December 19, 2021 – Fourth Sunday of Advent
Today we lit the fourth candle of the Advent wreath. In some traditions, the candles represent (consecutively), hope, love or faith, joy, and peace. Some of you have been waiting anxiously for the fourth candle. Others of you waiting expectantly. Some have been waiting in deep grief. Others have been waiting with a threatening diagnosis. But all are waiting with memories of Christmases past, including memories of many sermons. The waiting, my friends, is almost over!
Today, once again, we hear the Gospel story that gives us the glorious Magnificat uttered by Mary. We, too, praised God in the words of Mary for our response as well! We enter this expectant time with Mary and Elizabeth, and we know that they both have said yes to God’s plan, which leads us to wonder what God will ask of us. Mary quickly clarifies that question as she sings that God is doing a new thing. God’s son is coming into this world and she is the bearer of God. This young Jewish girl not only accepts her calling but also sings praises to God for this amazing grace.
She continues her song announcing how the wrongs of history will be made right. She actually uses the past tense to indicate that the wrongs have already been made right. Through her song, Mary calls us to be agents of change for justice and a better world for all. God’s call to Mary may have been for a specific purpose, but God’s call to us is coming to us through Mary’s song on this Fourth Sunday of Advent.
Mary knows that God can be trusted, and she is willing to say yes to God, even when she does not understand how she could bear God’s son. All of us are included in Mary and Elizabeth’s times of expectancy, calling us together in partnership with God in God’s plan for this world. Mary’s song addresses all the ways we set ourselves apart from one another, which is the excuse we need to set us over and against one another. We are ALL uniquely made in the image of God, meaning that we are to see God in one another and are called to say yes to justice for all.
I think we often portray Mary as submissive because of her yes to God at the annunciation. Today, we must recognize that Mary also says no to all that negates God’s purposes in human history. Mary begins by celebrating the greatness of God, and then she proclaims God’s liberating compassion for the poor. Mary sings the joy that she is feeling and sings blessing for the oppressed, whether the oppression comes from being underprivileged or overprivileged. Mary’s song announces to us – all of us – the reality of “both/and.” Just as Mary embodies the polarity of being virgin and mother, she shows us how we can be people both of the heart and of the head, both contemplative and justice oriented, both spiritually alive and socially active.
Mary’s inner knowledge of what God has done calls her to worship. The act of Mary’s worship reminds us that the hope for the reign of God is in the God who acts, who is worthy of praise. How would our town, our nation, our world look if the lowly were lifted up? If the hungry were filled with good things? If the mighty were cast down from their thrones? What would happen if – instead of casting Mary as a nonspeaking, passive role in the Christmas pageant – we restored Mary’s Magnificat to be a primary role model for disciples, bearing not only the Savior, but the news that God’s reign has broken through?