Did you know that part of the Bible was banned from being read out in public?
In the 1980s, the Guatemalan government banned the public recitation of the Magnificat. The Magnificat is the name traditionally given to the song of praise that Mary sings, soon after she finds out she is pregnant with Jesus (Luke 2:46-55). In this song, we hear of Mary’s hope and vision for a world those social relations are up-ended: the powerful are brought down from their thrones, the lowly are raised up. The hungry are filled up with good things, while the rich are sent away empty.
It's not hard to imagine why this song made the powerful nervous! The fear was that it would incite revolution. Better that it not be sung in public.
We are reading this song together on Sunday, and it might make us feel nervous too! That’s ok – this is the nature of the Gospel that we follow. God’s vision for the world turns everything on its head…beginning with us. It is us, as disciples of Jesus, who are being invited into transformation first. We must follow the way of Mary: making our egos small, so that God has a chance to be magnified in us. Just like Mary, we must set our own agendas aside so that the God-child has a chance to grow within us.
This Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Advent and it is the one we focus on Love. The way of Mary – and of Jesus – is one of Love. But Love isn’t a mushy feeling for them; it is self-sacrificial, self-emptying Love; a love that begins with the swelling of a belly and ends up turning the world up-side-down.
Are you ready to hear this revolutionary love-song?
Words by Rev Andreana
Image free on Unsplash
Comments