Magnificat

Last week I mentioned that the gospel of Luke contains 3 of the great hymns of praise, the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis which are sung at evening prayer, and the Benedictus which is included in the morning prayer service.

This evening I want to think about the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). The words are very well known to all of us who attend evensong. These are the words of Mary after she has been told that she is to give birth to Jesus.

It’s a remarkable set of words for a young lady, and it’s worth just remembering the position she had found herself in. Here was a girl probably in her early to mid teens who was engaged to be married to a local carpenter who was probably quite a lot older than her, and she received a vision that she was to give birth.

Whilst she may have had little doubt about the reality of that vision and of the virgin birth, she must also have known and feared what people around her would have been thinking. The disgrace and shame she had brought on her family would only have been part of the problem – for her, if she escaped a literal death sentence, life may just as well have been over because she would have been rejected for ever by the close knit community and she would have had no means of supporting herself.

And so these things make it all the more remarkable that she should then sing a song of praise.

The task that she had been given by God was obviously one that was daunting and fearful however her response acknowledges that she is aware that God is in control and that he is worthy of her praise. It’s interesting to note how she realises that she has been asked to do will turn her world upside down.

The fact that a young unmarried virgin was to conceive a child who was the Son of God is rather huge anyway, particularly when you add to it the fact that she was not of noble birth or upbringing, and that there was not a palace in sight. Yet she celebrated and accepted God’s will without question – My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour…

And she also recognised the magnitude of what God was doing – he was sending his Son, the Messiah, the Saviour, into the world, not with power, ready to conquer the institutions of the world, but through a woman, an ordinary working class woman – For he hath regarded the lowliness of his hand maiden.

And from that time on her life would be changed and she would be remembered from generation to generation and called ‘Blessed.’ For centuries now there has been a huge debate in the Church as to the position of Mary – in some traditions she has been given a huge prominence as the mother of God, as sinless herself, but I think this just distorts the message that God was giving, and that is that he can and will use anybody who accepts his call to do his work.

Mary was remarkable because she said ‘Yes’. Mary was remarkable because she didn’t question, she didn’t doubt, she didn’t moan or worry about what people may think – she accepted that God had a plan, and that God’s will would triumph over any hardship that may have to be faced… we don’t need to make Mary any more remarkable than these words and her devotion to her Son throughout his life already demonstrate.

God was using a woman as part of his salvation plan and it is into this revolutionary beginning that Mary praises him. After recognising the responsibility he has given her, she acknowledges the fact that God has shown the equality of all people in using a woman as such a crucial part of his salvation plan – ‘he scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he casts down the mighty, he exalts the humble’.

Mary wouldn’t have been seen as worthy of being involved in this plan by so many people within that society, but God’s plan was different. His revolution was not the one the world was expecting and hoping for. His was a message of love and compassion for all people, a message that rang out that everyone was important to him, regardless of their earthly status or background or anything else.

William Barclay tells the story of Maretus in the middle ages. Maretus was a poor man from an Italian town who became ill, and was taken to a hospital for waifs and strays. The doctors were discussing his case in Latin, thinking that he would not understand. They suggested that as he was such a poor worthless case that they could use him for medical experiments. Maretus looked up and answered them in Latin, ‘call no man worthless for whom Christ has died.’

Christ died for all and that gives value to every person in the world. And as Mary realises this equality and impartiality that God is showing she bursts into this song of praise.

Obviously much of what Mary says in the Magnificat is fairly revolutionary stuff. A woman blessed, in a society where women were kept out of sight with no real voice, the lowly lifted up, at a time when power and influence were considered all important, the hungry filled with good things and the rich sent empty away at a time when it seemed that money could buy anything, and those without money were left with nothing – all of these were things that would have confounded many of the great Jewish scholars who had their own narrow minded view of what the Saviour would look like and do.

Archbishop William Temple warned his missionaries in India never to read the Magnificat out loud because of the power of the words which seemed to contradict so many expectations of those of us attuned to the world today. Mary understood well that Jesus was being born to bring a revolution, not a military one, but a revolution of love and peace and second chances for all people.

Mother Theresa was once visiting a Catholic Boys School and was shown the new dormitories, the classrooms and the gymnasium. At the end of the tour she turned to the Senior Priest and said, ‘The boys have all this, but do you really love them.’ Mother Theresa, like Mary, understood the gospel message and the priorities and power of God.

As we say these words every week may we rediscover in our own lives the true revolutionary message that Mary understood as she said these words, and the true life changing power that Jesus brings for us all. AMEN