Luke 1:46-55 NRSVUE – Mary’s Song of Praise – And Mary – Bible Gateway

As part of a sharing with our brothers and sisters in the Zimbabwe Presbytery of UPCSA Eastern Synod staff reflected on this reading.

• We noticed that God remembers – that God honours by remembering Israel and that we can show love and honour people when we remember them too. Sharing this Bible study is a way of connecting with you and lets you know that we love and honour you as brothers and sisters in Christ.

• We noticed that the first few verses are Mary’s response to what has happened to her personally. And then she moves on to think about what the birth of the Messiah will mean to everyone.  And that her overwhelming confidence in her relationship with God means that when she thinks about what God has promised through Jesus she uses the present tense e.g. “He has brought down the powerful”

• We noticed how there are echoes of Mary’s song in the rest of the Gospels – in the beatitudes; in his preaching in the Synagogue ““The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” (Luke 4) and the parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25)

When we asked ourselves what the reading says to us today

• We noticed and lamented that the promises have still not come true – the hungry are still hungry, the rich are not brought low.

• But we still feel able to share in Mary’s song – knowing the blessings that God has given to us and therefore being able to rejoice in God’s promises to make the earth a more just place. We pray your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We know that God loves, honours, remembers.

• We still want to sing this prophetic song , aware that in Advent we celebrate the fact that God’s Kingdom has come but is not yet complete.

And perhaps, like the parable of Sheep and the Goats there is a reminder that we have a part to play – when did we find ways to scatter the proud, when did we fight for justice?