Luke 1:39-56









We had the children’s Christmas program this Sunday, so no sermon. It was my first ‘directing’ experience, and I think it went pretty well.
The gospel text for today is the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise that she delivers after visiting her relative Elizabeth (Jesus and John are often called cousins, but there is no reason to think that Elizabeth and Mary were sisters-they are clearly very different in age).
The Magnificat is one of the most quoted texts in liberation theology-the movement started in Latin America in opposition to Dictatorships (backed by American military technology) in Central American countries. These dictators, and our relationship to them were popularized most in the Iran-Contra controversy in the Regan years, and the oppression in these countries (that does still continue) is an issue that comes up annual in protests at the School of the Americas in Fort Bennings Georgia.


These radical Christians (largely Catholic priests and laity) read texts like ‘send the rich away hungry’ and ‘scatters the proud hearted’ and decided that God has a preferential option for the poor-that God’s will is bending on behalf of the downtrodden, even at the expense of the wealthy and powerful.
These images of the rich being cast down (or the list of woe’s in Luke’s beatitudes-woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation, etc.) are controversial. For most of us, it is easiest to interpret them as hyperbole. There are two ways this is usually done-we can talk about them as aimed at shaking wealthy people up, so that they might more closely pay attention to their power and participation in economic oppression, rather than taking literally the claim that those who are rich will be sent away empty. Alternatively, you can read them as words aimed at the poor everywhere, offering them the hope that while it seems like the deck is stacked against them in every regard, the greatest power in the universe is in the end, on their side, a hope they need to be able to hold on. Either way, many argue that in the kingdom of heaven, when everything is made equal, the retributive (rather than redistributive) aspects of these texts will fall by the wayside.
Either way, this Christmas, as we fill the season with all sorts of material things, I hope that we remember that the Bible suggests Mary’s response to a new savior was to praise God for enduring faithfulness to the people of Israel, and to the poor. It makes me wonder how the church might embody that faithfulness today.