Luke 1:46-55 Mary Sings

 

Pastor David Lose, in an online post, talks about singing as an act of resistance. I had never really thought of singing that way, but when I took some time to think about it, I thought about the Black spirituals sung by the Black slaves as they worked in the fields and kitchens of their owners. Their hymns were their way of pushing back against their masters and how they treated them like animals instead of people, buying and selling them like cattle, using and abusing them, never acknowledging the image of God in them. The Black slaves responded by creating and singing these spirituals filled with hope and longing for heaven, reminding themselves that they were beloved children of God and that heaven was their reward too.

Music often ends up as a battle ground between generations because music is connected with independence and new ways of expressing dreams, hopes and values; for better or worse. It doesn’t surprise me anymore that parents and kids don’t agree on music because, as parents, our own dreams and values change and we often become more cynical about life and give up our idealism for a more pragmatic approach to life. Music is often how our kids hold onto a sense that the world can be a better place, or they go in the other direction and focus on the brokenness and injustice in the world.

Mary sings her song and it’s filled with the reality that the world’s not the way it’s supposed to be; her song is an act of resistance against the way things are, but it’s also a song of hope as she sings of a God who turns our world upside down. Mary’s song is often called the “Magnificat,” which means “Praise.” The name comes from the first word in the Latin translation of the Bible. “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” which translates “My soul praises the Lord.” Mary’s song is all about God’s faithfulness, a theme that runs all the way through Luke’s gospel. As you listen to Mary’s song you can hear her soul praising God for his faithfulness to his people.

The God who saves pays attention to her humble state, it’s hard for us to imagine just what God is doing here. He’s using a young bride of a poor carpenter from a nothing town to be the mother of the Messiah, the mother of God. Mary, the one favoured by God over princesses, will be the one called blessed. Just as God told the prophet Samuel to not judge Jesse’s sons by how strong and powerful they were, so God doesn’t look at how important, wealthy or powerful Mary’s family is when he chooses her, he looks at her heart and sees what he’s looking for; a faithful daughter of God.

God, through Mary’s child, is coming to turn the world upside-down. Jesus is coming into a broken world to bring healing. We look at the world in Jesus’ time and we see the great Roman Empire, one of the greatest empires of all time, who has created the conditions for the coming of the Messiah by putting in place the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. They have criss-crossed the empire with safe roads, brought in a code of justice, and a common language, Kione Greek, to make sure trade can flow easily across the empire and to the corners of the known world. And still it was a broken world, just as ours is still broken in so many ways still today and all need the peace that only Jesus can bring.

Mary sings, “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.” In our series on family, we discussed the importance of faith being at the core of our families and our church so that we can experience the blessings and mercy of God from one generation to the next. As we listen to Mary’s song, we see that faith at the core of her family as she sings those themes of God’s justice and faithfulness. Mary sings of God’s mercy. Mercy, pity and compassion are all ways that the word Mary uses here can be translated, and we often hear the Scriptures talk of God’s mercy, and when Jesus comes, it almost becomes a refrain as over and over again the gospel writers say, “And Jesus saw them and had compassion on them,” or “Jesus took pity on them.” This is God’s heart, Jesus’ heart responding to us, seeing our brokenness and hurt and responding with hope and healing. No parent enjoys seeing their children suffer and will often go to extraordinary lengths to be there for their kids, even if it’s just to hold their hands to let them know that they’re not alone. God’s like that too.

Now Mary gets into the upside-down part of her song of resistance. “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.” “Inmost thoughts” can also be translated as “heart attitudes,” and I think gets at what Mary is singing about a bit better. Heart attitudes shape us and how we interact with others and when our hearts are shaped by pride, we tend to get full of ourselves and we look down on others, making them small. Yet anything we might achieve on our own is really small when you compare it to God’s mighty deeds. God created the heavens and earth, he created humanity in his own image, he delivered his people from the most powerful nation of the time when he brought Israel out of Egypt. He settled his people in land that was claimed by multiple other nations and protected them again and again, and he brought his people out of exile in Babylon. So, what have you accomplished lately compared to that, is the tone of Mary’s song?

It’s also a dig at Rome, powerful proud Rome. Mary sings, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” The echoes to the Old Testament take us to proud Pharaoh and how he ended up at the bottom of the Red Sea, it takes us to Nebuchadnezzar who ends up eating grass like a cow, and it reminds us that no matter how powerful Satan might be, even though he’s even referred to as the ruler of this world in John 12, and Prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2, Jesus knocks Satan off his throne by taking the sin of the world to the cross and dying for us so that we can receive new life through Jesus’ resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Compare Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Satan to Jesus, born to a simple couple from a simple place, born in a stable and a refugee soon after birth. Philippians 2 reminds us, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Because of Jesus’ humility and obedience, Paul continues in this song from Philippians, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Every knee, even the most powerful will kneel to Jesus, whether Caesar, Trump or Putin, all power will be on their knees before Mary’s child!

Mary’s song continues pointing to a world that will be turned upside down, “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” The first echo I heard was the echo to Jesus’ parable of the beggar Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. Lazarus ends up in heaven while the rich man ends up in hell, desperate for a drop of water to ease his burning tongue while Lazarus is with Abraham in heaven. While on earth the rich man had a great life but ignored the poor right outside his own gates, while Lazarus was the sore covered beggar at the gates desperate for the crumbs off the rich man’s table. In Jesus’ upside-down kingdom the beggar is raised up while the clueless rich man is brought down.

I also hear the echo to the Beatitudes, an early picture of Jesus’ upside-down kingdom, where Jesus tells his listeners that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. If your heart aches for those who oppressed, for the poor, the widowed, orphaned, homeless, outsider, Jesus will you with his strength and courage to work towards creating a world shaped with the shalom of God. There is a quiet warning here in Mary’s song to be careful that our focus on earth’s comforts and wealth doesn’t consume us, becoming gods in our lives who take Jesus’ place.

Mary’s song ends with God’s mercy to his people as he promised so many years earlier. God is a promise keeper, a God who never abandons his people, a God who saves his people, all through this child that is now growing in Mary, the child who calls us to go make disciples of Jesus’ upside-down kingdom.