4th Monday of Advent (December 23). ALL GENERATIONS WILL CALL HER BLESSED

Prepare to Listen.  The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 1:46-55  The Magnificat
46And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
    47and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
    Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
50His mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
    and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
Mary was unwed and pregnant, yet she rejoiced and proclaimed, “he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.”  Wonder why she could say that.
 
Mary’s Magnificat highlights Luke’s key teaching about Jesus.  It’s also a subversive and courageous song of hope, all about God and all about revolution, as Wright notes.[1]  It’s a revolution that gives hope to Mary’s own class—the poor, the oppressed, the disenfranchised.  She sang “about God’s defense of the defenseless, God’s rescue of the lowly, God’s upheaval of the proud and overthrow of those in power.”[2]  The ruling authorities would tremble at her words since they announced their demise, not as a future possibility, but as a present reality.  No wonder she rejoiced.

Mary’s social justice theology was rooted in Scripture, with almost every word a quotation. She believed her pregnancy began God’s revolution that would reverse fortunes, and the poor would benefit the most.  Jesus lived what she sang.  He made room for the poor and marginalized, he warned the rich not to trust in their wealth and power, he promised God’s kingdom to the poor, not the rich.  Mary’s trust in God’s word was so sure that she knew all generations would, one day call her blessed.

How can you participate in God’s social justice revolution begun in Jesus?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Thank you, Lord, for Mary and her deep insight into the scope of your salvation.  Give me her courage today to speak up for the weak and powerless.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Participate in Jesus’ reversal of fortunes.
[1] Wright, N.T.  Luke For Everyone.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  2004, p. 14.
[2] B. B. Taylor.  Always a Guest.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  2020, p. 129.