Magnificat

In tomorrow's Gospel reading Mary sings the Magnificat, which is what we call the hymn of praise from Mary in Luke's Gospel. In the sermon God's Kingdom Breaking in, I once preached,

But, the most intriguing thing for me in Mary’s Song is the way she takes the ideals of God’s kingdom and presents them as if they are already accomp- lished facts. The song uses an amazing number of past tense verbs. Everything is already accomp-lished for Mary. For some things, that is not so surprising. God has already look with favor on his lowly servant Mary. The almighty already has done great things for her....

Listen to these words of Mary’s song and ask yourself if the changes in the way the world works have even yet occurred 2000 years later:

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

There are few kings in the world today, but the seats of power still belong to the mighty. The lowly rarely if ever get lifted up. The hungry often continue to go hungry, while those who have seem to get more. Yet, Mary speaks of lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things in the past tense....

Mary has come to see that what God is doing through her is a sign that all of God’s promises are as good as fulfilled. God is faithful and the old way of doing things is as good as gone now that God is becoming human through her child Jesus. God’s kingdom is breaking into our world in a new and marvelous way that makes it clear that the lowly are as good as lifted up and the hungry are as good as filled with good things.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor