When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom, “Let it be.”

Bring back any memories?

It is said¹ that this song by the Beatles was inspired by the Annunciation. You know the story. The Angel Gabriel comes to a young maiden named Mary and announces to her that she will become the mother of God.

“You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and will name him Jesus,” Gabriel tells Mary. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most high, and the Lord will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

What must be going through Mary’s heart and mind as she listens to Gabriel’s words? She is a poor peasant girl with no credentials, no royal lineage. She is engaged – but not yet married – to Joseph. And she is a virgin.

Bewildered, and trying to make sense of what makes no sense, Mary asks the angel, “How can this be?” She might also be asking silently in her heart, "How do I explain this to Joseph? What will my parents think? Will the townspeople ostracize and stone me?” All the heavens wait in breathless suspense as human history, as God’s plan for salvation, as the hopes of untold generations hang on her response.

When she finally speaks, Mary says, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

With little more than the love of God and a willing heart, Mary says “yes” to God’s divine plan –risking rejection, risking a life of poverty raising a child as a single mom, even death by stoning. In the Orthodox tradition, Mary is known as the theo-tokos, which means “God-bearer,” and she risks everything in order to “smuggle God into the world through her own body.” ²

And after she says “Yes,” Mary can’t help but break into song.

No matter what translation of the Magnificat is used – a traditional one like we heard from our “Mary” this morning, or a contemporary one like we used for our Gospel lesson – it is clear: these are not the words of a terrified and hesitant girl. She has moved from fear and perplexity to jubilation and proclamation, and she sings a joy-filled hymn which comes straight from her heart. Hers is the exultant refrain of one who trusts an angel’s message and steps out in courage and faith; it is the song of someone who has suddenly seen the world through God’s eyes.

I'm bursting with God-news;
I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened —
I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!

After this jubilant beginning, Mary’s song takes a surprising turn. Her focus goes from the personal to the social, from centering on that one moment in time to the span of human history, from one tiny unborn baby to a sense of great expectations. In the tradition of the prophets and the psalmists of previous generations, Mary celebrates the goodness of God, remembers what God has done in the past, and expresses hope for what God will do in the future through her child. She points to a promise that has been rooted deep within the hearts of God’s people since God called Abraham.

There is a sense of fulfillment in Mary’s song that stretches the soul; every Hebrew heart has waited and prayed and longed for the One who would bring salvation and peace.

“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly,” she sings. “He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

Notice that Mary’s words are in the present perfect tense. Mary does not say, “Some day in the future God will transform human life.” No, God has already transformed human life and is continuing to do so now.

The Message says it this way: “He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold.”

Mary knows that the Child she is going to bear, the long-awaited Savior, is turning conventional values and visions of a Messiah upside down. Through her infant son, God is bringing about a moral revolution, scattering the proud; a social and economic revolution, casting down the mighty and exalting the humble; and a spiritual revolution, bringing new life and hope where formerly there was only despair and fear. The entire social order is being renewed and redeemed, not through armed rebellion, but through the birth of a child!

Jesus comes proclaiming a startling new way of living. God works through the lowly and marginalized. The least are the greatest. The last shall be first. Adults must become like children. The greatest among us are those who take the role of a lowly servant. And tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners will be welcomed into heaven ahead of the righteous and religious. The heavenly realm proclaimed by Jesus indeed turns our earthly values upside down!

And Christ continues to speak to us in our generation.

Our culture says, “Value things.” Christ tells us to “Value people.”
The culture says, “Put yourself first.” Christ tells us to “Serve others.”
The culture says, “Never be satisfied with what you have; yearn for newer, bigger, brighter.” Christ tells us, “The abundant life that I bring is peace, joy, and wholeness.”
The culture says, “Hurry up, be busy, do, do, do.” Christ says, “Slow down, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”
The culture says, “Money and power and status are our gods; worship them.” Christ tells us, “God is God; worship God only.”
The culture says, “Now!” Christ says, “Focus on the things that are eternal, and I am with you always.” ³

Mary’s song is our song, too, for it is a reminder of who God is and whose we are. We are called and challenged this season to be transformed in heart and mind. We are to take on a new perspective which challenges the cultural norms. We are to embrace God’s promise of hope and new life. And we are to God-bearers to the world, bringing God’s vision of justice, mercy, compassion, and self-giving love.

And so, in these last days of Advent, may we, like Mary, give thanks for what God has done for us. May we live into Christ’s vision of the world by saying no to the empty messages of Christmas consumerism and saying yes to the message of faith and hope in Mary’s song. May we let the Holy Spirit touch us so that we may be vessels for the Holy, carriers of the Divine Light, and God-bearers to the world. And may we know Mary’s joy, so that each of us can sing, “I am bursting with God-news!” Amen.

¹Peter Slofstra, “Mary, Mary, Ordinary: Service Plans and Monologues for Advent and Christmas,” Reformed Worship, Issue #61.
²Barbara Brown Taylor, “Mothers of God,” Gospel Medicine (Boston: Cowley, 1995), 151-152
³Marilyn Sharpe, “God’s Stewardship of Time: Stewardship in Families,” The Clergy Journal, July/August 2003

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