Luke 1:46-48 (ESV)
And
Mary said,
“My
soul magnifies the Lord,
and
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for
he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;”
A central theme to Mary’s song is humility. God “has looked on the humble estate
of his servant.” He has scattered the proud, brought down the mighty, exalted
humble, filled the hungry, and sent the rich away empty. This is so backward to
the culture and religious mindset of the day. Health and wealth were looked on
as signs of blessing. In Mary’s song, God blesses the humble and rejects the wealthy
and the proud. This theme will continue to run through the Gospel of Luke.
How often we Americans thank God for our wealth, our freedom, our health. And
that is as it should be, but there is a hidden belief behind those prayers. We assume
that God has blessed us with wealth and freedom because we have been “a
Christian nation.” What if that is not why God blessed us at all. What if he
blessed us so that we could help others? What if he blessed us so that we could
support a world-wide mission movement taking the gospel around the globe? What
if he blessed us so that we could bring blessing to the rest of the world? Rather
than hoarding our wealth and using it to remain comfortable, what if we lived by
humble means and used our wealth to help those less fortunate?
We argue that God has blessed us, and therefore he wants us to revel in our
blessing. He wants us to live in excess. We see that in those we call wealthy,
those who have more than we do. We recognize the selfishness, arrogance, and self-centeredness
of those more wealthy than us. What we fail to see is our own excess, selfishness,
arrogance, and self-centeredness. We have become so comfortable in our excess
that when we lose a small convenience we gripe, complain, and feel abandoned by
God.
Has God really abandoned us if we lose our electricity for a few days and
don’t have the heat or air-conditioning that we are used to? Has God really abandoned
us if we can’t buy toilet paper any time we want? Has God really abandoned us
if we have to wear a facemask to shop in a store? Has God really abandoned us
if we can’t find our favorite product? Are we so blind that we cannot see that to
most of the world that is not even a minor inconvenience. That is just life.
Maybe it is time to rethink our lot in life. Maybe it is time to embrace Mary’s perspective. She just had her entire future changed and rearranged by the prophecy of an angel and the miracle of a virgin pregnancy. Her response was, “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” Maybe we should praise God more and complain a little less as we contemplate the miracle of the Christmas season.
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