Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, December 29, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Mary is clear about her Son’s mission. Despite five hundred plus years of her society’s belief that the messiah would come and restore the throne of David and throw off the tyranny of Rome to restore the status quo of Israel, Mary’s song sounds more like the prophets who lambasted Israel’s status quo for violating everything God stood for.
Mary knows that her son is destined not to restore Israel’s former glory, but to bring about a whole new ordering of society in which God rules over all people in justice and love. The haughty, the wealthy, the powerful—of which there were still many in Jewish society even under the Romans—would be deposed, and those who were oppressed—those who were poor, hungry, sick, outcast, unwanted—would be lifted up and given all they needed to flourish.
This was straight up revolutionary language. Maybe all the more reason that Mary was lying low with Elizabeth until she could give birth and officially marry Joseph. Make no mistake: Jesus was subversive even before he was born. He is still subversive today. May we sing with Mary the hope of justice for all of God’s creation.
Is it easy or hard for me to think about Jesus as a revolutionary?
