"Magnificat: the Poor, the Proud, and the Promise"
Luke 1:46-55 Dec.21/03
Advent IV Communion
God's Sovereign Switcheroo: the Inverter of High & Low
When Jesus was born, something radical took place. God chose a couple of insignificant peasants to be the Messiah's earthly parents. During Jesus' adult ministry, He chose to spend the bulk of His time training a bunch of not particularly bright, non-descript guys (mainly fishermen) to be the key leaders in the movement that would begin after His death. In fact Christ's chief purpose in coming to earth was so this King of Heaven might die for us sinners, swapping places with us in terms of eternal punishment. Mary's song around the time of His conception summarizes the revolutionary nature of God's intervention in human history. God is an inverter of our corrupted human order - bringing down rulers, scattering the proud, so the hungry and humble who are willing to serve Him may be lifted up in their place.
Switching around can be surprising. Chuck Swindoll's barber once told him, "We had the most curious kids in the world. And we knew no matter what we did, they would find the gifts. So we had a deal with our neighbours. We would keep all the neighbours' presents in our closet, and we would give all of our gifts to the neighbours. Naturally the kids would peek, but we acted like we didn't know about it. And then Christmas Eve, when all the kids were asleep, we would swap and wrap all the gifts." He added, "You should have seen my kids when they looked out in the street and saw bicycles being ridden they thought they were gonna get for their Christmas!"
God revealed to Mary that a swap was taking place, a great exchange. Rulers replaced by servants, the rich sent away empty and the hungry filled, the proud scattered and the humble helped. All this connected with her baby, whose sinless life would be the substitution for our guilt and failures.
Rulers Brought Down, Servants Helped
Verses 52 and 54 of Luke 1 say that God "has brought down rulers from their thrones" but "has helped his servant Israel". The Exodus showed that Pharaoh's army was no match for the Lord of Hosts, when He determined to rescue the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. Isaiah and Jeremiah warned the kings of Israel and Judah that they would be exiled for their injustice and idol worship; God used the nations of Assyria and Babylon to bring this about. The Chief Priest and the governor Pontius Pilate thought they had eliminated Jesus of Nazareth, but He rose again and began a Kingdom that soon saw their thrones in the dust. Caesars and Stalins have persecuted believers, but the Church only blossomed and spread under the persecution.
Just last week, we saw the once-feared Saddam Hussein captured from a "spider hole", a pit about 8' deep and just wide enough for a person to lie down in. On TV before a watching world this formerly mighty dictator had his head checked for lice, his mouth examined, his hair and beard trimmed as if he were a prize steer being readied for the Royal Winter Fair. A hated ruler was brought down and the Iraqis rejoiced in the streets.
Mary, this young teen-aged unknown peasant girl, typifies the servant whom God notices and delights to help. Her response to the angel's announcement that she would have the awesome responsibility of parenting the Saviour of the World was the essence of obedience: v38, "I am the Lord’s servant...May it be to me as you have said." Any other plans for her future she might have had were laid aside; she embraced the destiny which would see a sword pierce her own soul (Lk 2:35). She accepted without protest the special ministry the Lord clearly showed her.
Lest we make servanthood sound too lofty, let's remember it boils down to a willingness to roll up your sleeves, accept responsibility, and tackle the tough but low-profile jobs. A member of First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh once said to his pastor, Bruce Thielemann, "You preachers talk a lot about 'do unto others', but when you get right down to it, it comes down to basin theology." Thielemann asked, "Basin theology? What's that?" The man answered, "Remember what Pilate did when he had the chance to acquit Jesus? He called for a basin and washed his hands of the whole thing. But Jesus, the night before His death, called for a basin and proceeded to wash the feet of the disciples. It all comes down to basin theology: Which one will you use?" God helps those with a servant attitude, who use the basin to help others rather than try to avoid responsibility.
Rich Sent Away Empty, Hungry Filled
Mary was a poor maiden when Gabriel made the surprising announcement that she'd been favoured to become the Messiah's mother. In her song Mary marveled that God inverts the privilege of rich and poor. V53, "He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty." When they caught Saddam, he had $750,000 in cash in a case he had taken with him. That money's not going to save him from prosecution, or the penalty for his crimes. It seems the tip leading to his arrest came from a "family friend", possibly enticed by the offer of a $25 million (US) reward. Saddam's stash pales in comparison with the bounty offered. Money doesn't satisfy - there's always someone with more.
Another well-to-do person whose riches couldn't save them is the Ontario plastic surgeon who faces a $100 million class action. Apparently this doctor, one of the leading professionals in the province in his field, had been injecting his patients with liquid silicone to smooth wrinkles and plump up lips. This procedure had been banned because silicone can migrate to other areas of the body and cause health problems. The unscrupulous rich are "sent empty away".
But the Lord delights in filling the hungry with good things. Ken Dumais began logging at age 15, which led him to northern Alberta's small rural towns. Boredom led him to drinking, reports Living Light News, a habit he continued for the next 10 years, after which he moved to Edmonton. The transition didn't help; Ken's drinking increased until he was rendered incapable of supporting himself. He lost his employment, his home, and finally his hope. Finally he sought help; but the 2 agencies he contacted were full. He remarks, "That was God at work, because it led me to the Salvation Army and the spiritual help that I knew I needed. When I went in for an interview, they asked me if I knew it was a spiritually-based treatment program, and my eyes just lit up."
Since that day in 2002, Dumais has been sober. He now volunteers with the Salvation Army, and is apprenticing to become a plumber. His face shines as he expresses amazement over God's goodness and transforming power. The hunger he used to try to fill with alcohol, but in vain, is now satisfied by good things from God his Saviour.
Proud Scattered, Humble Lifted
The third of the great contrasts in types of people the Magnificat notes is the difference between the proud and the humble. V51 says God "has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts", literally, their heart-thoughts. However Mary sings in v52 that God "has lifted up the humble"; v48, "He has been mindful of (looked with favour on, had regard for) the humble state of His servant." The Greek word translated "humble" means literally "to make low, bring low; to level, reduce to a plain"; then by extension, to "bring down one's pride, to have a modest opinion of ones self, to behave in an unassuming manner; devoid of all haughtiness". You don't mind being around people like that, they're not a blowhard or so full of themselves they can't focus on others.
Pride is a sneaky, insidious variety of sin; sometimes the more you conscientiously purge yourself of other sins, the more you get this one. Saddam's pride was obvious, overt. However there is a type of pride which is more subtle - "nice guy" pride. In an article titled No More Mr.Nice Guy, Paul Coughlin challenges men to be more bold and assert their true feelings rather than deny their needs and become "nice guys" out of fear of emotional pain. Such camouflage can really mask a secret pride. Coughlin writes: "We start by admitting that nice guys, the passive and wimpy men among us, extend a false grace to most everyone, not because they are virtuous, but because they lack virtue. They give fake grace that looks like the real thing, that disposition to be generous, helpful and merciful. They let insults go by, not because Jesus said to turn the other cheek (though this is what they'll say), but because they fear what might happen to them when conflict, the sound of life happening, erupts. They lie to others and their own hearts. They hide their feelings, and deny their wants, because they don't believe they have a right to them. Though they PRIDE themselves on never getting angry, they harbour seething resentment, which is the undisclosed anger of the mind.
"But since they don't actually say the bitter words that worm through their minds, it's not a sin, right? As if Jesus never addressed the sins of the mind, and when He did He somehow limited them to adultery and fornication? If they are really nice guys, well-versed at stuffing their feelings so hard that they resemble shale, they will be given to biannual explosions, saying all the stuff they thought was virtuous not to say. It will be so overblown that it may do more damage than what aggressive men do, who let off steam one frustrated puff at a time."
So even if you don't suffer from Saddam pride, the megalomania kind, watch out for "nice guy" pride -- it's just as poisonous in the long run. Those who are proud at their core will be "scattered" Mary says, as if thrown a considerable distance when grain is winnowed to separate out the chaff. Contrast this with Mary's humble, non-resisting, servant attitude to the task God has assigned her; and the rewards and honour down the centuries that resulted. She was right on when she said, "All generations will call me blessed" (1:48). Next to the baby Jesus, she is the central figure at nativity scenes and Christmas graphics. She endured the shame and misunderstanding that must have surrounded her premarital pregnancy. She must have wondered many times what madness had gotten into Jesus' head during his public ministry. How she would have suffered to see her innocent Son executed as a detested criminal. We're not told exactly when she concluded with some of the rest of her family that Jesus was the Saviour and put her faith in Him, but God rewarded her faith and endurance with unending honour. God regarded the humble and lowly.
Sometimes things happen which bring us down a notch, humbling us, so we can see things from a new perspective and realize how proud and controlling we've been. Denis Waitley tells of a woman who took her 5-year-old son shopping at a large department store during the Christmas season, thinking it would be fun for him to see all the decorations and window displays and toys and so on. As she dragged him by the hand, twice as fast as his little legs could move, he began to fuss and cry, clinging to his mother's coat. "Good heavens, what on earth is the matter with you?" she scolded, impatiently. "I brought you with me to get in the Christmas spirit. Santa doesn't bring toys to little crybabies!" His fussing continued as she tried to find some bargains during the last-minute rush on Dec.23. She threatened, "I'm not going to take you shopping with me, ever again, if you don't stop that whimpering! Oh well, maybe it's because your shoes are untied and you're tripping over your own laces," she said, kneeling down in the aisle to tie his shoes.
And as she knelt down beside him, she happened to look around. For the first time, she viewed the department store through the eyes of her 5-year-old. From that position there were no baubles, no bangles, beads, presents, gaily decorated display tables, or animated toys. All that could be seen was a maze of corridors too high to see above, full of giant, stovepipe legs and huge posteriors. These mountainous strangers, with feet as big as skateboards, were pushing and shoving and bumping and thumping and rushing and crushing. Rather than fun, the scene looked absolutely terrifying! She elected to take her child home and vowed to herself never to impose her version of a good time on him again.
Getting out of our habitual viewpoint and presumptions can give us a new angle on things, an introduction to the grace and mercy that run through the Magnificat. Jesus was at God's right hand, but to fulfill God's promise to Abraham to bless all nations, He became just another person for our sakes - born into a lower-class family, trudging around for 33 years and getting hungry and tired just like all the rest of us. Finally He lowered Himself to accept crucifixion for our sins, so we could be forgiven. God's promise to Abraham about blessing through his "seed" was given in Gen.22, when a ram was provided as a substitute, a swap, in Isaac's place for a sacrifice. In communion we remember Jesus pouring out His blood because He loved us and chose to serve us by exchanging places in order to take away our guilt. The Father lifted Him up, raising Him from the dead, because He humbled Himself for others.
From Pauper to Popular Publisher
When the Moravian Christians of Europe launched Protestant missions, they did it at a cost. Many of them had to leave their children behind in boarding schools across England and the Continent. So it was that in 1776, while a revolutionary act of a different kind was taking place across the Atlantic, the Montgomery family reluctantly placed 6-year-old James in such an institution as they shipped off as foreign missionaries to the West Indies. When they later perished, James was left with nothing. He spent his teen years drifting, trying one job then another, writing some poetry on the side. In his early twenties, he began working for a British newspaper, the Sheffield Iris, and there found his niche. When his editorials proved unpopular with the local officials, he was thrown into jail and fined 20 pounds. But he emerged from prison a celebrity, and he used his newly acquired fame to promote his favourite issues, chief amongst which was the Gospel. Despite the loss of his parents and all his hardships, which must have been very humbling, James Montgomery remained devoted to Christ and the Scriptures.
As the years passed, he became the most respected leader in Sheffield, and his writings were eagerly read by its citizens. Early on Christmas Eve, 1816, 45-year-old James opened his Bible and was deeply impressed by Luke 2:13. Pondering the story of the heralding angels, he took his pen and started writing. By the end of the day his new Christmas poem was being delivered to England in the pages of his newspaper. "Angels from the realms of glory, wing your flight o'er all the earth; ye who sang creation's story, now proclaim Messiah's birth; come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the new-born King."
Humble maiden Mary became a servant by becoming Jesus' mother, and became highly regarded through the ages. Her song invites us to glorify God with her for His mercy to the lowly. Penniless pauper James Montgomery served God with his pen and creativity, and bequeathed to English-speaking Christians a carol that calls us to "leave [our] contemplations" and "Come and worship" with the angels "the great Desire of nations". The blessing of our inverting God still seeks humble servants through whom to pour out Christ's mercy today. Let's pray.