Sermon for December 12, 2021: Magnified based upon Luke 1:46 – 56

Luke 1:46-56 Mary’s Song of Praise 
And Mary said, 
‘My soul magnifies the Lord, 
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. 
   Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, 
   and holy is his name. 
His mercy is for those who fear him 
   from generation to generation. 
He has shown strength with his arm; 
   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, 
   and lifted up the lowly; 
he has filled the hungry with good things, 
   and sent the rich away empty. 
He has helped his servant Israel, 
   in remembrance of his mercy, 
according to the promise he made to our ancestors, 
   to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’ 
And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home. 

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     Sometimes, a genealogy is family... the blood relations kind, not the chosen kind. That list of begats at the beginning of Matthew... that’s a genealogy. We’ll talk more about that one next week. Other times, we might think of genealogy a metaphor for connecting people with similar experiences in different generations across a span of history, regardless of their biological connections. Once Mary accepted that the good news of the angel was true, that she would become pregnant and that, despite all the ways that her community could judge her for this unconventional pregnancy and despite all the risks inherent in pregnancy, particularly for teenagers, that this child would be a source of justice and love, Mary found herself within this genealogy of women with unconventional, impossible, and maybe even scandalous pregnancies.
     I am grateful for the work of Dr. Wil Gafney who has outlined this genealogy of women that Mary became a part of. In other parts of scripture, we are encouraged to imagine a great cloud of witnesses, generations of Christians who have gone before us and who exist now and we don’t know, all part of the Body of Christ, connected through the Holy Spirit, at work for the coming kindom. Mary, with her belief in the Wellspring of Life and the Ground of Love, became a part of a network of foremothers, ones who show us the power of faith in that which seems impossible and God’s deep love for those who have been cast aside. As we remember Mary, we may also lift up the other women whose stories might have helped her on those days when the morning sickness was too much or her feet were too swollen or she had to travel by order of the Empire, so very pregnant, with Joseph to another town. Whose words might have bolstered her when she felt most lowly?
     Elizabeth first probably. She stayed with her for the first trimester of her pregnancy. Elizabeth had called her blessed. When Mary felt terrible, would Elizabeth’s words ring through her memory: “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of those things spoken to her by the Holy One.” When they would sit together, spinning and weaving, preparing for their children’s arrival, would Elizabeth share her own thanksgiving to God for her miraculous pregnancy: “This is what the Lord as done for me when God looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people. Remind me that when I can’t see my feet anymore.” Would they laugh and joke and delight in what God was doing for both of them?
     When Mary laughed, would she remember Sarah’s laugh and the boy, Isaac, who was named for it? Sarah sang no song about her pregnancy. In fact, she was reasonably incredulous about its likelihood. But, she gave thanks when she saw God had kept God’s promise. She even named her son after that first snort of skepticism. Maybe Sarah needed to remember the time she wasn’t sure her dearest wish could come true so she could appreciate when it finally did? Maybe Mary gleaned some wisdom from the wit of Sarah?
     I wonder if Mary thought of Hagar, the woman Sarah enslaved, who would become a rival once Hagar became pregnant. Mary understood deeply that God cares for those who were cast out and looked down upon. Hagar was treated so poorly by Sarah that she ran away. As she hid in the wilderness a messenger from God appears, offering a different annunciation: “Greatly will I multiply your seed, so they cannot be counted for multitude.” The messenger tells Hagar, “you are pregnant and shall give birth to a son.” Hagar names the child Ishmael, as God commanded and named God “El-ro’i,” the God who sees. Mary understood God to see her and look upon her with favor. Out of jealousy, Sarah cast Hagar and Ishmael back out into the wilderness, when Hagar did not think they would survive. God saved them and gave them a home away from the abuse. I wonder if Mary remembered this when her own son, later in his life, would be in mortal peril. Did the God who sees see them, too?
     There is this woman in Judges 13 that I didn’t know about but whom Dr. Gafney draws into this network of foremothers for Mary. We don’t know her name. Dr. Gafney tells us that historic rabbis have called Zlelponi and Hazlel and Hazlelponi bat Yehudah, but those are names of tradition, not ones given her in Judges 13. We are simply told she is unable to become or stay pregnant. And, one day a messenger of God appears to her and says, you guessed it: “You shall conceive and give birth to a son.” In this story, the woman is asked to set herself aside as a nazirite, a person who takes a vow to be of service to God. Her son, when he is born, will be consecrated as a nazirite as well, set apart to serve God. You might know his name: Sampson. Mary was never a nazirite, as far as we know. But, she certainly saw herself as set apart to serve God. Her son, Jesus, would have his own special mission from God. Could she have remembered this story of an unnamed woman who gave birth to a man of great strength?
     Hannah is the foremother, other than Elizabeth, whom we might most closely relate to Mary. We spoke of her a few weeks ago, before Advent. She had deeply wanted to be pregnant and had been unable to carry to term. But, she asked God to grant her prayers and spoke to the priest Eli about them. It was Eli who functioned as God’s messenger in that story, telling Hannah that God would grant her prayer. When her son is born, like Sarah, she names her son in honor of the story of her prayers be answered. He is called Samuel, which means “God hears,” because she said “From the God who hears I have asked him.” And, then she sang a song of thanksgiving. Mary’s song, our scripture for the day, sounds very much like Hannah’s song. Maybe Hannah’s song held the melody that Mary later intensified and magnified in order to capture the scope of her hope for her child’s, and her people’s future. Maybe Mary had heard what God had done for Hannah and knew that a song was the way she, too, must greet her own miracle.
     Dr. Gafney notes that, unlike most of the women I have listed, save for Hagar, Mary had not been trying to conceive for many years. So, while her story is connected to their stories, it is also different, like a riff inspired by one song that becomes a whole new sound. Within this riff, though, is our first view of Jesus’ mission. Because this song, while also about what God has done in Mary’s life, is very much about how God with move through Jesus’ life. God has looked at Mary with favor, but God will continue to work, through Jesus, to change this world. In the coming months, as we turn our attention to Jesus’ own mission, it will sound like the work of God in this song: offering loving-kindness, scattering the arrogant, bringing down the powerful and lifting up the lowly, filling the bellies of the hungry and sending the rich away. God’s help will come through him. And, Mary seems to already know that, mere days into her pregnancy.
     Rather than hear me talk more about music, why don’t we actually listen to this song set to music. Unfortunately, we don’t have the exact notes or melody that Mary sang. But, over the years, composers have been inspired to set it to music. Connie and Kristin have shared this recording of one version today. May we hear it and may we magnify God in our hearts.
​
(click the orange arrow below to listen)

Chrissy Cataldo · Magnificat, arr. Ruth Elaine Schram

​Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Wilda C. Gafney’s entries on Advent I, II, and III from A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021)

Attribution for the Art at the beginning of the post (left to right, top to bottom:
1. Pittman, Lauren Wright. Mary and Elizabeth, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57086 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: http://www.lewpstudio.com - copyright by Lauren Wright Pittman.
2. Koenig, Peter. Mary and Elizabeth, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58512 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/.3. JESUS MAFA. The Visitation - Mary and Elizabeth meet, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48279 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).
4. Pittman, Lauren Wright. Marys Song, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57074 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: http://www.lewpstudio.com - copyright by Lauren Wright Pittman
5. JESUS MAFA. Virgin and Child, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48380 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).
6. Saget, Father George. Visitation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58351 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: www.robertharding.com.
7. Visitation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56718 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johndonaghy/22885862/ - John Donaghy.8. Visitation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58366 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visitation_Pelendri.jpg.
9. 
9. Pittman, Lauren Wright. Marys Song, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57074 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: http://www.lewpstudio.com - copyright by Lauren Wright PittmanVisitation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56718 [retrieved December 14, 2021]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johndonaghy/22885862/ - John Donaghy.