David Bunce's blog

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”

When you get past the slightly Lord of the Rings feeling of a perfectly sane character suddenly bursting into song, Mary’s Magnificat is an amazing poem of worship to Yahweh, recognising his covenent faithfullness and his commitment to step into history and begin the work of putting the world to rights again, a promise that is celebrated by the song’s inclusion in Vespers in the Western Church and in the Morning Office in the Eastern Church. It is the song of a God who, rather than coming to earth as perhaps the all-too popular superman Jesus, come from no-where, doing the cross thing and disappearing again, chooses to come instead in vulnerability and brokenness and fragility. A God who comes not through a safe, Kingly inheritence but instead through the willing partnership of a frightened teenaged girl. Not in safety and security but in risk and danger. It is the song of a God who does not work at the expense of humans to put the world back together, but instead works together in partnership with humans, encouraging us to see the powerful and world changing at work in the most humble and broken of our society and our communities.

In the Magnificat, there is the weaving together of various streams of Hebrew consciousness from the Old Testament  – the close parallels to the Song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2), the various times in the Old Testament where Yahweh has stepped into history and brought about something new. At the same time, the poem also considers the contemporary plight of the Jewish people and speaks of the way in which the faithfulness of Yahweh in Old Testament history has continued down into the present and is now good news to the lowly and the hungry in 1st Century Palestine – and for us in 21st Century Scotland/England. The song is therefore an exegesis of God’s role in salvation history and a prophetic speaking of into the present context with hopes for a future which is characteristed by justice and mercy that is seen not only in an expression of faith and righteousness in remembering the promises made to Abraham, but is also seen in a transformation and renewal of the world and the way in which the world is ordered.

Therefore, as well as being a great hymn of worship to the faithfulness of God in history, it is also a profound call to mission and to action. As we see in the Magnificat a God who is committed to transforming the world around him and bringing in the societal changes and peace so long expected in so many prophecies in the Old Testament, in brings the missional call to join in with the living and active God and to live out lives that bring about God’s change in the places and situations where he is already working.

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