Grace and Truth: A word from pastors

What happens when you are filled with Jesus, when Jesus grows inside your life? When you are full of Jesus, what do you say? These questions take us into the heart of Advent. These questions take us into the womb of Mary, where we find Jesus, filling her body. And we listen to what Mary says when Jesus grows into her life. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” she says, “for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant” (Luke 1:46-48). Mary knows what lowliness feels like. She was born into poverty and now is pregnant out of wedlock. With every inch her belly grows, her reputation is degraded as people drag her name in the dirt. Who would believe a teenage girl who claims that the Messiah dwells in her womb? Despite what the world may think of her, of her lowliness, of what she’s done with her life, Mary knows God’s favor and sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly,” she says, “he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty” (vv. 52-53). As Jesus grows into Mary’s life, she prophesies good news for the lowly, which involves bad news for the powerful. With Jesus in her body, Mary speaks a word of hope that involves a word of judgment. A few chapters later in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ proclamation echoes his mother’s words: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. … But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. … Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry” (6:20-25). These are words of reversal, of overturning, of powerful leaders being deposed, “brought down from their thrones,” of the rich being banished, “sent away,” and of the satisfied being made hungry. When we read and listen to the Scriptures, we become familiar with God’s voice, we learn what God’s words sound like. With ears tuned into God’s Word, we can begin to hear echoes of the Word in the world. The voice of God resounds all around us, beckoning us into God’s movement, set in motion by the uncontrollable wind of the Spirit. In this season of Advent, as we dwell with Mary, the one who is filled with Jesus, we let her words draw us into resonances of the gospel we may not have heard before. Mary’s words are living and active. They resound from places we may not have thought of as hospitable for God—like the womb of a poor teenage girl, or like the tent cities of the Occupy Wall Street movement, among protestors with these slogans: “End corporate greed,” “People over profits,” “Money for jobs and education, not wars and occupation.” Mary’s words and these words resonate with each other, inviting us to consider what it would mean to let God’s Word echo through us today: to say, with Mary, full of grace, full of Jesus, God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. Who knows where the protests will lead. But for now, during Advent, we should rejoice as they enact good news for the poor, the news that Mary prophesies, because the homeless have found a home and the hungry are being fed. A man who has spent months living in public restrooms and under freeways found a safe home with the people of Occupy Oakland. “If I need clothes, someone donates clothes,” he said as he joined the camp. “If I need medical help, there are medics here. Everyone gets well fed.” A manager at the food tent in Occupy LA told the gathered crowds, “If you are hungry and are in need of a meal, we will serve you. We don’t turn anyone away. I don’t care what your address is.” The Lord has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.