Luke 1:46 - 56
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
Much Christian Scripture arises out of a predominantly male-dominated culture. For centuries scholars have assumed male authorship even for anonymously-written books of the Bible. There is little doubt that in both Old Testament and New Testament narratives males play a primary role.
Some people hinge an entire theology of gender on the Apostle Paul and some of his letters to the early Churches. With a surface reading of Paul's letters, many feel that Paul elevates men over women and encourages a kind of "chain of command" in which men legitimately stand over women. It's not an uncommon view within the Church.
I've also met a number of people through the years who carry an extreme dislike for Paul because of his supposed male bias. They hate Paul because they think he hated women.
If you know that the culture of the biblical narratives was biased toward men, it becomes even more significant when you run into passages where women are featured, where females stand center stage.
The Old Testament reading for today is from I Samuel 1 - 2 and tells the story of Hannah, who in her barrenness cried out to God for a child. Hannah stood front and center as the major character in the story that brought Samuel onto the scene. Samuel ended up being a central figure in Old Testament religion.
The Gospel reading is Mary's Magnificat, her glorifying or magnifying God for what God was doing in her life and in the world. She sings this song that celebrates God's action among all people, bringing God's light to shine upon all people.
We need to read Mary's words. They speak to God raising up the little and bringing down the big. They report on God's feeding the hungry and sending the satisfied away empty. Throughout the Magnificat there is a huge leveling. God is making even, bringing life to equilibrium. In fact, what Mary sings in this song is a microcosm of what God did in her life. She is merely singing her personal experience of God.
I'm a white male. For the most part, throughout my lifetime people have listened to me . . . because of the positions I've held, the roles I've been in, the jobs in which I've been employed.
I notice, though, that when people don't listen to me or give heed to my words and ideas, I get rather impatient. It frustrates me. I'm not used to being ignored. In recent years, when that happens, I've connected my experience to the experience of billions of people on the planet who, like Mary, for the most part are not listened to. They have little voice. What I experience occasionally, they experience all the time.
Occasionally I'm asked to speak in settings that challenge my voice because the audience is filled with persons (females, African-Americans, Latino-Americans, or others) who have a voice but have never had the opportunity to speak their own truth. When that happens -- I was in that kind of setting last Saturday -- as a white male I always feel that I need to sit down and shut up so I can hear the voices of those who have not been given opportunity to let their voice be heard.
It occurred to me Saturday as I talked about the birth of Christ, for instance, that the females in the audience, and those of African descent, and those of Latino descent, would hear the story of the nativity very differently than I do. They would see things and hear things that I would surely miss. Why can't I sit down and listen to those "Mary's," and let them teach me?
When you read the Magnificat, don't read it as a document of privilege. Read it as a song of freedom, a song sung from the underside. Mary was not in the place of the male, one-up. She was one-down, underneath, yet still finding and expressing her voice.
Perhaps her song will give you cause to hear the songs of others in your world who are in her position this Christmas, without much voice in our world, yet with something vitally important to say.
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