Close to Home: Wonder (Mary) (MPLS)

Luke 1:46-55

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Last week Mary and her cousin, Elizabeth, were together, supporting one another through their shared time of pregnancy. It was a beautiful moment of connection, of sharing life together, of celebrating that gift that was unfolding in their midst. Today we pick up right where we left off, with Mary’s response to all that has happened to her.

In my 10 years as a pastor, I’ve only ever preached on this text one other time, even though it’s a familiar one. It’s one that shows up in all the lectionaries, revised common lectionary and the narrative lectionary. It’s a song that we sing often in worship. But I’m pretty sure today is only the second time I’ve ever had to preach on this text.

I kind of wish it wasn’t my turn.

Don’t get me wrong, these few verses are both lyrically beautiful and incredibly powerful. It’s little wonder they have inspired such a treasure trove of hymnody and artistry. History’s imagination has been captured by Mary’s and the song she sings.

But I’m not sure I’m the right person to make sense of this incredibly bold declaration from a teenage girl. I’m not sure that middle-aged white male should add to Mary’s radical declaration that God has done and continues to do something truly remarkable, truly world altering with and through someone like her.

Maybe that’s the point.

Maybe instead of trying to mansplain or he-peat the clear and powerful words of this young woman who has been chosen to be the one who carries God into this world, maybe I just need to just listen. Listen to her song and hear her words.

It’s a song that is simultaneously deeply personal and profoundly corporate. I mean this is Mary’s song. It’s her deep and profound celebration that God has noticed her, picked her, to be someone of eternal consequence and significance. She will be the one who gives birth to God. If anyone deserves to sing her own anthem it’s Mary. Move over Lizzo. Mary seems to be feeling good as… well, you know.

But as much Mary has absolutely every right to bask in her divine favor, she doesn’t, at least not exclusively. She announces, declares, that this thing that is about to happen to her, and through her, is not just for her, but it’s impact will affect everyone. This deeply personal and private thing is not for her alone but it has fundamentally reordered and reoriented the world.

God, Mary says, has upended power structures. God has turned things on their heads.

Rolf Jacobson, who teaches at Luther Seminary says, “Mary’s Psalm announces, ‘Christ has come to challenge the structures of sin, death, the devil, and oppression. Christ has come in the strength of the Lord to do what the Lord has always done: lift up the lowly, free the enslaved, feed the hungry, give justice to the widow, the orphan, and the sojourner.’”

But do we hear that? I mean really hear that? In all its fullness? Mary says what is, what exists in the world around us, isn’t what is going to be when the Lord is done with us. Mary says the rich, the powerful, the satiated, will be frustrated by what God has done with her.

Mary’s gain, Mary’s favor signals a loss for those that wield power and influence and wealth.

And as a person with those things, I am more than a little nervous every time I hear this song.

I want to spiritualize this song as so many have done before me. I want to soften the edges and make it about a future time to come.

But Mary’s having none of that. God has already done this. All of Mary’s verbs are past tense. This has been accomplished. God’s new world order has already been inaugurated and the old one is existing on borrowed time.

If we really listen, this is a song of resistance. It’s more than a little bit dangerous and it’s quite unsettling. But so too is the baby she carries. Mary knows that the God baby she carries will threaten the world, even as he has come to save it.

Early on in C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” the Pevensie children first learn about the great king who rules Narnia called Aslan.

As the children are talking with the animals of the forest, Mrs. Beaver says:

“Aslan is a lion — the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr. Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

This Jesus who has come, is coming and will come again is anything but safe. He has disrupted this world and will unsettle your life. But he is good. And his mercy is for those who fear him, from generation to generation.