Thinking About the Magnificat

"39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” 46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home."

Introduction

This passage, and the one before it, provide wonderful illustrations of many important and suggestive theological points. First, leading up to this passage, where Mary receives a visit from the Angel Gabriel, is the issue of how grace comes in our life--is it sought out, or just received without effort? Then, here, we have the issue of another's recognition of the grace that has come your way, even before you mention it to him/her. Third, there is the way that a person, one having received grace, extrapolates from the individual experience to the global 'meaning' of the grace. Each of these scenes and points is "worthy of Rembrandt," i.e., we can imagine him taking each scenes or point and "freezing' the action to see amazed women, exalted expressions, pensive glances, grateful acknowledgements--as if the world, indeed, could never be any better than it is at that instant, as if life was "coming together" in an amazingly powerful way in the moment of revelation.

I. Receiving and Pursuing Grace

In the previous passage Mary had been approached by Gabriel with the famous greeting, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you" (Lk. 1:28). Mary was perplexed by the words and pondered them in her heart. But all she needed to do in this passage was to receive the message and the gift. She had done nothing to initiate the contact with the angel visitant. Should this be a model for our lives? Should we simply live our lives and then respond to the acts of grace of God? Or, is this story not meant to be exemplary for us? Another model of grace reception is where we "seek it out" or, in biblical language, "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." Great are the works of the Lord, indeed, but they are "studied by all" who have pleasure in them. In this approach to life and grace, grace is something that grows and is most deeply appreciated if we are already expending some effort in searching for it. In that regard, grace may be an exquisite gift. The root meaning of exquisite is of something "searched out" (ex--means "out" and quiro--means to "search," such as in the word "inquire..."). When I posed this dilemma to a friend, she just said, "well, perhaps Mary was already "working at it when grace came," a sort of hybrid approach that splits the difference. But we have this tension here--how grace comes into our lives.

II. Recognition by Another of Grace in Our Lives

In this text we have the recognition by Elizabeth, Mary's kinswoman, of the grace that was hers even before Mary says anything of it to her. She recongized the grace in Mary because the babe leapt in her womb. She interprets this leaping as a sign of recognition of spirit with spirit, where the presence of the divine is "picked up" by the child within her. So many interesting points are here. First is the notion that spiritual recognition, or awareness of grace, is something that bypasses the normal rational "scientific" process. Babes leap in wombs, women "connect" before a word is said, a mother immediately draws the conclusion that the "mother of her Lord" has visited. Something amazingly special is here in the text, teaching us that the most precious spiritual realities of life are 'picked up' by perceptions that are not those that we normally would recognize. But this sets the stage for the really big point of the passage, where Mary interprets what all of this means to her.

III. The Magnificat

Now we are ready for the "big point" of the passage. It is that Mary, the mother, the one who has accepted the angel's greeting and consented to bear the child, now interprets the "meaning" of this act of grace to her. But note that her means of interpreting it is different from Elizabeth. Elizabeth looks at the meaning only in personal terms--the mother of "my lord" visits. Indeed, the Gospel is a personal Gospel, with a message for each individual who feels need. Yet, the message of the Gospel reaches much more broadly than that, too. It is one that will have an impact on the entire universe. Mary is beautiful for us in this passage because she interprets the Gospel "globally." And, she not only interprets the message of Christ has having an implication for all the world, but she is bold enough to define how that will happen. The central message of Mary is that Jesus will bring a reversal of expectations and a reorganization of the world's values. The rich will be sent empty away, and the lowly will be raised. How does she mean this? Is it meant in what we would call a "socio-political" way or is it only meant in terms of one's "private life"--i.e., that the message of the Gospel is so powerful that it simply "reverses" everything for us? I think that one of the challenges of this passage is to try to understand how broadly it reaches. Surely it has been the inspiration to many over the years who have worked with "little people." Surely it is also foundational for understanding the rest of the Gospel of Luke--indeed, the theme of reversal of expectations is at the heart of the Gospel.

Conclusion

In any case, what we have here is news so dramatic, news so stunning that those of us who are "stuck" in our lives, discouraged by the "sameness" of it all, feeling somewhat "left out" because of the fact that "others" get all the benefits, can be emboldened and empowered to join with Mary, Elizabeth and millions of others who have discovered that the coming of the Christ Child does, indeed, revolutionize their world. May it do so for you, expecially this year.

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