Three Songs Prescribed to Us by the Good Doctor

Music is medicine for the soul. Songs are powerful ways to convey truth. The melody takes us where mere words cannot. The truth carried to our ears by a song sticks with us… …example:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that….???

Be thou my vision or Lord of my…??

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle…??

Maybe that last song isn’t as full of truth as the previous two…but you get my point.

Christmas Songs from the Good Doctor

Now, the songs provided by the ‘beloved physician’ (Col. 4:14) have no audio but their form has beauty enough. At the beginning of Luke’s narrative we find three very important songs, yet songs that are often overlooked. Mary, Zachariah, and Simeon all declare words of prophecy and hope in song form. We hear of them around Christmas, but almost never after. The trouble with this is we miss foundational truths that are central to the whole book.

This is what we will consider today. I want to point out a few key ideas that come to us in these songs which grow up throughout the book. I hope that our love of these songs and appreciation of the later narratives intensifies.

We find: In mercy the Lord raises up the humble to give them peace.

Mercy

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After Mary rejoices in God’s work toward her she begins to sing of his mercy:

“And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,”

Luke 1:50-54

This part of her song begins and ends speaking of the active mercy of the Lord. The lines in between introduce Luke’s understanding of this mercy. The Lord is showing his strength in scattering and bringing down the proud and mighty. He helps the humble and hungry by filling and exalting them.

It is important to consider the work of God’s mercy because this topic will surface more than once as the narrative unfolds, in particular Luke 6:

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

Luke 6:36

If we forget the mercy of the Father as shown to us in Luke 1 we are at a disadvantage in trying to apply that command. How can I be merciful as my Father is merciful?

When we remember that the songs of Luke give us much foundational information for the whole book we have a kind of answer key. Now certainly the activity of Luke 1:50-54 is for God and God alone to carry out, yet we can observe the values of God by what he does. The mercy of the Father is seen in a certain disposition toward the proud and mighty which differs from his interaction with the humble and needy.

The narrative of Luke demonstrates this mercy for us again and again. Godly, God-given, God-like mercy is a thread woven throughout the tapestry of Luke.

Consider one further and short note on this point. Mary closes her song by tying this divine activity to the promise given to Abraham (1:55). Now go a little further into Luke 1 and find Zechariah’s song. In 1:72-78 Zechariah also sings of God’s mercy as being in line with the promises of salvation made to Abraham.

The two longest and introductory songs of Luke capitalize on the mercy of God being acted out according to his covenant (steadfast) love as earlier expressed to Abraham within many great promises. God is at work now to bring about the mercy promised.

Raising Up the Humble

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We find in Luke 1&2: The Lord acting in mercy to raise up the humble to give them peace.

Mary is both the story teller and a key character here. She in her humility is blessed by God (1:48). Elizabeth’s story is quite similar. The song is abundantly clear here:

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

Luke 1:51-53

Notice the vary different treatment of the proud and the humble. The difference is also that of contrast: the proud are brought DOWN and the humble are exalted (raised UP).

This really sets the tone of the book. Consider the following:

• First healing – “immediately she rose” (4:39)
• To the paralyzed man – “I say to you, rise…” (5:24)
• Call of levi – “he rose and followed him” (5:28)
• The withered hand healed – “‘Come and stand here.’ And he rose…” (6:8)

This work of raising the humble and needy is introduced to us by Mary yet becomes a theme of the book (above is but a small sample). Luke words his stories in such a way as to highlight the purpose of Jesus in his healing ministry.

We need to keep this theme in mind as we go ahead in our reading of the book (on the first page of Luke make a note about this to yourself). As a matter of fact, Jesus is the great example of this as he rises from the manger to the throne from the beginning to end of Luke’s narrative.

Peace

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We find in Luke 1&2: The Lord acting in mercy to raise up the humble to give them peace.

We go back to our songs for our final point. Earlier we saw the tie between Mary and Zechariah:

These songs of Luke capitalize on the mercy of God being acted out according to his covenant (steadfast) love as earlier expressed to Abraham within many great promises. God is at work now to bring about the mercy promised.

Now let’s take a final brief moment to connect Zechariah and Simeon. Their tie in is God’s promised peace. Zechariah ends by speaking of the promise to Abraham, including peace, that is peace with God. Simeon opens his brief song on this note. By this point concluding one song and beginning the other, it ties them together, and thus shows us how important it is. This epic poem now stretches over the course of Mary, Zechariah, and now Simeon’s song. Matthew Harmon writes, “Peace refers to the restored relationship that believers have with God because we have been justified by faith.”

One of the common ways we hear of this peace but don’t put these pieces together is at the time of year we hear such songs. At Christmas we sing “Angels We Have Heard on High”…and my favorite hymn of all time (no matter the time of year) “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing!” What were they singing:

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Luke 2:14

The angels were declaring that God’s promised peace was coming into the world. This peace was not to remain with Jesus alone. As we make our way through the narrative we find Jesus bringing peace to share:

And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Luke 7:50; 8:48

We need to make notes and reminders at the beginning of Luke and in some margins so that when we get into chapters 7&8 we remember where we have come from in the narrative. When Jesus speaks peace to these women it is powerful. It is the demonstration of God mercifully working to raise up the needy unto divine peace; he is bringing the lowly into heart felt fellowship with their Creator and now Redeemer.

Conclusion:

Luke did not mindlessly write down the details of Jesus and his disciples. He “wrote an orderly account” (1:3) as is evident by the structuring his narrative with these themes. We will benefit from the book by keeping an eye on how these topics flow through the narrative. We gain a fuller understanding of Luke’s purpose in writing and for Jesus’ ministry, and hopefully a firmer faith in God’s word is the result.