Don't Mess with Mary!

Luke 1:46b-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.”

Today we’re taking a new look at Mary.  Neither through a Roman Catholic lens nor a Protestant lens (which is typically an over reaction to the Catholic lens).  We’re certainly NOT going to look at Mary through an evangelical lens which turns her into a model for women to be submissive, meek, and mild and do what they’re told.  Today we’re going to do our best to look at Mary through this text alone.  

The text beings with the angel Gabriel saying, “Greetings favored one!  The Lord is with you.”  The angel continues with “Do not be afraid,” an understandable and very standard angel greeting.  But here’s the thing… the text doesn’t say that MARY was afraid at all.  The text says Mary was PERPLEXED, yes, but that’s very different from afraid.  She wasn’t cowering, meek, or submissive here in any way.  Confused a bit, yes, BECAUSE THERE WAS A FREAKIN’ ANGEL IN HER ROOM, but fully in her higher, thinking brain.

  

It’s also clear from the text that the angel isn’t forcing anything onto Mary but is simply passing on the message that God has noticed Mary.  Noticed her NOT for her meekness, looks, or even her available uterus… but for her GRACE.  It was the courage and boldness she already possessed that found Gods favor.  It was her faith… her trust that the God of justice WOULD ACT in her world… THAT’S what God saw.  Her own passion for lifting the lowly and scattering the proud... THAT is what God both noticed and honored that day. 

It’s also important, as we take this new look at Mary, to see what’s NOT in the text.  The text has NO mention of Mary’s age and the word we translate as a “virgin” is a very particular word in the original Greek.  It refers ONLY to a person who has not yet had a child.  Nothing more than that.  All the rest of Mary’s intimate life details we've heard over the years are bits of made up tradition that people (mostly men if we're honest) have added to the story for reasons far beyond and often contradicting what’s in the text.

As the encounter with the angel draws to a close, it’s VERY important to see that agreeing to carry the Christ child, ONLY happens with Mary’s informed consent.  She doesn’t give a cowering yes.  She gives the angel some hard questions.  She doesn’t just go along submissively.  She was an active, informed participant in God’s work, just as she had been before the angel arrived.  In the end, it was HER decision to say, “let it be with me according to your word”...  it was only Mary’s “YES” that moved things along and I am quite sure that if Mary had said “NO,” God would have honored that choice as well, because THIS is a God of justice!  These things are why using Mary’s story as justification to date underage girls or permission to ignore a woman’s choice is not only an abuse of the text, but is also blaspheming the genuine nature of this God of justice!

  

And it's in this text that we so clearly hear Mary proclaim THAT particular nature of God!  It’s in that Magnificat where we see how God’s nature matches the independent, strong willed, revolutionary nature of Mary.  When Elizabeth proclaimed Mary “blessed” it wasn’t just because of who was in her womb, but because, as the text tells us, Mary was one who doggedly believed God would fulfill God’s promise of justice for the world!

It was in that spirit that Mary let loose with The Magnificat… which is nothing less than the ultimate political manifesto, proclaiming the fall of the wealthy, proud, and powerful and the rise of the poor, hungry, and forgotten of the world.  It has remained such a perfect insistence on JUSTICE as the will of God, that The Magnificat has been banned by three governments over the years for being too revolutionary. 

Over the centuries, people have attempted to tame Mary, but Mary isn’t anyone who will be tamed!  She’s an independent, clear thinking, justice-oriented woman in charge of her own comings and goings, in charge of her own mind and in charge of her own body.  She’s clear about what she values and was willing to collaborate with God in a unique, new, way to move the world toward her and God’s shared values of justice, compassion, and peace.  

She’s a powerful model for ministry, demonstrating a faithfulness so strong it drew God’s favor.  She's also a powerful model for discerning God’s call.  She shows us the importance of not simply accepting any new idea that just happens along without question, but also the importance of being open to God doing a new thing… both of which require listening, questioning, and reflecting.  

She was neither tricked nor intimidated into bringing Christ into the world.  She saw, after genuine discernment, bringing Christ into the world to be her next opportunity to collaborate with God to bend the arc of the moral universe toward the justice God intends for the world... the same justice she had embraced long before any angel showed up on the scene.  She is blessed.  But blessed for being willing to bring God’s light into the darkness in a new way.  Blessed for her powerful witness to God’s desire for justice which, even today, continues to humble the proud, bring down the powerful, fill the hungry, and lift up the lowly. 

May you and I be blessed, as Mary is blessed, by embracing God's desire for justice as Mary did.  May we be just as confident as Mary, that God's will for justice and peace WILL reign and may we, like Mary, find our way to  collaborate with God in bringing God’s reign of justice to earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.  

Thanks to Ben Wildflower for the artwork!