Your rendering is a cut and paste of a frequently but incompletely cited writing of Luther. The theme of the complete work is not at all what your quote suggests. Indeed, Luther recognizes that the Magnificat is a distinctly evangelical hymn, and though he still was still encumbered with a few fragments of Rome's long and profound distortion of Mary, he nevertheless was clear on the evangelical message of God's amazing grace:
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From :
http://www.godrules.net/library/luther/NEW1luther_c5.htm
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As the wood had no other merit or worthiness than that it was suited to be made into a cross and was appointed by God for that purpose, even so her sole worthiness to become the Mother of God lay in her being fit and appointed for it; so that it might be pure grace and not a reward, that we might not take away from God’s grace, worship and honor by ascribing too great things to her.
For it is better to take away too much from her than from the grace of God. Indeed, we cannot take away too much from her, since she was created out of nothing, like all other creatures. But we can easily take away too much from grace, which is a perilous thing to do and not well pleasing to her. It is necessary also to keep within bounds and not make too much of calling her “Queen of heaven,” which is a true enough name and yet
does not make her a goddess, who could grant gifts or render aid, as some suppose, that pray and flee to her rather than to God.
She gives nothing, God gives all, as we see in the words that follow, — “ He that is mighty.” Verily, in these words she takes away all might and power from every creature and bestows them on God alone. What great boldness and robbery on the part of so young and tender a maiden!
She dares, by this one word, to make all the strong feeble, all the mighty weak, all the wise foolish, all the famous despised, and God alone the possessor of all strength, wisdom and glory. For this is the meaning of the phrase, “He that is mighty.” There is none that does anything, but as St. Paul says in Ephesians 1:11, “God worketh all in all,” and all creatures’ works are God’s works. Even as we confess in the Creed, “I believe in God the Father, the Almighty.” He is almighty because it is His power alone that works in all and through all and over all. Thus St. Anna, the mother of Samuel, sings in 1 Samuel 2:9, “By strength shall no man prevail.” And St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:5,
“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God.” This is a most important article of faith, including many things; it utterly puts down all pride, arrogance, blasphemy, fame, and false trust, and exalts God alone. It points out the reason why God alone is to be exalted, — because He does all things. That is easily said, but hard to believe and to translate into life. For they who carry it out in their lives are most peaceable, composed and simple hearted folk, who lay no claim to anything, well knowing it is not theirs but God’s.
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The “great things” are nothing less than that she became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child. She herself is unable to find a name for this work, it is too exceeding great; all she can do is break out in the fervent cry, [sic] are great things,” impossible to describe or define. Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her or to her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, or grass in the fields, or stars in the sky, or sand by the sea. F265 It needs to be pondered in the heart, what it means to be the Mother of God.
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Modern Protestants avoid "Mother of God," because it no longer has the Christological import for which it was used at Chalcedon, and the recent spurious Marian dogmas coming after Luther's time have made that even worse. To resolve this we resort to the Greek term Chalcedon used, theotokos, as rightly meaning "God-bearer," which is acceptable in ecumenical scope, without the schismatic attributions attached to it by Rome, because it puts the focus on the deity of Christ, where it belongs, and avoids false attribution of quasi-deity to Mary. Also, Luther is too comfortable with expressions such as "Queen of Heaven," yet he does rightly shift our focus from her to the God of grace who blessed her so much.
Which mixed bag of truth and error is another reason why it is error to say that Protestants as a class are blind followers of Luther. We are not. Luther is still too Catholic for the simplicity of faith depicted in Scripture. He is not to be too much blamed for this. We are all products of our own times, as was he. That he came out as far as he did, and did so much to bring the Gospel to so many who had never heard it, is still a blessing and a work of God for which we all should be grateful.
Peace,
SR
