{"id":10037,"date":"2021-02-07T19:49:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T19:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=10037"},"modified":"2022-10-05T14:43:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T12:43:00","slug":"luke-146-55-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/luke-146-55-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke 1:46-55"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Luke 1:46 And Mary said,
\n„My soul magnifies the Lord,
\n47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
\n48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
\nSurely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
\n49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
\nand holy is his name.
\n50 His mercy is for those who fear him
\nfrom generation to generation.
\n51 He has shown strength with his arm;
\nhe has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
\n52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
\nand lifted up the lowly;
\n53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
\nand sent the rich away empty.
\n54 He has helped his servant Israel,
\nin remembrance of his mercy,
\n55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
\nto Abraham and to his descendants forever.“<\/p>\n


\nMary\u2019s Song<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has just heard from the angel that she should
\nexpect a child; an extraordinary child; her child. This child will be
\nborn to bring wholeness again to Israel, and will be called Son of God,
\nindicating that the Messiah, long promised was about to arrive. She
\njourneys to her cousin Elizabeth\u2019s house and there receives a
\nblessing by the mother of another special child to be. Her response
\nis to sing the song that is today\u2019s Gospel text. This song, the
\ntraditional canticle of Evening Prayer services for countless years,
\nhas captured the imaginations of myriad musicians, poets, and storytellers
\nthroughout Christian history. With its images of reversals and the surprising
\n\u201cupside down\u201d way of God\u2019s justice, it has been especially
\nfavored of those who are oppressed. But what does it say to us today?
\nDoes it hold an understanding of the promise of God as yet unfulfilled?
\nDoes it hold a word of warning to those of us who are \u201cmighty\u201d
\nand \u201cwealthy\u201d and \u201cproud\u201d? Does it hold out
\nhope for a world already redeemed, but not yet fully restored?<\/p>\n

I am a storyteller, by trade and by self-appointment. I love to hear
\na good story, and I love to tell a good story. But I also recognize
\nwhen I am a part of a greater story, and see my life unfolding in God\u2019s
\ntime. When I hear Mary\u2019s text, on Mary\u2019s feast day, I am
\ntransported to other places and times, to help me understand what this
\ncould mean. Journey with me now, and I will share Mary\u2019s song
\nas it has been sung in my life.<\/p>\n

The Mighty Are Brought Low<\/strong><\/p>\n

Journey with me to 1987. It is a hot August day in the community of
\nHondo, west of San Antonio, where I am the newly ordained, newly installed,
\npastor of St. Paul\u2019s Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is a town
\nthat proudly proclaims its faith in the town motto, famous in the area
\nfor its placement on the road sign of the highway through town. \u201cThis
\nis God\u2019s Country, Please Don\u2019t Drive Through it Like Hell.\u201d
\nIt is late in a Thursday afternoon and I struggle desperately the finish
\nmy sermon for Sunday.<\/p>\n

A Madonna appears in my doorway. Her donkey is an orange \u201869
\nChevy with bald tires and a twisted fender. Her face is beauty, though
\ndrawn and dusty, framed by black hair that slowly wanders past her cheeks
\nto her shoulders. She is Maria, but Joseph is not in evidence, at least
\nnot this day. But his existence is confirmed by her swollen belly, carrying
\nthe child that she sees as her salvation, her passport to permanent
\nresidence in this promised land to the north. Her denim smock still
\nserves to cover her, great with child though she may be. You can see
\nthat she is hungry with a hunger that burns deeply behind her once bright
\neyes.<\/p>\n

She speaks, \u201cComida, por favor?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo comprende!\u201d I reply, making a mental note to myself
\nto learn more Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHabla Espa\u00f1ol?\u201d she asks, in quiet desperation.
\nI shake my head no.<\/p>\n

\u201cEat, Please,\u201d she states in halted words putting her hand
\nto her mouth in pointed pantomime. It is a simple request. It requires
\na simple answer. (My heart shouts YES!)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d I mutter as I shake my head.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry for several reasons. Officially I\u2019m sorry because
\nI have been Pastor for only two weeks. I have not yet been given access
\nto the town\u2019s system of vouchers for those who need food. I did
\nnot even have pocket money for myself that day. I tried to tell her
\nthese things, but she only nodded that blank nod of someone who has
\ntuned out. Privately I\u2019m sorry because I have been warned not
\nto help too much these days. I\u2019m already a marked man in Hondo.
\nJust one day after the town paper printed the picture announcing my
\narrival a steady stream of people, con artists the other pastors in
\ntown had warned, began to arrive at my door, looking for a \u201csoft
\ntouch\u201d to take advantage of. Someone had abused the generosity
\nof the good pastors of Hondo once too often in the past, I fear.<\/p>\n

Oh, Maria, I am truly sorry. I did not have the courage to help you
\nin your need, to reach out to you from my lofty perch. What a condition
\nfor me to be in, not to trust others enough to be generous with money
\nnot my own. And though I knew better in my heart and in my head, I DID
\nIT ANYWAY. I bought into that system of the wealthy and the lowly that
\nMary of old spoke of being torn down and I upheld it against my Lord
\nand his beloved children. I have joined the countless host who have
\nturned in pride away from their savior. Maria, not wanted to wait for
\nfurther proof of my Sin, retreated to her car and drove away in a cloud
\nof dust.
\nI was left staring, hoping for another chance to offer my gift of love
\nand food to her, a chance that will not come. I know that she will not
\nreturn. She will not return to a place where the \u201cno vacancy\u201d
\nsign was all too plain to see. I have not only refused to GIVE to her,
\nbut I stood there attempting to steal one of the few things that she
\nhad left: her hope. She would be wise not to return to a place where
\nshe might be robbed again: robbed of self, robbed of dignity, robbed
\nof pride. I stare, humbled, no humiliated, by the state of my life.
\nI have been brought low indeed.<\/p>\n

Mary\u2019s Song for All of Us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary of old sings a song of praise for the things that God is about
\nto do through her child. His name will be \u201cImmanuel,\u201d God
\nwith us. We do nothing to deserve his presence among us. We turn him
\naway from our doorsteps. Yet it is for all of us that he comes, to be
\nwith us, though we ignore him. He comes to experience our lives, shameful
\nthough they may be; to suffer our injustices; to die an outcast. He
\ncomes to an estranged world, where rich and poor alike are trapped by
\nthe systems and the barriers we ourselves have erected.<\/p>\n

But it is precisely the news of God\u2019s coming, God\u2019s advent,
\nthat gives Mary the courage to sing, and gives us, gives me the courage
\nto BE once again. For he shatters not only the proud, but the system
\nthat allows us to divide ourselves and pretend we are other than one
\nhumanity united both in Sin and in Grace. God, in Jesus, gives hope
\nto a failed people in a fallen world. He now hope that by the birth
\nof a child, love and trust might exist in our lives again, for us and
\nthrough us. For Jesus comes to break the mistrust by joining our pain,
\nour alienation and our death on a cross that we have fashioned. Thus
\njoined to our death, relationship with God and between people of a desperate
\nplanet becomes real for us again. It is to the same hope as Mary that
\nI cling. It is for the same reason as Mary that I sing. It is this new
\nreality that makes life more than existing from day to day: Immanuel,
\nGOD WITH US!<\/p>\n

Epilogue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maria returned to my door some months later, her English improving,
\nher child now dandled on her hip. Her husband was with her this trip,
\nand they were not there to beg for food. He had found construction work
\nand they had a place to live other than their still orange Nova. They
\nhad come to sign up for the English as a Second Language classes that
\nthis small German Lutheran Church had started to offer, and to thank
\nme for the food pantry that I was not really responsible for getting
\nstarted in the town. I learned that her name was really Imelda, and
\nin her hands she held a baby, name Pedro, after his father. By their
\npresence I was forgiven, and felt the joy of the new bond of life. I
\ngave them a blanket for the baby, from our stock of goodies and they
\naccepted my gift with smiles. I did not tell them they had given more
\nto me that day. I think that they knew.<\/p>\n

But the words and music of the Magnificat suddenly begin to sing in
\nmy head. \u201cHe has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their
\nhearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted
\nup the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the
\nrich away empty.\u201d I thought I was rich only to find myself empty.
\nBut true to form, God then filled me up with the good things of his
\nlove, and repeats this cycle for me until I get it. I am a slow learner,
\nbut God is a patient God.<\/p>\n

Rev. Dr. Luke Bouman
\nTree of Life Lutheran Church
\nAustin, Texas
\nlbouman@treeoflifelutheran.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 1:46 And Mary said, „My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,727,108,110,262,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-10037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lukas","category-archiv","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-01-chapter-01","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13941,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10037\/revisions\/13941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=10037"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=10037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}