Less is More: Singing a New Song

Advent is a season of preparation and anticipation. It is the season of preparation for the coming of Christ and the season of anticipating and longing for his coming. At a minimum, preparation entails a change of routine, e.g. "I have to leave work now and go home and prepare dinner." However, when God asks us to prepare for his coming, the change of routine becomes a change of heart, a change of lifestyle, a switch from the mundane to the sanctified. During this season of preparation, we will be looking primarily at the story of the birth of John the Baptist, the consummate man of preparation who "give[s] his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins" (Luke 1:77).

During Advent this year, where do we need to change?

The text today is in two parts, each with its own song. Throughout the Bible, God intervenes in people’s lives, and they respond in song: God parts the Red Sea and Moses & Miriam sing (Exodus 15:1-21); God delivers David from Saul, and David sings (Psalm 18 [1]); the Israelites defeat a Canaanite army led by Jabin & Sisera, and Deborah & Barak sing (Judges 5); Jesus first appears in a vision to John as a lamb, and the response of the angelic beings & the 24 elders is a new song (Revelation 5:6-10); Gabriel comes to Zechariah and Mary with pronouncements of miraculous births and the advent of the Messiah, and their responses here today are songs.

Luke 1:39-56

Commentary

v39 The sense here is that Mary goes almost immediately to Elizabeth. Other evidence: Gabriel says that Elizabeth is in her 6th month (v36); and Mary stays with Elizabeth for three months (v56).

v42 Elizabeth is the one person who can truly believe & affirm Mary. How often do you have a chance to sympathize with people who are struggling with the same issues that you have dealt with?

Note: We are not told that Mary told Elizabeth that she was pregnant. Could it be that Elizabeth’s exclamation is a prophetic sign for Mary? (i.e. Mary is pregnant by only a few days, could it be that Elizabeth’s supernatural knowledge confirms to Mary something that she is not sure of in her own body?)

The Archbishop of Canterbury cautioned missionaries to India to never read these verses in public. When the kingdom of God becomes manifest in a place, everything must change.

Are you ready for everything to change? God is ready. God is for you as much as he is for Mary. What is holding back that change? (Hint: it’s not God!)

Luke 1:57-80

Commentary

v66 All through our childhood, people tell us the stories of our lives—good things we have done, bad things we have done, silly things we done—to the point that the trajectory of our lives are often cast in concrete before we reach adulthood. What chance does the child have who has always heard, "You were a mistake!"? What chance does the child have who has always heard, "You are an angel!"? The question here, "What is this child going to be?" is the same question as for all of us. In John’s case, the hand of God is clear. In our case, the hand is God is ready to either sustain the trajectory that others have put us on, or to alter it.

v67 Zechariah’s song is actually two songs, I think: a hymn of praise to the faithfulness of God and the reality of his salvation; and a commission to his son to prepare the way for the Lord.

Consider how Zechariahs’s and Mary’s songs are similar: they both begin with praise; they both recall the faithfulness of God throughout the generations of Abraham; they both speak of God’s mercy. What words and concepts are in common between the two songs?

Application

Nine places in the Bible use the phrase "new song": Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Revelvation 5:9; 14:3. In each case the new song, or the call for a new song, is a response the mighty saving power of God. It’s as if the composer says, "No words exist for describing what I have seen you just do; therefore, by your grace and by your Spirit, I offer unto you this new song." Mary and Zechariah are certainly singing new songs as well.

Points to Ponder

What is the trajectory you were set on as a child, i.e. what messages did you hear growing up?

Regardless of the trajectory of your life, God is at work in you. Is it to sustain you or to change your course?

When God acts, how do you respond? Apathy? Joy? Confusion? Confidence? Fear? Pleasure? Other?

The whole idea of a new song is that old songs seemed to fall short. If our "song" is our response to God in our lives, are we open to a new song, or are we trying to muddle through singing the same old songs? (I am not talking about hymns, I’m talking about how we live our lives in response to God!) What does the God who says, "I make all things new!" desire to do in your life?

End Notes:

1 - Psalm 18 is just one of many psalms David writes as a response of God’s work in his life. Just for fun, take your Bible and read the superscriptions (the introductions between the chapter number and first verse of each psalm and see when/how David perceives God working in his life.