Rev. Rebecca (Becky) Kiser: Mary's Magnificat Manifesto 12/8/19 (Advent 2A)

Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

MARY’S MAGNIFICAT MANIFESTO

Dec 8, 2019 Advent 2A

An article has been going the rounds on my clergy groups this week, called “Lies Told About Mary.” Intriguing title, isn’t it? It talks about the sweet and pious way Mary is often depicted, with soft hair, a scarf over her head, head bowed submissively, accepting the angel’s announcement about her baby quietly and obediently, or bending over the baby Jesus with her head at that characteristic tilt. (SLIDES) But I kinda hear something different when I read this passage, Mary’s song when she meets her cousin Elizabeth, both of them perhaps still reeling from encounters with angels and new pregnancies. I seem to hear a Mary who is full of prophetic vigor, claiming a Godly vision straight from her scriptures, a vision of the world being set right, injustices corrected, the playing field leveled between rich and poor;... and all thanks to God, who is holy and powerful, and who Mary’s voice rises to praise and magnify.

This song of Mary’s is known as the Magnificat, which is the first word in the Latin translation that people read Scripture in for many centuries. If we translated it word for word, it would sound like Yoda - Magnify God my soul does! In better English grammar, My soul magnifies the Lord! When we magnify something, we enlarge it, right? Like using a magnifying glass in science projects. Synonyms are words like enhance, boost, maximise, augment, intensify… we get the idea. In reference to God, then, we speak highly of God, extol God’s traits, venerate who God is, give God thanks for great deeds, praise, bless, adore - we lift God up and intensify people’s knowledge and love for God.

Most of the paintings with the word Magnificat in their titles are more just Mary meeting Elizabeth. Here’s a painting that just has the word “Magnificat” over her head; and here’s a couple where she looks at bit more exuberant. Ah, here’s one that captures the spirit of the Magnificat as being for the poor of any ethnic group together.

Here, though, is the Mary that most accords with what I hear in her song (the Ben Wildflower Mary, with fist raised and foot on a snake)!

Yes, she starts out by saying God has looked on her lowliness and she is indeed blessed to have this call. Then, however, she goes on to repeat the prophecy that has been the standard reversal proclaimed by all prophets before her - a vision of God filling the hungry and lifting up the poor - and throwing the powerful from their thrones and sending the rich empty away.

This is Mary the prophet of God, not a view of Mary that is very traditional! Yet Mary fits the role of prophet as its usually described - the prophet receives a call to do something or say a message - check; and immediately feels inadequate or unworthy - check. The prophet then aligns themselves God, as God will provide- check; and carries out the task or tells the message - check. Mary falls in line with the prophets of her heritage, the same way Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah and others do.

Its interesting that the gospel writer Luke chooses to start off telling the Jesus story with Mary echoing the words of the prophets throughout the scriptures. Its like he sets Jesus in this tradition from the start. And Luke will continue to show Jesus in the context of prophet, doing the works of setting people free, challenging the values of the government of his time, and proclaiming the kingdom of God is come in his own self. Luke evidently sees this aspect of Jesus in the tradition of the prophets as vital to understanding who Jesus is and what Jesus does.

I guess that’s why I like this interpretation of Mary’s Magnificat. Its more a manifesto than a comforting song. Mary’s words aren’t sweet, her message isn’t soft and warm. Mary’s song is a cry of God’s vindication of those who have been faithful, and have suffered. Its not the song of the powerful people celebrating their importance. The triumph of her song is the fulfilling of God’s promises, in which this enslaved and suffering people have trusted and hoped. Its the hope of those who haven’t had the more obvious blessings of the world, and have yet known they are loved by God and are equal in honor and importance to God as those who seem to be the most blessed by the world’s standards. Those who have been treated unjustly, those who have been kept down, gone hungry, had no health care, had no say, - - God will vindicate them and fulfill the promises of a just world where all have enough…where people will treat one another with dignity, will be the good neighbor, will honor God’s values of honesty and humility…where the lion can lie down with the lamb… where we will indeed be the beloved community.

We need to reclaim these parts of the Jesus story, friends, because this is the whole reason Jesus came - its the message Jesus called “good news;” its the description of the kingdom of God that Jesus announced - and so challenged the kingdoms of earth that Jesus had to be killed.

If our celebrations of God’s birth as the human Jesus are all cute babies and warm families and lavish presents, we have missed a main purpose of Jesus’ birth - that God, in a radical love for humanity and all creation, came to demonstrate that love, to call people to lives of justice, to fulfill all the promises of things set right for all peoples.

Mary’s prophecy seems more obviously good news to the downtrodden and poor, like in her imagery of filling the hungry and lifting up the lowly. It seems to be bad news to the rich and powerful in this world, as Mary describes as casting down the mighty and sending the rich away empty. For those of us in what are called the first world, who have the abundance and power that the rest of the world envies, this message should be a call to sober reflection on the inequalities of the world, both in this nation and in the world. It CAN be good news for us as well, if it opens our eyes to the imbalances and the injustices in our world, and opens our hearts to the suffering of so many. Its bad news first, though - like so many eye-opening experiences, we suddenly see our place in the big picture differently. Hopefully our hearts are not just broken, but broken open - and compassion fills us, the compassion of God who loves us all - and that compassion leads to our desire to work with God to set the world right.

So, in this Advent, how does hearing Mary’s prophetic song change the way we view the celebration of Christ’s coming among us? Its such a huge thing for God to do, to let go of the power and might of godliness, and become a mortal and finite human. What was the impetus for such a thing? Its God’s desire to heal the world, to love all the people in it, to bring in this new realm of heaven here on earth; to save us from ourselves and our worst inclinations. To make things right.

So, in this Advent, can we see ourselves singing Mary’s words?

Here’s a version of her words that captures the intent and feeling of her song for me:

Canticle of the Turning Words by Rory Cooney, music by Mark Hayes

My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great,

And my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait.

You fixed your sight on your servant's plight, and my weakness you did not spurn,

So from east to west shall my name be blest. Could the world be about to turn?