So in this topsy-turvy world that Mary describes in her Magnificat (Luke 1:39-55), it is wildly appropriate that the children--the least of these (or are they the most?)--will be telling us the Christmas story this Sunday at 10:30am, in there own sweet, innocent way. But don't be fooled by that innocence because their message will be as in-your-face as John the Baptist's message was last Sunday (remember the brood of vipers?).
As haunting as Malachi's question was a few weeks ago, "Who can endure his coming?", Charlie Brown's question rings in our ears just as strongly, "Does anyone know what Christmas is all about?"
And that's where the church comes in. That's where the good news brought by Luke comes in, as Linus matter-of-factly says he knows what it is all about. You know the rest. And if you don't, I'll see you at WPPC on Sunday.
Advent peace (still waiting).
I like this commentary on Christmas' meaning from an author in our WPPC library, Father Richard Rohr:
ReplyDeleteWell, this year we might be forced under duress to celebrate the feast of Jesus’ humble birth with honesty! Our economic meltdown is showing for all to see what our real gods have been. It is not the Lord of Israel or his Son that we love, nearly as much as we do our limitless growth, our right to empire, our actual obligation to consume, and our sense of entitlement to this clearly limited planet...
So, come, let us celebrate the feast anew! May we who have consumed the mystery of Jesus now consume his whole meal, and may it free us from needing to consume so much of everything else. If you really have the One, you should not need more and more of the other. Maybe our humble Jesus is stealing our idols from us, and inviting us back into his Bethlehem stable.
Maybe it is not so astonishing that the messiah was born to a humble peasant girl. Considering what was happening to the early Christian church at the time of Luke's writings, the people were probably experiencing persecution and deaths and attacks from their neighbors. They may be trying to make sense of all the despair and suffering going on in their lives and in their community of faith. I think they were seeking a ray of hope in a man whom they believed would give them that hope and who was like them. And, in this passage about Mary's song, Luke gave it to them.
ReplyDeleteI think in the time of Jesus, Mary was considered an adult, even though we would think of her as a child still. Women started having children at a much younger age then.
Also, I am surprised that Luke had the insight to create this joyous meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. In general, women are very much into relationships with other women, especially other women relatives. Mary and Elizabeth might have had such a special relationship.