Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-december-23-2024
Luke 1:46-55
Mary’s Song
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he said to our ancestors.”
On Friday, we read and thought about the angel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear the child of God. Today, we’re reading and thinking about Mary’s interpretation of the meaning of the events that were unfolding around her. And maybe it would be more accurate to say these events were unfolding through her.
Our reading for today is a passage that has traditionally been called “the Magnificat.” That’s because in the Latin version of the Bible, the first word is magnificat – Latin for “it glorifies.” This passage, which is now usually called “Mary’s Song,” has been set to music by composers as famous as Bach, Schubert, and Mozart, and has been sung by choirs around the world throughout the history of the Christian church.
Mary isn’t usually thought of as a prophet, but what she says here is a kind of prophesy, in the sense that it’s an interpretation of what God is doing in the world. Mary speaks these words after she’s had some time to reflect on what the angel Gabriel had foretold about the baby she would bear. After hearing the angel’s message, Mary travels to the hill country of Judea, to the home of her relative Elizabeth. It’s at the home of Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah that this prophesy is spoken.
The reason this passage has been regarded as so important, it seems to me, is that in these words Mary declares the meaning of the events that are coming to pass in her and through her.
First of all, she says that the coming of the Christ would represent an embodiment of God’s merciful love for his people. And when you think about it, mercy is an expression of love and help to people who are suffering and vulnerable. The powerful don’t care about mercy – they don’t think they need it. It’s the humble who ask for mercy.
Then, Mary says that God is using his own great strength to stand up to the powers of this world, as he has throughout history. That was true even before God led his people out of slavery in Egypt, which might have been the greatest power in the world of its time. And God would once again stand against the powers of the world in the coming of the Christ.
Mary then goes on to say that the coming of Jesus would bring about a kind of reversal of the world’s order. The powerful and the rich will be brought down, while the humble and the hungry will be lifted up. And of course, history has shown Mary to be right – the followers of her child would do more to lift up the humble and feed the hungry than any other movement in human history. This would have been a startling thing for people in her culture to hear. Their assumption was that the rich and powerful were rich and powerful because God favored them. You might remember how shocked the disciples were when Jesus said it was hard for the rich to get into heaven. So the idea that the Messiah would turn the order of things on its head wasn’t what people expected at all.
Finally, Mary points out that in the great reversal God was about to enact, he was fulfilling promises that had been made to the people of Israel throughout their history. It seems clear that the Hebrew people of Mary’s day didn’t really understand what those promises meant, but apparently Mary herself did.
The birth of the Christ child – God in human form – represented the turning point in history. Something very fundamental was about to change about the order of things. And Mary was the first to understand just how important that change was. She is revered for her humble obedience to God’s plan for her. But she should also be revered for understanding the meaning of the Messiah long before anyone else did.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for coming into the world as the Christ-child, and we thank you for revealing to Mary the startling truth about what your coming would mean to history. By your Spirit, empower us to live out that vision every day. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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