12/21/14: THERE’S SOMETHING ‘NOT SAFE’ ABOUT MARY AND JESUS

BLOG 12/21/14: THERE’S SOMETHING ‘NOT SAFE’ ABOUT MARY AND JESUS

Amidst all of the ‘schmaltz’ (maudlin sentimentality) that has come to interpret/misinterpret the Advent celebration of our contemporary scene, a text that seems to get skipped-over so often is Mary’s Magnificat. As a resident of a politically ‘red state’ I often wonder if a conscientious preacher could come out unscathed if he/she unpacked this remarkable passage (Luke 1:46 ff.)? In that Mary would have undoubtedly been one of Luke’s primary eyewitnesses, he probably heard this Magnificat from her very lips.

Look at it! It hardly looks spiritual or religious at all. It looks more like something that might be the product of some kind of a socialist manifesto. “He has shown strength with his arm … he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; … he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.”

This all smacks of some of the teachings of Isaiah about the social agenda of God and his Messiah. “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him he will bring forth justice to the nations (Isaiah 42:1).

Then there is the passage that Jesus quoted at the inauguration of his public ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives (political prisoners?), and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (economic prisoners?); to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (the Jubilee Year) and the day of vengeance of our God (when he sets everything to rights?); to comfort all who mourn … ” (Isaiah 61:1-2). All of to which Jesus finally responded: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21).

Oppression, economic disparity and the dominance of the wealthy and powerful, folk helplessly in prison, many folk desperately hungry seeking to eke-out a living, folk victims of oppressive regimes, folk suffering the loss of life at the hands of forces they can’t control … all are in the news day by day … from the Occupy Wall Street protest, to the immigration realities of real human beings, to the massacre of school children in a far off land … and so much more.

How do we, then, interpret all of this as we celebrate the incarnation of this one whom Mary birthed, and who was demonstrated to be the Messiah prophesied in Isaiah? That’s part of the question, but then there is the reality of the apostolic teachings that the same Spirit that anointed Jesus, and who raised him from the dead, is the Spirit who indwells all those who embrace Jesus by repentance and faith. This means that in the most difficult places of this human community, where ever God’s sons and daughters dwell, and in the face of whatever opposition and hostility, we are called to be the witnesses and practitioners of the agenda of Jesus, and we are not to fear the consequences, even death (cf. Revelation 12:11).

This reality gives substance to G. K. Chesterton’s remark that God gives his people three promises: they will be “completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.” Whenever we, or God’s church seek to create an aesthetically safe, spiritual, successful community, we are in all likelihood doing an unconscionable compromise of the faith of Jesus Christ, which is transformational, controversial, but brimming with hope and meaning and humanitarian works, because we are reconciled to God by Jesus’ blood, and we possess his life in us.

But Mary and her Son are not safe! May the blessings of the incarnation be yours as we celebrate this week.

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
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