Lydford, Fourth Sunday of Advent, 23/12/2012
We call it The Magnificat, a translation from Latin of the first line of Mary’s song. It’s a wondrous outburst of praise: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord’, she sang. You might wonder how a simple country girl could find such magnificence within her.
And it’s a song of great reversals: ‘He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly,’ she sang. You might wonder how an uneducated young woman could form such perceptive insights.
Mary’s song praises God for His great acts in history, then and now; great acts of reversal, of turning the world upside-down in favour of the lowly, the broken, the victims. And this is how Mary gains the insight to form those words: because God did just that to her.
‘...my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant’, she sang, ‘The Mighty One has done great things for me’.
Mary sings with intelligence - the knowledge she has gained from her own encounter with the Holy Spirit and the Angel of the Lord, she applies to the state of the world, past and present. What God has done for her, she knows, He will do for others.
Mary’s intelligence is the intelligence of the victim - the insight and the knowledge gained by the lowly, the broken, the victims, when they encounter God in such a way that God reverses their fortunes, transforms their lives. The world as they then see it is the way the world truly is, in God’s eyes and in God’s will. It is a very different world to the world of the proud in the thoughts of their hearts, the world of the powerful on their thrones, the world of the satiated rich, a world which will pass away.
The intelligence of the victim is a great gift of Christianity to the world. It stems from the resurrection of Jesus, and the response of his disciples to the realisation that he - the crucified victim - had defeated death. And had returned to tell the story from his perspective - where before history was always written by the victors, now the crucified victim told it in a whole new way.
Never before in history had the perspective of the victim been regarded as important; after the resurrection the intelligence of the victim broke into the world and began the slow process of lovingly transforming it.
Mary’s song of great reversals was a forerunner of this. And today we hear other songs, other testimonies which have the witness of the victim at their heart, which affirm the possibility of transformation and change, here and now.
The prime example of this, this week, came in the speech which President Obama gave to the community of Newtown, Connecticut, which held the victims’ perspective at its heart. A leading political correspondent said that ‘It may have been Obama’s most theological address to date’. [1] Quoting scripture, the President told the people mourning the loss of their children, ‘… do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away… inwardly we are being renewed day by day’; and, speaking of the act of violence which had ended their children’s lives he said, ‘We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.’ [2]
In an act of reversal, the President lifted the perspective of the lowly victims above the agenda of the proud, the powerful and the wealthy. Anticipating the counter-arguments of the gun-law lobbyists he said,
‘We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No [...] laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely, we can do better than this. If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited [these] communities [...] - then surely we have an obligation to try.’ [2]
At this moment the political agenda of the United States is being set by the President’s embrace of the intelligence of the victim. This is precisely what Mary foresaw in her song of praise for God’s great acts of reversal in history, then and now. In the United States today, at a time of mourning, people of faith are encouraged by the President’s affirmation that with energy, goodwill and political commitment, a world of violence can be turned upside-down in favour of the lowly, the broken, the victims. Those who know The Magnificat will remember: God did just that for Mary: and so, He can do it for them.
A gentler example of a recent reversal in our world, is the way that our society’s attitudes towards people with disabilities has been transformed. Perhaps this transformation began as the many thousands who were physically or mentally disabled during the First and Second World Wars, were re-integrated into society. [3] But the success of the recent London Paralympics brought this into focus: no longer pitying those who competed, now society sees them as strong characters, fine athletes, magnificent achievers, great role models.
For many years the disability rights movement has been speaking with the intelligence of the victim, talking about the dignity of each human being, lobbying for acceptance, accessibility and safety, for equal opportunities and freedom from abuse - and whilst it remains true that over 3 million disabled people are living in poverty in the UK, it is truer than ever that their voices are being heard, and respected, and that a transformation of attitudes is taking place.
One of those voices, Jay Lusted, a man born with a rare condition called Diastrophic Dysplasia, or dwarfism, recently said that, ‘Charities have been trying to change people’s attitudes to disabled people for decades but the London 2012 Paralympics may have done it in two weeks. Eyes have been opened, hearts have been opened and doors have been opened.’ He added:
‘In the last 10 years, people are realising that we are not just people who have been born with disabilities, sickness or illness. We can get on with our lives. [...] If you think negatively you are going to be negative. If you think positively you are going to be positive.’ [4]
The writer James Alison says that ‘Human society is a violent place, which makes victims, and the revelation of God is to be found in the midst of that violence, on the side of the victims.’ [5]
With our modern eyes, the eyes of the Enlightenment, we regard the Palestinian country girl Mary as a victim of the violence of a male-dominated society under the oppression of occupying forces. But with the eyes of faith, through her encounter with the Holy Spirit and the Angel of the Lord, Mary sees herself quite differently: ‘Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed’, she sings.
Mary’s song is her gift to us, all these centuries on, so that we can embrace her intelligence - and apply it to the state of our world, past and present. What God has done for her, she wants us to know, he will do for us.
No longer moved by the powerful forces of society around her, but moved instead by the Holy Spirit at work deep within her and deep within the world, Mary has freely given herself to others in body and soul and song, just as her son Jesus gave himself to others in flesh and spirit and sacrifice. May we understand the significance of the transformation that they brought to the world, God’s great act in history. May we offer our minds in understanding that great reversal, our souls in praise of that great reversal, and our bodies in the work of revealing that great reversal to the world.
Notes
[1] Michael Crowley, ‘These Tragedies Must End’: Obama Promises Change at Newtown Vigil, but Can He Deliver?, Time Swampland, Dec. 17, 2012
[2] Full Transcript: Obama Speaks to Newtown Vigil by Associated Press, Time Newsfeed, Dec. 16, 2012
[3] War transformed attitudes to disability, BBC News, May 26, 1999
[4] David Powell , Rhos-on-Sea man hopes TV series will change attitudes to disabled people, Daily Post Wales West. Sep 17, 2012
[5] James Alison, Knowing Jesus, (Springfield, IL: Templegate Publishers, 1993), pages 42-45, quoted in Girardian Lectionary.
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