Reader.

Some Christmas songs are so iconic, I get downright cross when someone else tries to cover them.

For example, yes, Carrie Underwood sang All Is Well by Michael W. Smith. But I do not even want to hear it. Michael W. Smith’s Christmas album is sacred ground to me. And Whitney Houston’s I Love the Lord from The Preacher’s Wife? Don’t even think about touching it.

So when it comes to Mary, the mother of Jesus, I know I may be treading on thin ice here. Is there any other woman more iconic in the world? What could possibly be said about Mary that has not already been said, sung, painted, written, or preached?

And yet, as I have been working through this series on the women whose voices speak around the birth of Jesus, I have found myself paying closer attention not only to what these women say, but to why these words come out of their mouths when they do. Again and again, the Holy Spirit keeps drawing me back one generation further, to the mothers of Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna and the world they were living in when they named their daughters.

This matters because names were not chosen in a vacuum. Naming was a declaration.

And if you read about Elizabeth; you knew mothers named their daughters.

By the time Mary’s mother was born, Judea had already lived through decades of political collapse and foreign domination. In 63 BCE, the Roman general Pompey entered Jerusalem under the pretense of settling a Jewish dispute over the Hasmonean throne. What followed was not mediation but conquest. Jerusalem fell. The Temple was violated. Judea lost its independence. From that moment on, the Jewish people were no longer a sovereign nation, but a client kingdom under Roman rule.

The instability deepened when in 49 BCE, a civil war erupted within the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar defeated Pompey, and control of Judea shifted yet again. Jewish leaders were installed, removed, imprisoned, or executed at Rome’s discretion. By 40 BCE, Herod, backed by Rome, rose to power, and by 31 BCE he had executed rivals and secured his throne.

This meant generations raised under occupation. Roman troops throughout the land. Heavy taxation. Political violence. Leaders appointed by an empire. And the ever present question hanging in the air: where is the consolation and redeemer of Israel?

It was during this period that Jewish mothers were naming their daughters Miryam, Elisheba, and Anna. But Miryam, in particular.

A scholar named Tal Ilan compiled a list of every known name of Jews in the Land of Israel in the period between 330 BCE and 200 CE. Of 317 women, 80 were named Mary. One out of every four girls.

They named their daughters after the first Miryam of Scripture, the sister of Moses who sang on the far side of the sea when God delivered His people from slavery. The world they lived in felt uncomfortably close to Israel’s bondage in Egypt, and the name Miryam became a whispered prayer for deliverance.

And they did not stop with a name. These mothers re-told the stories their mothers told them. Creation. Exodus. Judges. Kings. Prophets. They memorized Torah and prayed the Psalms day and night. Scripture was not abstract. It was lived.

We may think Mary’s words in Luke 1 is spontaneous poetry, as though she suddenly composed a beautiful prayer on the spot. But what we hear is actually Scripture, written deep on her heart, now coming out of her mouth in response to the Gospel. The Good News.

According to the New International Version cross-references, Mary’s Magnificat is full of Old Testament Scripture. This is an example of what Jewish teachers called remez, meaning “hint.” A teacher or rabbi would quote a line of Scripture, trusting the listener to recall the known larger story behind it. Jesus Himself teaches this way.

Remarkably, ten of the Old Testament echoes in her song come from the Psalms.

So you can trace this for yourself, I have attached a self-reflective guide that places Mary’s words alongside the NIV Old Testament cross references.

For example, her opening line not only mirrors Hannah’s prayer, but echoes Psalm 34

Mary's Magnificat - Remez Reflective Guide

When you think about Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, what comes out of your mouth right now?

Are there Psalms that surface for you that you can speak aloud as:

Prayer.

Praise.

Proclamation.

Lament.

Song.

All of these are ways of declaring God’s faithfulness in the middle of a waiting world.

2026 Illuminate Living Room Series

The 2026 Illuminate Living Room Series will center on Women of Deliverance, tracing God’s work of rescue through the book of Exodus and the lives of women such as Miriam, Elisheba, Shiphrah, and Puah.

Eugene Peterson observed that God does not give salvation as an abstract truth, but as a story with people, movement, and purpose. Exodus is that story, one that continues to invite us into God’s saving work.

I hoe you will join us next year! Registration for the 2026 Illuminate Living Room Series is now open. More information and registration can be found at the link below.

Next week is Anna !