Advent 4- Mary's Song

 

Micah 5:2-5; Luke 1:46-55; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-55

Our Advent journey has us at the final bend on our path to Bethlehem. So, the lectionary presents us with the words of the prophet Micah, that tell us about a ruler who is to come from the hometown of King David. And like King David, the youngest brother, a shepherd, from a small tribe, he will be a “nobody” from nowhere. Bethlehem is both literal and symbolic. Just as David was a nobody from nowhere, so this baby will be one that was not considered to be a contender for the title of “The Messiah”. 

In our Gospel reading, Mary travels 100km (probably on foot) to see her cousin Elizabeth. She probably goes because of the angel’s news that her elderly and childless cousin is now 6 months pregnant. To see her would confirm the angel’s words, but this is also something to celebrate with Elizabeth, who (like many of her ancestors) would have considered childlessness to be a terrible situation.

Just as it is women who are the first witnesses to Jesus’ birth from the tomb into the resurrected life, so now it is women who are witnesses to his extraordinary life in Mary’s womb that will soon be birthed into the world. Elizabeth bears the messenger, and Mary bears the message. … And already the Spirit is moving in their midst, declaring the invasion of the Kingdom into the world. … Elizabeth prophetically sees what has happened to Mary, and prophesies over her, saying 

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"

 Here we can recognize some of the words of the “Hail Mary”- “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb”.

The child that Mary carries is already called “Lord”. He is “Lord” from the beginning. It is not a title he gains by performing some great deed. He has it from his birth. And this hints towards his divinity. Mary will be called the Theotokos- “The God-bearer”. … That title actually says less about her, than it does about Jesus. She bears Christ within her, by the Holy Spirit. So, in a way Mary is the archetype of a disciple of Jesus. Disciples also bear Jesus within them through the Holy Spirit. … God is organizing an invasion of the world. He is welcomed to dwell within Mary, just as he seeks for us to welcome Him to invade us.

Mary responds in a powerful and prophetic way that foreshadows the ministry of her son. This is the Magnificat, which in the Book of Common Prayer is used at the service at Evening Prayer and made optional in the Book of Alternative services. … It is a song like others that we find in the Bible- Like Miriam’s song, Debra’s song, and Hanna’s song. She speaks about Israel and Abraham’s descendants. Mary’s song is a part of the bridge of continuity from the Old Testament into the new thing that God is about to do.

It is a powerful song that has been banned from public recitation in some places where its words were seen as threatening to tyrants. For example, it was banned in Guatemala during the 1980’s. It was also banned in Argentina in the 1970’s. It has been a rallying prayer for the oppressed in many places. The Magnificat is a song from the lips of a seemingly powerless, marginalized woman, living under an oppressive empire. It is a joyful song that celebrates God, and declares the coming salvation of God that was promised by the prophets.

She praises God, 

“For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant” (v48).

 “Servant” here can also be translated as “slave”, which brings to mind God’s mindfulness of the cries of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. This is that same God. The God who cared for those slaves also cares for this "slave". The God who has done great things in the past is about to do another great and merciful thing.

Like other prophets, a warning and promise is given to the proud and the poor- 

“He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (v51-53).

We see a similar warning and promise in Jesus’ sermon on the plain in Luke 6. 

 “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Lk 6:20-21).

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep” (Lk 6:24-25).

 … With Jesus’ arrival, comes both salvation and judgement. They are two sides to the same coin. All that is not aligned with the Kingdom must be judged and realigned. Justice will be made a reality in an unjust world. … This statement doesn’t mean all rich people are bad any more than it means that all poor people are good. It is wisdom and prophetic imagination, not law.

Just as John the Baptist is an icon of Advent, as he calls out for the way to be prepared- so Mary is also an icon of Advent, as we watch her belly grow with expectation of the one coming to bring salvation. … She is no mere bystander. She consents to the Lord’s will being done in her life as declared by the angel. She goes to her cousin believing both what the angel said would happen to Elizabeth and to her. And in her song she speaks as a prophet and exposes herself as a dedicated student of Scripture. She has a sophisticated theological understanding of the implications of her child coming into the world. This young woman’s faith and understanding, and her willingness to have God’s will birthed in her life, regardless of the dangerous circumstances (being an unwed mother), makes her an archetypal disciple. She sees with the eyes of the kingdom. The kingdom judges the value of a person in a very different way than the world. She sees power and status very differently now. She sees Caesar differently now. She sees the powerful bullies differently now. Her kingdom vision put her at odds with the empire that surrounded her. She has aligned herself with God’s kingdom, and she has become free from Caesar and the powerful bullies of her society. She sees their fragile and delusional thrones in light of God’s eternal throne. And she sees that many who are being stepped on have God’s attention- He is leaning forward with concern.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who faced the Nazis and was executed by them, said the following about the Magnificat:

“The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings. This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols. It is instead a hard, strong, inexorable song about the power of God and the powerlessness of humankind.” (A sermon in Advent 1933)

God’s ways are so subversive. In this story, God works outside the power structures of the society. We meet two women who shouldn’t be pregnant- who would disappear into the dust of time without being remembered, without making a mark in the written record of humanity, but God touches them and sweeps them up with the incarnation- the most powerful invasion of God into the world since creation began. They are his witnesses- not kings and not emperors.

God says to Samuel when he rejects the obvious oldest brother to be king and instead choses little David, who wasn’t even brought to the gathering, 

“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).

 In the Magnificat, Mary has been given eyes to see the world as the Kingdom invades. May we be given eyes to see. AMEN