Year C
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
The Rev. Denise Vaughn
The Song of Love
What would make you celebrate wildly, without inhibition is the question N.T. Wright, asks in his book ‘Advent for Everyone?’ Perhaps he says; it would be the news that someone close to you who’d been very sick was getting better and would soon be home. Perhaps it would be the message that all your money worries, or business worries, had been sorted out and you could relax. Perhaps it would be the telephone call to say that you had been appointed to the job you’d always longed for. Or perhaps it’s a letter from someone you long to hear from. Whatever it might be, you’d probably do things you normally wouldn’t do. You might telephone everybody you could think of and invite them to a party. You might even dance around the room, which is what I did over 25 years ago when the bishop said yes to my becoming a postulant allowing me to move forward in the process for ordained ministry. You might even sing a song. One you already knew, or one you make up as you go along or one adding your own new words to a great old hymn. It would be the sort of hymn you could dance to, clap your hands to or stamp the ground.
This is how we should read Mary’s song, N. T. Wright says, the Magnificat, one of the most famous songs in Christianity. “It’s been whispered in monasteries, chanted in cathedrals, recited in churches all over the world, and set to music with trumpets and kettledrums by Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s a fierce bright shout of triumph 30 weeks before Bethlehem and 30 years before Calvary and Easter.” This isn’t surprising because Christmas was born in the midst of songs. It seems inevitable that the words spoken by Gabriel to Mary, by Mary herself today and by Zechariah, and by Simeon in the temple were sung. They are too jubilant and triumphant to be spoken without benefit of tune and rhythm. And it’s all because of Jesus. Not yet born, but already made Elizabeth’s baby dance for joy in her womb. The two songs we hear today were given by two remarkable women, Elizabeth and Mary because of their deep faith in God and a willingness to be used by God.
Mary & Elizabeth were cousins separated in age by probably thirty years. Elizabeth was the wife of a priest and therefore possessed some measure of position. Mary was, no doubt, simply a peasant girl. Yet, they were kindred spirits in the most profound way because they both shared a dream that one day all that the prophets had said would come true. That there would be a fulfillment of what God had promised. Then, right out of the blue, God promised Elizabeth, and her husband Zechariah, who had waited many years for the miracle of having a baby that they would have a son, that his name would be called John, and that he would minister “with the spirit and power of Elijah.” Nearly six months later, Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel, with the message that she had found favor with God, and that she would bear a child who would be called “the Son of the Most High.” When Gabriel told Mary that her kinswoman Elizabeth was also with child, Mary wasted no time in finding her way to Elizabeth.
The moment she greeted her cousin, an extraordinary thing happened. As Luke, reports it, “the babe leaped in Elizabeth’s womb,” and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. It was as if John the Baptist already recognized his calling to declare the coming Messiah. Then Elizabeth spoke the simplest kind of testimony, her song filled with gratitude and excitement as she wonders why such favors should come to her. Mary’s response is the glorious Magnificat. This song contains what some have said is “the first rough draft of Christianity.” The mood of this song is reflected in the beatitudes and almost every word of it is quoted from the scriptures Mary would have known from childhood. Mary’s song sums up the history of God’s chosen people, loved by their faithful God even when they were unfaithful; chosen, not because they were numerous or powerful, but just because they were little and insignificant. Mary pictures God on the march against those who have wealth and power.
The hazard is this: power of any sort – whether talent, money, or position breeds a certain kind of arrogance or pride, and it blinds us, or at least dulls our sensitivities, to the pain of others. Mary reminds us that the people who bear Jesus’ name must always have a special heart for the poor. We are to measure our wealth not in the size of our endowments, nor in the beauty of our buildings, but in the poor of body, mind, purse, and spirit of those who are drawn to us or those to whom we are able to serve. To those of low degree, Mary envisioned a day when God would exalt them because the meek, unlike the proud, are receptive, open to God’s arrival. As Phillips Brooks’ hymn says, “where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.
What is it that Christ enters into? We find the answer in the collect for today: “Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself.” Or, as Brooks put it in the same hymn: “O Holy Child of Bethlehem descend to us we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.” When we become meek, God dwells among us, with us, and in us—truly Emmanuel, God-with-us. God chose Mary to bear his Son not because she was great but because she was meek, humble, and lowly that God chose her. It was God who made her great. It was God who lifted up the lowly handmaiden and made her the mother of his Son. We can all be like Mary. We can open our hearts to God and to each other, to receive Christ who is always willing to enter in.
It’s the season for singing and for giving a song to others. Elizabeth sang, and set loose Mary’s song. Mary sang in such a way that the challenge is still upon us today. When we feel ourselves getting big, we can remember Mary’s song, a song of justice and love. Today we lit the candle of love and even though the text’s never mention the word love. Justice without love is not the work of Christ. That work, from incarnation, through cross and resurrection is truly love to those who need God. The good news is: God cares. Our job is to line up our lives with the God who cares for the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf. Our hands can help lift up the lowly, as we are lifted up ourselves. Our hands can feed the hungry, as we are fed at the hands of God. Emmanuel. God-with-us. For without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God. So let us go out with a song like Mary and Elizabeth and all those who have been willing to be used by God to bring such a beautiful thing to pass. We can open our hearts that, by the grace of God, will become mansions prepared for his Son at his coming. “O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Emmanuel!”