Luke 1:46-55

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name; indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 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. He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Sermon Text

Last week we looked to the work of John the Baptist, and how he reveals God’s redemption. This week we look to the Song of Mary that tells us about God’s justice. Mary, the mother of God and the first evangelist, gives us a vision of what God has always done in history. From the first gift of clothing to Adam and Eve to the final victory of Christ’s resurrection banquet, God is always caring for the needs of those without. Likewise, her song casts a vision of what God’s judgment is like – the fire that burns and is not quenched seeks out those who fail to care for their neighbor, it eats up the riches of any and all who do not share what is given to them as a gift.

The world has always been full of inequity, it has denied equality to the people who live within it from the beginning. Cain, following his murder of Abel, founded the first city and in so doing set up a pattern of exploitation.[1] The resources grown by one person were to be eaten by another, those in power would take the best of the best and leave the rest to be divided among the lower castes of society. Centuries later, during the life of the prophet Samuel we see this pattern is not only expected by the people of God, but encouraged. They demand a king even when the prophet warns them he will take their best food and drink and make them into his slaves one way or another.[2] The allure of a stratified society is inevitable when people imagine they might make their way up the ladder someday.

In the United States, the top 20% of earners account for over 50% of the total money made in the United States.[3] The income of two hundred seventy-four million Americans is still less than the top sixty eight million. Even in that top strata, there are a handful of individuals who control the majority of that 51%. The amount of haves drops every year, and the amount of have-nots only gets higher.

While we are still better off than most people in history, indeed even most people in the world today, it seems unclear how long that will remain the case. As we continue to see cost of living increase, jobs become scarcer, and uncertainty build over how people can sustain themselves and their families, there needs to be a source of hope for us to cling to. That hope cannot come from politicians, because they always disappoint. It cannot come from rugged individualism, because it will only leave us to face our struggles alone. If we are to find hope in the state of the world, we must find it in God and, together, follow God’s message to its end.

Mary faced a set of hardships. An unwed woman, she was suddenly cast into scandal when she became pregnant. You could be killed for adultery in Judea, not by any official process either, but by mob violence. She was made to flee her home and stay with relatives to avoid the worst parts of the community response. In a town not her own, with her elderly and pregnant relative Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s Mother,) she received the consolation she needed so that she could trust that God was not lying when her child was called “wonderful counselor.” She was going to be the mother of God’s messiah, and through that child the world would be changed.

The song she sings is our scripture for today. Called the “Magnificat,” because of its opening phrase, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” it captures her bold prophecy that God has regarded her as significant in the midst of the poverty and scandal she sits in. Too poor to even offer a proper sacrifice to God, now a pariah in her hometown, Mary sings that she is blessed for all time because of what God has done.

More than that, she looks forward to what her son will achieve. Tyrants will be ripped from their thrones, the poor will be fed and freed from oppression. Those with comfort and food will be left without anything and those who have starved will have their fill.

The entire order of the world will be turned on its head, and it is all because of what her son would do. Mary, in carrying Christ and giving him up to his destiny, set in motion the salvation of the entire world.

The message of the Magnificat repeats across all of scripture. To those with comfort and with power, a warning is given. God is watching us in the midst of our idleness, in the midst of our apathy, and our unwillingness to care for one another. For those who suffer, hope is offered. There will not always be the dark days we currently are wrapped in. Light will break out, life will find a way into the dead things of this world. There is a new tomorrow. We have a choice, to accept that life and live into it, or to be comforted by possessions and excess until we are destroyed.

The Magnificat is a statement of God’s economy. It is also an invitation. Will we as God’s people care for one another. Will we aid in dismantling the systems of oppression that prevent people from living fully? Can we band together to feed the hungry, free the imprisoned, and to reintegrate those society has abandoned? Will the foreigner in our midst be shown the love they ought to be? Will the tyrant fear the people of God who know that a greater King has already been born than any earthly power could attain toward? We are given the choice – to join Mary in her song and follow her son’s majestic work, or to be lost in the wave that will set everything on its head at the end of time.

Let us serve God now, let us magnify God’s glory, and let us care for one another. – Amen.

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[1] Genesis 4:17

[2] 1 Samuel 8:10-22

[3] https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2025/demo/p60-286/figure3.pdf