Luke 1:46-52

The most impressive model train set-up that I ever saw was at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The layout modeled Allegheny County and some parts of western Pennsylvania. There were important landmarks like steel mills, the three rivers meeting in downtown Pittsburgh, and some of the many neighborhoods that make Pittsburgh a great place, including Mister Roger’s neighborhood. 

What struck me is how life-like everything was. There was an orderliness to the imaginary life in the miniature villages. The trains circled around, arriving timely at each of their stops. The little miniature people and animals in the miniature villages and countryside were going about their business. The slopes of the mountains and hills mirrored what central and western Pennsylvania looks like when you’re driving on the highway. Things were neat and tidy. It was all so lifelike. It was hard not to think, “if only actual life were like this, simple and tidy and cheerful.”

For the past two weeks in Advent, we’ve had different symbols. On the first Sunday in Advent, the Scriptures told us to “wake up”! Our symbol was an alarm clock. Advent is like our spiritual alarm clock – God is inviting us to wake up to him. Last Sunday, our Scripture from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah was about a green shoot growing out of an old, worn out stump. This green shoot growing out of a decaying stump is a symbol of Jesus Christ coming as God’s messiah. Our image was the amaryllis plant blooming in the cold, dark winter. It is a reminder to be awake for the new thing God is doing in our lives. 

Our readings this week builds on the first two. Our reading from Luke is Mary, the mother of Jesus, singing. It’s known as the Magnificat, “my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Put simply, Mary sings and praises God for the powerful things God has done for her. But at an even deeper level, Mary is singing for the great things God has done for the world. On this third Sunday in Advent, maybe the Advent message is something like this: “Wake up. God is here among us. Another kind of world is possible.” 

Here’s how Mary, the mother of Jesus, is led to start singing God’s praises. It’s the beginning of the Christmas story as told by Luke. The angel Gabriel visits Mary, a young woman pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. The angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is going to have a baby. But this baby will not come by her future husband Joseph. Instead the baby born to Mary will be God’s son. The Holy Spirit will be involved. Shocked and stunned, but also determined to do God’s will for her life, Mary accepts her call from God. 

After the angel Gabriel leaves Mary’s home, we’re told that with great ‘haste’ and hurry, Mary picks up to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is also six months pregnant at the time with John the Baptist. We are not told that Mary travels with anyone, and so our assumption is that Mary makes the trip to Elizabeth’s home alone. Think about how revolutionary this would have been. It would be unheard of in the first century for a young, unmarried woman to travel alone, without a man, let alone the 70 miles it is between Nazareth and the hill country of Judea where Elizabeth lives.

All of that is interesting, but what is truly consequential and revolutionary is Mary’s Song. When Mary arrives at her cousin Elizabeth’s home, Elizabeth is overcome with joy at Mary’s presence. Luke records that the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, who will be named “John the Baptist, ‘leaps’ with joy at the sound of Mary’s voice. In an interesting connection with our other reading from Matthew today, even in his early life in his mother’s womb, John is fulfilling his role to ‘prepare the way for the Lord’. Then Mary sings these amazing words:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

    Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

    and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him

    from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

    and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

    and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

    in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

These are some of the most beautiful and revolutionary words in Scripture. The first four verses are about what the Mighty One has done for Mary and her response of praise. Mary, this lowly, poor young woman from Nazareth. Mary is a nobody from nowhere in the eyes of the world, but she is blessed by God. She has the unique privilege in history of bearing and being the mother to the Son of the Most High. God has looked with favor on her. Her response is to praise God. “My soul magnifies the Lord,” Mary sings, “and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

What ‘great things’ has the Mighty One has done for you?. The ‘great things’ the Mighty One has done for you don’t have to be flashy things or big things or expensive things in the eyes of the world. Mary the mother of Jesus is a reminder that God loves ordinary people who do ordinary things. And yet, the Lord also does great things through her. The Lord can do great things through you and me, even if very few people, if anyone, will ever know about them. If there were a way to measure faith, and there really isn’t – faith something we can’t see, faith is an inward trust in God lived outwardly; but, if there were a way to measure faith, gratitude and thanksgiving might be some of the better measurements. 

The second part of Mary’s magnificat, Mary’s song of praise, is Mary’s trust that God is setting right what is wrong in the world. A new world is possible, not because we will all get our act together. It’s a nice thought we’d do that, but probably not realistic. Instead, the world is being set to right because God is doing it and God is gracious and kind and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. We may not always believe it or think about it, but God cares about you and me and the world. And one of the big promises of God in Scripture is that God is going to give each of us a new heart and a new spirit. God is going to make the world new again.

One of the very important things that Mary tells us is that God is going to begin this with the lowly. In Jesus’ words, “the first will be last and the last will be first.” God takes nobodies from nowhere and makes them somebodies in the kingdom of God. Mary is proof of that. Here’s the kind of world God is making that Mary sees.

God has scattered the people who are proud

    and think great things about themselves. 

I read this as God is going to deal with those who think it’s their job to run everyone else’s life for them. Mary probably had in mind the political leaders of her day, Caesar and Herod, who were both corrupt, power-hungry men who wanted to control everything. But it can apply to each of us because we all probably have the temptation to tell other people how to run their lives. It takes a lot of pride and arrogance to think that we know what’s good for someone else and then to force it on them. Mary knew that God had a better idea. God is a God of freedom, freedom not to do whatever we want, but freedom to live and be as God intended us to.

God has brought down rulers from their thrones

    and raised up the humble.

Again, Mary probably has in mind Caesar and Herod. They were arrogant, corrupt, and power hungry. Leadership in the way of Jesus is the opposite of Caesar and Herod. Leadership in the way of Jesus is about serving others, lifting others up, and encouraging and empowering others. Not talking bad about them, abusing them, and using them. The Lord’s way is the way of love and mercy and humility. That’s what true power looks like. True power, true strength is about turning the other cheek, giving of yourself without expecting anything in return, and wanting what is good for someone else for their own sake.

The Lord has filled the hungry with good things

    and sent the rich away with nothing.

This is a radical economic message. The Lord is going to remake our economies. It’s not about capitalism or socialism. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The gospel vision of an economy is something like the feeding of the five thousand and the parable of the talents. We use our gifts to earn our living, but we also don’t make money just to make money. Giving and sharing along with fairness and equality are at the heart of the Christian life.

God has helped his servant, the people of Israel,

    remembering to show them mercy

as he promised to our ancestors,

    to Abraham and to his children forever.”

God is faithful.

Another kind of world is possible, according to Mary. And not only is another kind of world possible, it’s here. Maybe not here completely in the sense of being finished or complete. But another kind of world has broken in. 

Maybe our modern symbol for this third Sunday of Advent could be the model train and miniature villages or even this humble snow globe. We can take it too far, these are after all pretend. But, the season of Advent invites us to use our spiritual imaginations. The good news of Jesus Christ really is about changing things – changing us and changing the world – for the better. 

This is why the church is called to joy. Joy is not about wishful thinking or trying to manufacture happiness. Instead, joy comes when happens when we take God and God’s word and God’s promises seriously. Here is Kate Bowler, a Duke Divinity School professor’s take on joy:

Joy is a bit of a trickster! It doesn’t show up on schedule, and it almost never arrives when I’m trying to be very serious about my spiritual life. Instead, it sneaks in sideways—through an old hymn I didn’t know I needed, or a memory that suddenly feels like comfort instead of loss, or a laugh that escapes before I can decide if I’m in the mood for it.

This is the week the church hands us the rose-colored candle—Gaudete, “rejoice”—and honestly, it feels a little audacious. Joy? Now? In the middle of waiting and worry and the endless parade of tragedies? Joy while we’re juggling grief and gift lists?

But here’s what Advent keeps teaching me: joy is not something we engineer. It is something God gives. It is Christ drawing near in the middle of our wildly unfinished, achingly ordinary lives. Sometimes joy knocks politely. Sometimes it barges in with its shoes still on. Either way, it stays long enough to remind us that the story isn’t over yet—and all is not lost.

Put together, our three weeks of Advent so far can go something like this: the kingdom of God has come near, Wake up. God is doing a new thing. Another world is not only possible, it’s here and you’re invited to get on board.”

Thanks be to God! Amen.