Christmas carols have a long history. Their first appearance dates back to the thirteenth century, although it would be the nineteenth century before they gained popularity. In point of fact, it wasn’t until the publication of “Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern” in 1833, which contained favourites such as ‘God rest ye Merry Gentlemen’, ‘The First Noel’, and ‘Hark the herald Angels Sing’ that carol singing began to grow in favour.

The author Charles Dickens further popularised the practice. In his literary masterpiece, ‘A Christmas Carol’, the legendary miser, Ebenezer Scrooge is regaled by a single caroller, lustily singing ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’ And thus, as with so many other Christmas customs which appear in Dickens’ book, carol singing became permanently embedded in the popular mind as an essential part of the festive season.

The source for many of our most popular carols is the New Testament. And it is no surprise to read in Luke’s gospel of two songs, which were composed around the time of Christ’s birth. In Luke chapter two, what has become known as the song of Simeon is recorded, in which Simeon proclaims the Lord Jesus Christ to be the salvation which God has ‘prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of my people Israel.’ But in Luke chapter one, the evangelist, includes the more famous song of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus.

Mary’s song is normally given the title of the Magnificat, which is a reference to its opening lines, where Mary declares that her soul ‘doth magnify the Lord’. The theme of the Magnificat is God’s salvation. In Luke 1:47 Mary says “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

In this verse Mary acknowledges her need of a Saviour. In common with all humanity she had been shapen in iniquity and in sin did her mother conceive her. She possessed a fallen nature and was guilty of breaking God’s law. As a consequence her sins separated her from her God. The holy God will have no fellowship with sinful men and women until the matter of sin is settled. Mary needed a Saviour.

Mercifully she found a Saviour. She identifies the Saviour as God himself. Mary’s identification of God as her Saviour is eminently biblical. The scriptures reveal Jesus Christ to be both God manifested in the flesh and the Saviour of his people.

But Mary did not merely identify the Saviour, she also embraced him as her Saviour. She speaks here of God my Saviour. She has taken him to be her own God and deliverer. And as a consequence she is accepted as righteous in his sight and forgiven of all of her sins.

Finally, she rejoiced in this Saviour. She announces ‘my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.’ God’s salvation was for Mary a matter of supreme and lasting joy. She had found in the Lord a resting place and he had made her glad.

Do you know Mary’s Saviour? This Christmas we encourage you to receive with the empty hand of faith the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”