GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 1:48
48 For he has regarded the low estate of his servant-girl.
For, behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.
“Lowly estate” is my translation of tapeinosis (ταπείνωσις). Many of us have become used to the NIV’s “humble estate” (EHV “humble state”), but let’s take a closer look at the word. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament gives a basic definition for tapeinos as “lowly, mean, insignificant, weak, poor; for example the trivial power or significance of a city” (Vol. VIII, p. 1). It is used in Classical Greek for such things as the dimmer stars near the horizon, a ‘couched’ (resting) lance as opposed to a raised lance, an insignificant river, poverty in general, or the state of an army after it has lost a battle and lost many lives and its spirit to fight (Xenophon Anabasis II 5,13). It is a disparaging word, used for someone living in poverty or with petty means, but it is never used of moral character. So a person can be upstanding morally and ethically, and still be tapeinos. When Euripides writes about Queen Andromache becoming a slave, her captor says “you must cease from those rich proud thoughts you once had and cower in humility, fall at my feet, and sweep my house” (Andr. 164-165). In Greek medicine (something with which Luke was very familiar), a tapeinosis was a reduction in swelling or a disappearance of symptoms.
What all of these things have in common is that the status of lowliness each tapeinos person or thing has is thrust upon them in Classical Greek; they don’t take it upon themselves. However, Jesus turns this idea on its head: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). The Christian seeks to let go of any earthly status or position in order to rely fully on Christ. For example, Paul makes himself small in order to serve the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:12-18). And Paul teaches us how to do this with joy: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12).
So what is Mary’s lowly estate? She is lowly in the eyes of the world, but we can’t say for certain in what way.
Could it be that she was not lovely? But she had a fiancé, so this (true or not) was not a vital concern.
Could it be that she was maimed, crippled, partly blind, or deaf? But surely this would have been mentioned since Jesus her son healed many people of such things.
Could it be that she was in disfavor for some reason, shamed in some way? But even Joseph’s thought about divorcing her was to do it quietly, so as not to cause her any disgrace.
Could it be that she was not yet married; not yet a mother? But she was about to be married, even before the angel came to visit her.
It seems more likely that she was simply aware of her place in the world. The Roman empire was everywhere. The more respected Jews were not the ordinary orthodox worshipers like Mary and Joseph; they belonged to the newly emerging sect of the Pharisees. To be a Jew in the world was lowly enough; to be a Jew who wasn’t even a Pharisee—this was to be as insignificant as stone in a desert. She had no value on the world stage. And yet God lifted her up from her ordinary, lowly status.
It was God’s regard for her and her lowly estate that amazed Mary. Grammatically, her lowly state is in the accusative case, which has as its core sense the extent to which a verb acts (Robertson’s Grammar of the Greek New Testament, p. 468-469). So how far did God’s regard extend? All the way down into Mary’s lowly estate. You can almost see the hand of God and the very fingers of God reaching, stretching, extending, offering, to lift Mary up.
She was blessed, and she recognized her blessing. We call Mary blessed because she bore Jesus, gave birth to him, and raised him. We call Jesus blessed because he bore our sins, gave new birth to us through baptism, and he will raise us from the grave to eternal life. We can hardly find a more lowly status than the grave, but we have this promise from his own lips: “I tell you the truth. No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). It’s a blessing to understand your own place in God’s kingdom. “I once was lost, but now am found.” You and I, found, lifted up and embraced children of God, can rejoice with Mary. She for her son and savior, we for our savior who is also our brother.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota