabeth’s faith (1:6), ready to face all the future would hold.

It was wise for Mary, in her condition, not to remain any longer with Elizabeth. Had she stayed any longer, Elizabeth’s house would have been crowded with neighbors, etc., people who did not always use discretion in their talk. Who knows what they might have said about Mary, or what they might have thought about her!

Besides, a disagreeable confrontation between Mary and some of Elizabeth’s neighbors might not have been pleasant for Elizabeth either.

Mary’s time with Elizabeth was good for both of the women.

Is there someone in your life you can encourage?

Luke 1:54
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.

Up to this point Mary has been praising God in song for His actions. Now, in this closing stanza, she points out, still in song, what these deeds mean in relation to Israel and the promises made to the forefathers.

“He has helped his servant Israel.” This had happened again and again in the past. The Old Testament records many, many instances in which God had taken sides with Israel against its enemies.

The words “He has helped his servant Israel.” are in the same verb tense as the previous verses; this is a future event so certain it is mentioned in the past tense. It absolutely will happen!

This “help” for Israel is the Messiah, who will come according to the promise (God) made to our ancestors.

God kept his promise to Abraham to be merciful to God’s people forever (Genesis 22:16-18).

Jesus’ birth fulfilled the promise, and Mary understood this as the Spirit revealed it to her.

What Mary was saying was something along this line: Just as in the past God has so often helped Israel when she was in distress, so He is helping us now. He is sending the promised One to Israel!

The statement “Even as he said to (promised) our fathers” takes us back in thought to Abraham. To him God had said, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

That this blessing to Abraham remained in force for Isaac is clear from Gen. 26:3, 4, where not only the same message is repeated but it is even distinctly stated, “I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.” In the time of Isaac’s son Jacob this same covenant promise is still in effect (Gen. 28:14). It is even called a covenant “with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob” (Exod. 2:24). “I will be your God” holds, in fact, for Israel, viewed as God’s covenant people (cf. Gen. 17:7 with Lev. 11:45; 26:12, 45).

This song clearly shows Mary saw what was happening as a realization of the ancient promise to Abraham.

God always keeps His promises!

He will keep them in our lives as well!

Luke 1:48
From now on all generations will call me blessed.

When Mary said, “From now on all generations will call me blessed,” was she being proud? Mary does not say all generations are going to consider her a mediatrix, and as such a legitimate object of veneration. She was not thinking of the concept of the Virgin Mary as holiest of creatures. What she means is all generations are going to praise God because of the marvelous manner in which He has blessed her.

No, she was recognizing and accepting the gift God had given her.

If Mary had denied her privileged position, she would have been throwing God’s blessing back at Him.

Pride is refusing to accept God’s gifts or taking credit for what God has done; humility is accepting the gifts and using them to praise and serve God.

Don’t deny, belittle, or ignore your gifts.

Thank God for them and use them to His glory.

Luke 1:51-53
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

The arm of God is used in the Old Testament to describe God’s strength and power. Mary pictured God’s strength being revealed to the sinful world as He scatters the proud, brings down the powerful, and sends the rich away empty. By contrast, God’s power shows in His mercy lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things.

The tense of these verbs indicates Mary was speaking prophetically of these events which were so certain to occur they could be spoken of as having already happened.

Mary’s song shows what is seen is not all it seems.

God Himself would come to earth and face rejection by the proud, the powerful, and the rich. He would lift the lowly and fill the hungry.

God continues to do that today. God is mighty and merciful, ruthless against pride and injustice but sensitive to individual needs.

God knows humanity’s sinful, stubborn nature, and He sent His Son to redeem sinful human beings.

Mary exhibited a large vision of God, a sense of God’s grand purpose, and the heart of God for oppressed people.

This message of salvation continues throughout Luke’s Gospel, but takes on a different sense than what all of Israel was expecting. Instead of salvation bringing deliverance from Roman oppression, Jesus’ salvation brings deliverance from the oppressions of sin, sickness, and materialism; all of which are greater enemies to humanity’s soul than a foreign political power.

God takes the world’s values and expectations and turns them upside down.

How does this message relate to today’s world with all of its political strife?

Luke 1:46-55
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me– holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”

This song is often called the “Magnificat,” the first word in the Latin translation of this passage. Mary’s song has often been used as the basis for choral music and hymns. Like Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1-10), Mary glorified God in song for what He was going to do for the world through her. Notice that in both songs, God is pictured as a champion of the poor, the oppressed, and the despised.

Mary focused on God’s power, holiness, and mercy.
* His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
* He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
* He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
* He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
* He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”

Her insight into God’s character formed the basis for her confidence in Him. Her words echo the Old Testament:
* For God as “the Mighty One,” see Genesis 49:24; Joshua 22:22; Psalm
50:1; 132:2, 5; Isaiah 1:24; 9:6; 49:26; 60:16; Zephaniah 3:17.
* For God as “holy,” see Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:26; 21:8; Joshua 24:19; Psalm 89:18; 99:3; 111:9; Isaiah 5:16.
* For God doing many “great things” for Israel, see Deuteronomy 11:7; Judges 2:7; Job 37:5; Psalm 71:19; 126:2-3; Joel 2:20-21.                                            * For God’s “mercy,” see Exodus 33:19; 1 Chronicles 21:13; Psalm 25:6; 103:17; Isaiah 55:7; Micah 7:18.

What songs are you most likely to be caught singing in the shower?

If you had the skill and opportunity, how would you tell the world about a life-changing experience; write a poem, sing a song, publish a novel, or make a movie?