Luke 1:39-55, from the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
Mary has picked up many titles down through the centuries.
“Holy Mother of God” is among the oldest, appearing in the 1558 Litany of Loreto, along with “Mother of the Church,” “Virgin Most Renowned,” “Queen of Angels,” and many more.
In this week’s passage, though, she comes off more like “Mary the Malcontent.” We don’t typically think of her as a rebel, and the song attributed to her in Luke 1:46-55 doesn’t start out like a rebel’s anthem:
“My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant,” she sings.
“From now on all nations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm.”
This is the Mary we know, the one who smiles gently down at baby Jesus in every manger scene.
But read on, because there is more than a baby in Mary’s belly. There is fire.
“He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts,” she sings, her voice perhaps sharpening and growing louder. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”
For all we know, the next line might even have come out more like an angry hiss than a song: “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”
Whoa, there, Mary! I’m sensing a lot of hostility, here. It sounds like you don’t like the status quo, and it sounds like you’re expecting this baby of yours to shake it up. In fact, you sound a lot like Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, in I Samuel 2:1-10. Some highlights:
“My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance” (v. 2:1).
“The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength” (v. 2:4).
“Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more” (v.2:5).
Wait — isn’t Christmas about peace on Earth and good will toward men? Why all this violence-and-vengeance-tinged talk about whacking an out-of-whack world back into whack?
If you’ve been paying attention through these four Sundays of Advent, you know exactly why. Despite the centuries we’ve spent trying to sentimentalize it and, more recently, commercialize it, Christmas commemorates the night God waded ashore in the world and launched an invasion aimed at toppling every kingdom and replacing it with his own.
Every kingdom, yours included, I’m afraid. Mine, too.
But lift up your head, for your salvation is drawing near. Prepare the way of the Lord. He has judged the world, and you along with it, and his judgment is that much in the world needs destroying.
But not you. Your kingdom, yes. But not you. His judgment is that you, beloved of God, need rescuing. And that is why he has come.
Merry Christmas.
Next week: First Sunday after Christmas Day
