Luke 1:39-56: Mary did you know?

It’s the time of year when we are reminded of the unexpected nature of God’s work in our world.  Perhaps nothing is more unexpected than the birth of the Messiah, in a manger, in a backwater town like Bethlehem.  When we read of the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, when Mary was pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist, we are reminded by their words that God did not just make His appearance in our world in unexpected ways, but that His appearance was only the beginning of the unexpected. 

It is not overstatement to say that God comes in unexpected ways.  The very fact that God comes at all is a testimony to the graciously unexpected nature of God’s actions.  Even before Jesus was born, He began demonstrating His willingness to meet us where we are.  After all, according to social convention, it should have been Elizabeth who visited Mary.  Elizabeth says as much when she asks, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43)  And yet there she is, Mary at Elizabeth’s doorstep, with an unborn king in her womb.  As we see her standing there, it is a reminder of a Savior who makes house-calls, a reminder of the fact that the seat at God’s right-hand stood empty for some thirty-odd years as God demonstrated how far He was willing to go to meet us.  And when Christ displays the humility necessary to leave heaven, He humbles Himself entirely in that He forgoes not only the glory of heaven, but the luxuries of earth.  He is not born to a queen or a princess, but to an unwed virgin.  His first cries as He enters our world do not echo through the halls of a marble palace, but emanate from a manger, in the all but forgotten town of Bethlehem.  God comes in unexpected ways, through unexpected people, but most importantly, He comes.     

And when God does come in unexpected ways, through unexpected people, he continues to surprise us as He does unexpected things.  In a passage referred to as “the Magnificat”, Mary lifts her voice in praise to God, not just for the role she has been granted to play in the divine drama, but for the role that her Son will play.  She says things that we are quick to overlook or at least water-down, because they don’t sit well with our first-world mentality.  She states that God opposes the proud.  Why?  Because the proud insist on saving themselves, they insist on their own brand of self-attained righteousness.  In all Jesus’ run-ins with the Pharisees and with lawyers, what is at stake if not the source of human righteousness and sanctification?  She says that God opposes the powerful.  Who is it that puts Jesus on trial?  It might be the common man who shouts "crucify", but it’s the Jewish and Roman establishment, the council, Herod, and Pilate who sit in judgment.  The powers of this world stand opposed to a God who is willing to manifest Himself not only in power, but also in humility demonstrated by self-sacrificial love. Finally we hear from Mary that God opposes the rich.  This is the deepest cut to those of us who think we live modestly, but yet are rich when compared to our brothers and sisters around the globe.  It is startling the number of run-ins Jesus has with the rich.  He chastises the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), listens to the lament of the rich man who failed to help Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and causes the rich ruler to leave grief stricken, after he is unable to surrender his riches in order to follow Christ (Luke 18:18-30).  But that isn’t the end of the story.   

God does not simply oppose, He also looks…upon His humble servants.  He also shows mercy…to those who fear Him.  He also exalts…the humble.  He also feeds…the hungry and the poor. 

If we view the story of the manger through the eyes of Mary, it should cause us to change how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen by others.  Rather than striving so hard to place ourselves among the proud, the powerful, and the rich, maybe we should learn to be ok with being humble, fearful, and poor. 

God will do great things in our church, in our community, and in the world.  The question is, will we turn ourselves over to God, to be used as instruments to accomplish those things?  If we will, then like Mary, all generations will call us blessed.