besquared.org Blog

Today’s Text

I suppose it is not surprising that we usually start the Christmas story in Luke 2. “In those days, Caesar sent out a decree, etc.” It is so beautiful. Babies and angels and shepherds are exactly the characters that should be in the Christmas story. Nevertheless, it is easy to forget that Luke 2 has a context. (In addition to its larger context in the story of God and Israel)

Most particularly the context of Luke 2 is Luke 1. For us to understand the implications of a young coulple travelling across the country to sign up for taxation as they hide from an evil and corrupt local king, we need to pay close attention to Luke 1. And especially, we need to pay attention to today’s text.

In Mary’s song she both summarizes what we have read so far and she offers foreshadowing of what is to come. She celebrates the reality that God (and not her) is doing great things and that she is God’s servant. [There is some important truth here that all God needs to do great things is a willing servant.]

I am fascinated most however by the second half of the song. In this section, I am fascinated by two things: the verb tense used to describe God’s great deeds and the nature of those deeds.

Paradox and Verb Tense

To be trusted is a wonderful thing. I remember once early in my marriage, I told someone that I would take care of something for them. They were doubtful, and my wife came to my defense, “He may forget and then stay up all night, but if he says he can do it then you can consider it done.” I glowed for weeks. I have let my wife down a lot and to hear her express faith in me in that setting meant so much to me. The part of her statement that I want to focus on is the phrase, “consider it done.” When we use this phrase, we are suggesting that something which most certainly is not done, is so certain to be done that we can already begin to think of it as done.

[One of the rules of gangster movies is that eventually someone will be instructed to whack somebody and they will respond, "Done." I love the confident presemuption of that response. Which is why I try to respond to requests that way as often as possible. Even if I don't follow through it gives the impression that I am a man of action and commitment.]

Mary expresses this kind of cconfidence through the verb tenses of her song. Jesus is still a fetus and Mary is singing about what God “has done.” Even before things have really gotten started, Mary is singing a song of completion. I admire that kind of faith. It is as if Mary is saying, “With God, you can consider it done.” That is such an important reminder for us. In so many ways we live in the “not yet” of God’s promises. Paul even uses the language of birth pangs to describe our longing for God’s completion. But like Mary we can be confident. Because God is commited we can begin to live in light of the coming victory that is even now secured.

Don’t you love it when one of the most signifigant paradoxes of our faith is hidden in the verb tenses of a teenage girl.

Having observed the opening summary of God’s commitment to act through the willing servant Mary, and meandered through the implications of the verb tense, I can no longer avoid the content of this song. In case you didn’t follow the link and read the text (You did didn’t you?) here are a few juicy parts from the end.

His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”

Apparently something about this baby growing inside this teenage girl is going to turn the whole world upside down. I have trouble imagining what it would look like if I preached this sermon in downtown Baltimore. Who would hear it as good news? What if I stood and sang this song at my church? Who would hear it as good news? If the good news is that the world is being turned upside down, then for those currently on the top (like me I think) this is curious good news.

N.T. Wright reminds us that Mary sang this song as a Hebrew and so she knew that her child was the fulfillment of an ancient longing for God to come and set the world aright, to renew justice and righteousness where they was oppression and evil.

I read a book once called “In the Parish of the Poor” (I referenced the wrong book.  I will try to find the right one) it included long transcripts from community Bible studies in poor areas of South America. They loved this text. They talked about it for hours. One person read the text and suggested that this is why they should support the communists against the Americans. Another said, “No, this is why we should trust God to overthrow the Americans.”

I was stunned. They had no confusion. They knew that this text was good news for them and bad news for people like me. [Just for clarity, I neither support their politics nor their analysis of who their true enemy was.]

I was reminded that if we are goinng to be the church Jesus expects, then we need to be world turners. We need to be part of the solution to the ongoing oppression of our world, because God plans to repond, and Mary is so confident in God’s success that she can speak about it in the past tense.

I feel great tension because I guess that I can either be part of the solution or I am part of the problem.

-Ethan