“Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has looked at the humble state of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name. ... He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty.”
Mary's song is gentler in our imagination than it is on the page. We picture something soft and lullaby-like. Read it again. It is a revolution set to music.
Princes pulled off thrones. The lowly lifted. The hungry filled. The rich sent away empty.
And notice the tense. She does not say God will do these things someday. She says he has done them, as if it were already finished, while she is standing there pregnant in a country under Roman occupation with nothing visibly changed. That is faith in its boldest form, describing the world as God has decided it will be rather than as it currently looks.
She starts with what he has done for her personally. He looked at the humble state of his servant. That word is not modesty. It means low, unimportant, easily missed. She is saying, God noticed a nobody. Then she widens out, because if that is who God is with her, that is who God is with everyone.
This is a hard song for comfortable people. Most of us reading this are closer to the rich being sent away than the hungry being filled, and it does us no good to skip past that. God's kingdom comes as good news to people at the bottom, and it comes as a reordering to everyone else.
The question the song asks is simple. Are you holding your position, or are you willing to be part of how God lifts someone else?
Talk About It Together
Read the song out loud first. It hits differently spoken.
- What surprises you about how strong Mary's song is?
- Where are you in this song, closer to the lowly or to the comfortable?
- Who could you help lift this season, and how?
Tonight’s Challenge
Give something real to someone who is genuinely hungry or short this month, and do it quietly.
Prayer
Father, You lift the lowly and fill the hungry, and You noticed a young woman nobody would have picked. Thank You for seeing us. Give us Mary's boldness to trust what You have promised before we can see it. Show us who to lift, and make us willing. Amen.