A sermon on Luke 1:46 – 55 by Dr Liza B. Lamis
A video recording of the whole liturgy, including this sermon, is available here.

Luke 1: 46-55:  Mary’s Song of Praise

And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour 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 for ever.’

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WHO IS MARY to you? 

In the Protestant Christian churches, Mary has less influence and figure in our traditions. Unlike in the Catholic churches, Mary assumes an influential role and is even iconic, and sometimes cultic. But here we are, with our scripture text said by Mary this Sunday. 

This is our opportunity to explore and know Mary closer, the woman who birthed Jesus who is the Christ, and who also became a foremost disciple of Jesus.

So, who is Mary to you?

MARY:  WOMAN OF FAITH AND COURAGE 

According to the Gospels, Mary was a young girl betrothed to an older man named Joseph. She became pregnant even before she got married. In their culture, marriage is arranged early. At 12 years young, a girl is already betrothed. When she is found pregnant before her marriage, she will be stoned to death by her village people, perhaps by her very own relatives. We can imagine how distressed Mary was.  

The gospels also tell us that an angel appeared to Mary to tell her she would bear a child before her marriage to Joseph. The angel said that it is God’s will that the Holy Spirit makes her pregnant. According to Luke, Mary accepted her fate and responded to the angel by saying, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.” Mary accepted her fate readily, and with Joseph attempting to abandon her. 

SO, LET IT BE. “That I deliver the Son of God. This will be difficult, but here I am, God’s servant.”

Now, remember that Mary was a real woman – young, peasant, pregnant, unwed. 

Mary took the shame of being pregnant without a husband, and the pains of going through a pregnancy and a difficult situation of giving birth in a place away from home – whether it was in a manger as the gospel of Luke tells us, or in a house according to Matthew’s account, or in a cave in Bethlehem – according to scholars.  

With Joseph, later, Mary had to flee to Egypt to keep her son Jesus safe from the madness of King Herod.

Imagine the young woman Mary:  pregnant before her marriage, future husband almost to leave, with the potential to be killed by stoning; and later giving birth away from home.

This was MARY – a tough, young woman having faith in her YHWH-God, and a woman of great courage will all her challenges and troubles.

Luke tells us also, that after the angel appeared to Mary, she went to her cousin Elizabeth. And there, when she met Elizabeth, she uttered the Magnificat. Mary uttered this song of praise in a context where only a downtrodden and an oppressed woman could. 

During the time of Mary, her land was occupied territory. Judea was Roman territory, guarded from local rebels and insurrections by Roman soldiers. Why was there an insurrectionary movement? 

Heavy taxes. 

Forced labor. 

Military presence, and abuses – military men raping and assaulting young women. 

Death penalty by hanging on a tree was the punishment for suspected rebels. 

This was the immediate context of Mary. And as a good Jewish woman, she knew her Sacred Scriptures. She lifted the Magnificat from Hanna’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.

According to the Magnificat, and according to the story of Mary as a young woman then, she was a WOMAN OF FAITH and COURAGE. She had to be. A woman of less courage and faith could have already fallen or have gone mad. 

The Magnificat articulates Mary’s vision of a radical change in society. Mary knew poverty as a peasant girl, as one who is violated at such a young age. She witnessed the suffering and the killing of her people under occupation. She bravely pronounced her understanding of God who brings down the oppressor and lifts the oppressed. 

I hear Mary saying:  LET IT BE. That I become God’s partner in building justice in this world.

Question:  How does this Mary of the Magnificat and in the gospels compare to the Mary you know since you were a child? 

WHAT KIND OF SPIRITUALITY AND OBEDIENCE DOES this MARY of the Magnificat and the Gospels inspire us?

First, Mary models a bold and courageous spirituality. 

The Magnificat is a clue about her people’s condition of massive exploitation and oppression. It is this bold spirituality as reflected in the Magnificat that criticizes our conditions today. 

I speak from my context of inequality of the distribution of wealth – Where there are only a few who own the vast riches of land, while many are wallowing in poverty; 

Where there is vast and wanton corruption in government – as well as in churches. 

Where greed of the few and blind consumerism of the many destroy the earth by drilling and mining it – plundering it, in other words. 

Where women and children are traded or trafficked; Where modern-day colonization and slavery push people deeper into poverty; 

Where the rule of the powerful men perpetrates violence against women, children, and the subordinated men. 

Vast poverty with pockets of affluence; 

Frequent calamities – human-made and natural, with accompanying exploitation by those in powerful government positions.

Where our national wealth is exploited and enjoyed by foreign capitalists and not by the Indigenous Peoples or the Lumads; 

where abuse and violence against those who are disempowered like the women, children, the LGBTQIA++ people are rampant; 

Where religious leaders either connive or keep silent about the exploitation and the oppression of the people.

This is so Philippine context and reality today.  

Question:  How does the Magnificat speak to you in your own context?

Mary’s words in the Magnificat are sharp pronouncements on oppression and exploitation that strike the oppressors at the heart. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and theologian who was executed by the Nazis, called the Magnificat “the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary hymn ever sung.” I believe so.

The Magnificat is also a clue as to how she, as a Jew, as an oppressed Jewish woman perceived YHWH-God – that God is the God of Justice and Righteousness. Her words inspire works of liberation and justice today in many places. And this Christmas season, she helps us re-birth courage and hope in loving this world more that is war-torn, destroyed, with many who are cold, hungry, homeless. And with many who just look away. 

Perhaps, and I believe this, Mary sang the Magnificat as a lullaby for her son. Mary followed a God who took the side of the poor and the oppressed, a God who brought down kings and kingdoms, a God who wept with those who weep and who cried with those who cry. Mary nurtured her son Jesus well. 

Second, Mary models a compassionate and caring spirituality. 

Mary was a foremost disciple and follower of Jesus in his ministry. Jesus had several women disciples, and one of them was Mary his mother. Mary was with him until the end of Jesus’ life. Mary was there at the foot of the cross, when her son was dying, while the men disciples were out of sight. Mary knew from the bottom of her heart, that because of her son’s mission and ministry –that of siding and defending the poor and the oppressed  -living out the Christ Manifesto as stated in Luke 4:18-19 – Jesus would be crucified. 

Mary was a weeping mother (mater dolorosa), a mother whose heart was pierced for the killing of a son. The son whom she knew had a mission, and whose mission she shared in her life. 

Mary knew pain. She too, was a wounded healer and comforter for the suffering people. She embraced and lived a compassionate and caring spirituality by being a follower and a disciple of Jesus.

We are called to go back to the biblical Mary and relate to her as the compassionate mother who accompanies her struggling children. How do we meaningfully express our faith  – like Mary – as we journey with our people in their pains and struggles?

Mary also invites us to be her companion as passionate disciples of Jesus, to seek justice for the oppressed, to comfort the afflicted, to welcome the neglected and the marginalized, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to work for the release of the captives, to announce the good news of God’s unconditional love for all.

This is the spirituality of Mary that we need to emulate – a spirituality that is bold and courageous, compassionate and caring. Mary is our accompanier in our journey to a fuller life – a life lived like Jesus’. A life lived according to God’s will. For what does God requires of us, Mortals? 

 “To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6.8). This is exactly what Mary and Jesus did in their lives and ministry – do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God in our daily lives. That is how they loved this world – the world that God so loved. 

SO, LET IT BE. THAT WE LOOK AT MARY DIFFERENTLY. 

Not a meek and docile woman. But a woman of courage and grit, passion and compassion, and with so much beauty and passion in helping bring-in the reign of YHWH-God. 

LET IT BE! 

That we be like Mary in faith and courage, 
as we draw near Jesus’ birth. AMEN.