When I was in seminary—at Drew University about two hundred years ago—almost every evening during the week, I would go to the chapel for evening prayer. Part of the ritual for that service was singing the Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55. At first, I wondered, “Why do we sing this every time we get together?” Then, it dawned on me: This was Mary’s summary of key themes in the Gospel.
I have a New Testament edition that footnotes every biblical passage that draws from or alludes to another biblical text. For just these ten verses (Luke 1:46-55), there are twenty-nine such references, all from the Old Testament. Blessed Mother Mary knew that this mission of her son was a continuation and fulfillment of what had been going on “from generation to generation.”
For example, compare 1 Samuel 2:1 with what Mary sang in Luke 1:47. Compare Psalm 138:6 with Luke 1:48. Compare Job 5:11 with Luke 1:52. It is clear to Mary that this is a consistent God who began this work long ago.
There is a stuffed animal named Snoopy Bear who has lived with a member of our family for more than fifty years. S. Bear (as he calls himself) has an excuse almost every Sunday for not going to church. If there is Communion, he will not go because (he says) “I was taught not to eat in the sanctuary.” He will not go during the Christmas season or the Easter season, because he does not want people to think he is a “C & E Christian.” I don’t want to scare S. Bear away from church, but do you think I should tell him that this Advent hymn of Mary’s is true all year long?
Some of us have the same problem as Snoopy Bear. It may not be finding excuses for not going to church; it may be finding excuses for not making personal decisions by the values of Jesus; it may be convincing ourselves that religion is for the individual with no regard for community life; it may be living with a faith that goes to church on Sunday but does not live out Church during the week. I think this week’s text is for me as well as for S. Bear.
What Someone Else Has Said: In Everyday Matters (Abingdon), Gregory Jones quotes Dorothy Jean Weaver: “The world that Jesus Emmanuel comes to is rather the real world...It is this world and none other into which God comes to be with us in the person of Jesus, the defenseless child and the crucified Messiah.”
Prayer: As you prepare this lesson, let your prayer begin: “Come, Lord Jesus, into my daily life, and bring the grace of Your love...”
