The Apostle Paul wrote, "... forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  (Phil. 3:13b-14)

St. Paul could say this because a Christian lives in the new day where the past is truly and completely past.  Former days are forgotten in the dancing glory of Christ's intimate company.  "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!"  No more sins and sorrows grow.  No more thorns infest the ground.  No more the dominion of darkness.  No more the oppression of sin or a fear of death. 

Everything has changed, and all things are brand new in Jesus Christ.  His coming is not a seasonal diversion or pleasant detour from the grind to which we must return.  The incarnation of God is radial freshness.  Christ is new life.  He has delivered to us a spanking new beginning as Scripture declares.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself ..." (2 Cor. 5)

The advent of the Lord Christ for the world has completely and permanently upset Satan's apple cart and brought sweeping transformation to people's lives.

We are not speaking of the kind of change a politician promises.  Barack Obama has promised change because people hunger for it.  Discontent creates an appetite for change, but no sane person will believe the nitty-gritty of human nature will change with a new administration in Washington.  The tedium and burden of sin which is the original cause of all unhappiness will not be solved by any government or policy of man.  Even at his best-- even if his management exceeds all the buoyant hopes of our citizens, President Obama when he takes office will only rearrange the scenery.  God grant him success in the temporal realm where he is charged with a solemn duty, but Barack Obama is no messiah.  Even his betters could do no more.  Even the best man has to offer cannot usher in a truly new day.

Yet, the new day has come. 

The Virgin Mary sang of it in her inspired canticle of praise, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."  

What had changed?  Rome still ruled the land of Palestine.  Poverty still knocked on the door of a lowly carpenter of Nazareth betrothed to Mary.  The power of a distant ruler would still command a difficult journey from Mary and Joseph by foot to Bethlehem to accommodate an imperial head count.  To the eyes of the public, Mary would look no different.  Her situation and place in society appear untouched.

But Mary knew the landscape was fundamentally changed.  Nothing would ever be the same again.  What was mighty is fallen.  What was lowly has been exalted.  What was hungry is filled with goodness.  What was rich is bankrupt.  That upon which mankind once depended has been scattered like dust to the wind.  Thrones are tumbled, and humble estates are raised beyond measure.  The wait is over, the deliverance complete.

Christ has come. 

Things will never be the same again.  There is no going back, no reconstitution of olden days, no resurgence of wickedness or swing back to slavery.  The devil cannot and will not raise his ugly head again.  His accusations are silenced forever.  These are not the dreams of Mary or fantasies of a flighty young girl. 

Mary's song is robust and masculine.  It declares God her savior without insinuations or conjecture.  Seven times she asserts what can be called a "done deal."  The Gospel is the realization of a new day, not pipe dream or wishful hoping.  It declares what God in Christ has done - done.

He has looked on the humble

He has done great things for me,

He has shown strength with his arm;

He has scattered the proud

He has brought down the mighty

He has filled the hungry

He has helped his servant Israel

This theme echoes throughout our hymnody.

"Tell [Jerusalem], her sins I cover, and her warfare now is over."    LSB 347

"They that drink shall thirst no more."    LSB 435

"Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die."   LSB 830

"Thine the glory in the night, no more dying only light."   LSB 680

"From the manger newborn light
Shines in glory through the night.
Darkness there no more resides;
In this light faith now abides."   LSB 332

 

We Christians sing Mary's song, not because we pine for a better day, wish things could be better, or sigh after things out of reach.

We sing the Magnificat because we Christians are already living the better day, the best day, the new day.  We sing it because nothing can be better than to be in Christ.  We sing it because nothing good is out of reach.  God has delivered His own Son to us and our soul and spirit, our voice and the thoughts of our hearts swell with rejoicing.  Christ has come.