Mary, Did You Know?
(Luke 1: 39-55)
We’ve all had big dreams growing up. We’ve dreamt of fame and fortune. We’ve dreamt of being a doctor, an astronaut, or maybe President of the United States. Afterall, we’re told that because we live in the United States of America, the greatest country in the world, we can be anything we want to be. Maybe so, but that F I got in Chemistry and the F I got in Biology in college pretty much put an end to my dreams of being a doctor, and my inability to grasp basic Algebra saved me from becoming lost in space. But there is hope, as apparently, I am not too old to be the President. Nobody would see that one coming. In reality, however, we are blessed if God entrusts us to do one remarkable thing, no matter how big or small. I look back at my life in review and do feel blessed at the opportunities I’ve had to do the small things that may have made a difference in someone’s life, and now feel really blessed to have been appointed to minister to and shepherd the faithful of Community United Methodist Church into becoming the somebodies who do something in Jesus’ name. I was quite surprised when the District Superintendent approached me and said that the Bishop wanted to appoint me to Community. I thought I would just help out at my current church. I definitely didn’t see that coming. I gladly accepted, no questions asked.
And that’s a part of Mary’s story as told by Luke in his Gospel. That appointment she didn’t see coming. If you recall, Mary was a teenage girl living in Nazareth who was engaged to a man named Joseph. Mary probably figured at that time her future consisted of marrying this good man who was a carpenter fully capable of supporting her, and then having a bunch of kids living the simple life in a small out-of-the-way village far from the big city of Jerusalem. All-in-all, not a bad life and probably what every young woman of the time expected. But then she was paid a visit from an angel of the Lord who told her that the Holy Spirit would soon come by and that she would become pregnant with God’s son. Mary is no doubt wondering as to whether or not there has been some sort of mistake, as in: “I think you may have the wrong Mary.” Surely there is someone in the holy city of Jerusalem more fitting and worthy of such an honor. Maybe someone in the royal family. Nope, the Lord has found favor with you, and you above all women, are blessed. Mary responded: I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said. Not: I’ll have to think about it, or, let me talk to Joseph. Now that’s a leap of faith!
And that’s where we find ourselves this morning. Luke tells us that after receiving the news of her pregnancy Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands where she entered the home of Zechariah and a relative named Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting Luke tells us that the baby Elizabeth was carrying leapt in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and with a loud voice she blurted out: God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child your carry. Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her. That baby by the way, a cousin of Jesus, would grow up to become known as John the Baptist who would proclaim the coming of the long-expected Messiah.
At this point Mary breaks into song praising God for blessing her. She sings that with all of her heart she will glorify the Lord and in the depths of who she is she will rejoice in God, her savior. She sings that He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant and that from now on everyone will consider her highly favored because the mighty one has done great things for her. Holy is his name. She continues her praise by proclaiming: He shows mercy to everyone, from one generation to the next, who honors him as God. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations. He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations. He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. This is pretty impressive for a teenage Jewish girl with no formal education as it was only Jewish boys who went to school receiving in depth religious instruction.
The song Mary spontaneously sings is now referred to as the Magnificat and is reminiscent of Hannah’s song sung in 1 Samuel 2: 1-10 with its themes of reversal and the announcement of one who will come to rule this upside-down kingdom. Hannah, tried as she could, couldn’t conceive so she made a promise to the Lord that if she had a son she would give him back to the Lord for his entire life. When she became pregnant and bore a son, she named him Samuel which means: “I asked the Lord for him” and when he was old enough to leave his mother, she and her husband turned Samuel over to Eli the priest.
It all begs the question of not: Mary did you know? But, Mary, how did you know? John Wesley, our denomination’s founder, numbers Mary among the prophets by noting that she spoke “under a prophetic impulse.” She was moved by the Holy Spirit to proclaim to the world who this child would grow up to be and what he would mean to a troubled world longing for peace. Mary’s song contains similar themes to Hannah’s song, many of which foreshadow Jesus’ ministry in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus has come to shake up the established order. A new order where God lifts up the lowly and brings down the proud and arrogant. An order where God fills the hungry but sends the rich away empty-handed. This is good news for the poor, but Mary’s song also introduces the idea that the message of this Gospel will prove challenging to those who have benefitted from certain social and economic systems at the expense of the poor and powerless, the unseen, the disenfranchised.
Mary’s song ends with her proclaiming: He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, just as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever. Mary is proclaiming that, through her pregnancy, God has kept his promise to Abraham to be merciful to God’s people forever. Her song announced that her son’s birth, the Christ, fulfilled that promise, and she understood this. This explains why she was not surprised when thirty years later, her special son, eventually announced that he was the Messiah, the one chosen to bring salvation to mankind. She had known Jesus’ mission from before his birth. So, the answer to our question: “Mary, did you know?” is a resounding Yes!
Let us pray.
Joy to the world! The Lord has come; let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing. Yes, joy to the world because the Lord has come. He has come to bring us salvation and healing. He has come to show us how to have a loving and close relationship with God the Father. He has come to lift the lowly and bring down the haughty and powerful. He has come to rule the world with truth and grace and make the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love. Let us celebrate his birth, let us celebrate his ministry, and let us celebrate his return. This we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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God has kept his promise to Abraham to be merciful to His people forever.