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| James Tissot, The Magnificat |
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that God had chosen her to bear a child, saying:
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33).
If
you were Mary, what would you make of that announcement? Would you accept the
mission Gabriel sets before her? Or would you say, thank you very much for the
honor but I’d prefer not to take on the job.
Mary could have said no. It was her choice.
But after she asked some very pointed questions of Gabriel she said yes. In
saying yes, Mary followed the example of other prophets by receiving her call
with humility.
Consider that when God asked if anyone was
ready and willing to represent God’s interests before the king, Isaiah said “Here am I, send me.” He spoke of his
willingness, but he first confessed that he didn’t feel up to the job (Isa. 6).
Like Isaiah, Mary wasn’t sure she was qualified, but like Isaiah, she said yes,
and the rest is history.
We
pick up the story when Mary travels to the home of her cousin Elizabeth, who is
also pregnant. While Mary is very young, Elizabeth is said to be much older. In
fact, like Sarah and Hannah before her, she is past the age of childbearing. Yet
she is pregnant with the child who will grow up to be John the Baptist. When
the two women meet for this reunion, the child in Elizabeth’s womb jumps for
joy. Then Elizabeth tells Mary that she is blessed because she carries the Lord
in her womb.
When
Mary hears this word of affirmation, she breaks out in song, magnifying the
name of the Lord. While Mary sings God’s praises she reveals God’s plan to
bring down the powerful and lift up the oppressed. Indeed, God will fill the
hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. God is going to do this
through her son. Yes, God is going to act in the world through this child she
carries in her womb. In singing this song, Mary echoes themes heard in prophets
such as Amos, Micah, and Isaiah. As she makes this announcement of God’s plans
she also reveals that this work of God through her son will fulfill the promise
God made to Abraham and his descendants. That promise is a covenant of blessing
for the nations.
It’s
easy to jump from the person who sings the song to its message of justice. The
song is powerful in its own right, but what about the messengers? Think about the connection between Elizabeth
and Mary, along with the connection between the two children still in their mothers’
wombs.
Elizabeth
and John fulfill their prophetic calling by pointing the way to the child that Mary
carries in her womb. Mary fulfills her calling by accepting the call of God to
bear the child who will come to be called Jesus, “and will be great, and
will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the
throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33).
Not
only will Mary bear this child, but when we think in cultural terms, Mary would
have been Jesus’ first teacher. She would have taught him the foundational
elements of the Jewish faith that he would draw upon over time.
Protestants
often downplay Mary’s role in the Christian story. There are various reasons
for this, but this morning we have the opportunity to invite Mary back into the
center of the story. We can join Elizabeth in calling her blessed. In fact, we
might want to join the majority of the Christian world and call her the “Theotokos,”
which in English means the “God-bearer.”
This term has its origins in the fourth and fifth centuries when theologians
tried to nail down Jesus’s identity as both divine and human. Those conversations
continue to this day as we struggle to make sense of the declaration that the Word
of God became flesh and lived among us (John 1:1-14).
If
Mary is, in fact, the Theotokos, then she was a partner with God in the
redemption of the world. As Gabriel promised, her child “will reign over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary
is the one who, for whatever reason, God chose to bless. In reflecting on this
calling, theologian Joe Jones writes:
“It should now be fully clear that creaturely bodiliness is not alien to God
but is assumed by God and lovingly embraced by God, not just in possibility but
in concrete act” [Grammar of Christian Faith, p. 410].
As
we listen to Mary’s song, in which she celebrates her calling to share with God
in the redemption of the world, we hear a rather radical message. Mary reveals how
God will turn the world upside down so that the proud are scattered, the
powerful are brought down from their thrones, and the lowly and the hungry are
lifted up. All of this takes place through the work of her son. No wonder the
early church called her the “God-bearer.”
There
is much about Mary’s story that is a mystery. However, in this song, we hear
her magnify the Lord and rejoice in God her savior, “for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely
from now on all generations will call me blessed.”
This
morning we have heard Mary proclaim the blessings that come when the realm of
God is fully revealed. Might we then celebrate Mary’s call to partner with God in
setting in motion God’s work of salvation, liberation, and reconciliation?
While
Mary might not have used Isaiah’s words, when God called, she answered: “Here am I, send me.” Because she was
willing to answer this call, even though she was young and her station in life
was lowly, we can join the nations and call her blessed, “according to the promise made to Abraham and to his descendants
forever.”
As
we leave here today, we move from the hills of Judea—where Mary resided in the
house of Elizabeth for three months—to the little town of Bethlehem. This is
the town that according to the prophet Micah is but “one of the little clans of Judah,” yet “from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). In this “little town of Bethlehem,” where “the
dark streets shineth the everlasting Light; the hopes and fears of all the
years are met in thee tonight.” (Phillips Brookes)
The
time for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus is near at hand, but for now let us
take heed of the words of Mary, “the God-bearer,”
who cries out like an eighth-century prophet, expressing God’s vision of God’s
realm, where justice and peace will reign, and the glory of God will be
revealed through Mary’s child. May we, as God’s people, join with Elizabeth and
John and declare of Mary: “Blessed are
you among women, and blessed be the fruit of your womb.”
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Acting Pulpit Supply
First Presbyterian Church
Troy, MI
Advent 4C
December 19, 2021
Tissot, James, 1836-1902. Magnificat, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57927 [retrieved December 18, 2021]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Magnificat_(Le_magnificat)_-_James_Tissot_-_ov Erall_.jpg.
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