MARY, ENGAGING IN GOD'S REVOLUTIONARY ACTION

This is the Sunday where the pink candle of the Advent wreath is traditionally lit. You might wonder why the third week’s candle is pink when the others are purple (or blue). True confession: for many years I thought that the pink candle stood for Mary (wow, that blue/pink gender theme really does get ingrained, doesn’t it?). In fact, it is pink because the third week of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday, which means joy and marks that Advent is more than half over.


But I want to come back to Mary. 


How is it that God chose Mary, a teenager from a town of no importance, to bear God’s-Love-Made-Visible into the world? What does this say about who Mary was? What does this say about who God is?


My nativity sets (for there are many!) all depict Mary in such serene forms, arms either extended matronly towards the baby Jesus, or folded across her chest as if still trying to take in the miraculous event. But the Magnificat Mary sings in the first chapter of Luke shows another side of Mary. It is the song of one who is not a passive performer in God’s saving work but an active participant. Mary sings boldly of God’s revolutionary actions and her role in it: 

My soul lifts up the Lord! My spirit celebrates God, my Liberator!
For though I’m God’s humble servant,  God has noticed me.
Now and forever, I will be considered blessed by all generations.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me; holy is God’s name!
From generation to generation, God’s lovingkindness endures for those who revere God.

God’s arm has accomplished mighty deeds.  The proud in mind and heart, God has sent away in disarray.
The rulers from their high positions of power, God has brought down low.

And those who were humble and lowly, God has elevated with dignity.        

The rich—God has dismissed with nothing in their hands.
To Israel, God’s servant,  God has given help,
As promised to our ancestors,  remembering Abraham and his descendants in mercy forever.  (Luke 1: 46-55—The Voice)

Three decades after this song is sung, Jesus overturns tables in the Temple. But here, with this song, Mary tells of a God who is also overturning tables of power and privilege, of wealth, pride and ego. These are not the values that make for a rich, full, and holy life. The life God invites us to is marked by humility, service, dignity, and lovingkindness. In order to help us receive this life and enter it more fully, God becomes Emmanuel—God With Us. Through Jesus, God shows us what makes for a whole and holy life.

During this Advent season, what are ways God might be turning over the tables in your life? What values might God be asking you to give up because instead of promoting individual and communal well-being, they are divisive and cause dis-ease? As you prepare your heart and our world to once again receive the Christ Child, are you willing to follow closely as he

grows from a demanding baby in a manger to a demanding leader, who has spoken to those on a Galilean seashore and to generations hence, “Come, follow me”?