The ‘canticle’ within each one of us
December 11, 2022
Scriptures: James 5:7-10, Luke 1:47-55
Today’s scripture is a very well known passage in the story of our faith. Called the Song of Mary, or the Magnificat, a Latin word meaning ‘magnify’, the passage is a prayer that Mary speaks aloud during a visit to her cousin Elizabeth’s house. Mary is responding to Elizabeth’s greeting when she tells Mary that ‘she is so blessed to be the mother of Jesus’, and that her own baby, who was to become John the Baptist ‘leaped for joy’ in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s greeting. This wondrous and faith-filled prayer of Mary is recorded in our gospel reading from Luke.
This ‘Song of Mary’ has been a part of the Christmas story from the very beginning, recalling themes from the Old Testament, as well as speaking to the future focus and ministry of her son Jesus. There are a number of ways to hear this passage, but I have chosen three themes on which to focus. These are: the giving of thanks, the ministry of justice, and salvation. Each of these themes is given weight in this short passage, and each has something to teach each one of us.
The first theme, the giving of thanks, is so much a part of the history of our Christian faith expression. We find it throughout the scriptures from the very beginning in the Old Testament through to the giving of thanks when Jesus broke the bread and blessed the cup at the Last Supper.
We find it there, not because it is some requirement or duty, but rather because it is the natural response of someone who truly sees and knows just how good and loving our Lord really is. As with Mary, giving heartfelt thanks to God should not be something we choose to do…rather, something we cannot help but do. Gratitude towards our Lord is the underlying melody of our whole faith expression, that doorway into which we place ourselves, that opens out onto and into a living relationship with the Lord.
We give thanks like Mary, because we are so overwhelmed with the mercy and love that has first been extended to each of us. Our passage starts with, ‘My soul magnifies…’ Mary’s song of praise and thanksgiving, welling up from the depths of her soul was one of such deep gratitude and it truly served to ‘magnify’ her Lord…it made larger, more visible, and more apparent, the nature of her Lord and our God. And so with Mary, whose prayer served to increase the awareness of God to those around her…so should our prayers of gratitude as well.
The second theme is one I speak of often. It is that of justice…and in particular, justice for those who are oppressed, including the poor, the struggling, and the outcasts of society. In a foretelling of what would be a central focus of the ministry of Jesus, Mary’s words calling for the ‘justice of God’ speak just as boldly today. As much as her song is a song of praise and thanksgiving for what God has done for her, it also is a song lifted against the powers and oppressors of her day. It speaks out against pride and arrogance, and it speaks of bringing down the powerful from their thrones on high, echoing themes found in the writings of the prophet Isaiah. In his call for justice, Isaiah says that the ‘mountains shall be brought low’ and the ‘valleys lifted up’ in a profound leveling of the structure of society, that all might find provision and care across the whole of God’s family.
Another related focus that was quite dominant in Jesus’ ministry is echoed when Mary speaks out against greed and wealth, saying that in the day of God’s justice the hungry have been ‘filled with good things’ and the rich have been ‘sent away empty’. Mary lived in a time when the dominant power, that of the Roman Empire, was terribly oppressive and a constant source of much injustice for those in the outer margins of society. The Jewish people were just such a minority people…people trod upon, spat upon, spoken and thought of so poorly. And yet in Mary’s song, the justice of God is extended towards them in fullness and grace.
I wonder just how it would be if we were to really hear Mary’s song again today. If we were to look around at the society in which we find ourselves and ask, who are the ‘Roman powers’ of today, who are the rich and powerful, the prideful and the arrogant? And, who are the lowly, the hungry, the oppressed and trod upon, who are those who are thought poorly of, who are ridiculed and spoken ill of? Does our own ‘faith-song’ here magnify a God who came that these people here among us might find freedom and justice? And if our song does say that, how well, and how often do we sing it? And if it does not, why not?
The third theme, that of ‘salvation’ is found in Mary’s opening sentence…‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior’. In thinking about justice, and in knowing that Mary was one of those seeking freedom from severe oppression, it is not hard to understand why she calls God her Savior. She knows she needs a Savior, she knows she needs someone to deliver her from the daily struggles of life. Now Rome as you will recall felt that the Savior had already come. Rome saw their Roman Emperor as God on earth. As such, the Emperor was the ‘savior’ for all those fortunate to be in mainstream Roman society. You see, Rome had found for herself a substitute for the one true God, and had set up a complex and rigidly enforced system of control and behaviors designed to keep it that way. For those still out in the margins however, the Savior had not yet come.
I think it is not so hard to lose sight of the fact that in truth, all of us are still very much in need of a Savior today. Perhaps not for the same reasons as Mary, although her condition is echoed in many, many people’s lives right here in our own community, but because it is so much easier to follow Rome’s example, finding a cheap and flashy substitute to garner our attention or devotion.
There are the usual easy substitutes…the ones we all call sinful or bad, things like drugs or drink, or greed or wealth. It is not these however that often blind ‘good people’ and take their eyes off of the real Savior, but rather other things…perhaps our jobs, or our families, or our very fortunate circumstances that provide us with a warm home, a fine set of clothing, and ample food in our pantries and freezers. These things that can turn our focus away from the real truths of our lives, or turn us away from fear and insecurities, are things like the desire to satisfy appetites far outside of our need, or the perennial wish to have the most or the ‘best that money can buy’.
These are the things that make us forget the mess we have gotten ourselves into. These are the things that may cause us to look elsewhere for a Savior…for one who is truly waiting to save us from the messiness of daily life, one who knows our real needs and so wants to show us the pathway towards deep and authentic joy and peace. It was this same deep and authentic joy and peace that Mary felt welling up from the depths of her soul, causing her heart to sing aloud to God…
…might our own search for Jesus cause the same deep and complete prayer to rise up within each one of us…
…amen