Most Highly Favoured Lady

The Magnificat – the Promise fulfilled

Mary’s immediate response was one of joy. One of the reasons for her joy was that she realised, in a way that she never had before, that God was real; that his promises in the past, to Israel, to Abraham and his children, would come true. Mary’s soul magnified the Lord and God gave her joy, peace, hope, love that our gifts, carols, gatherings and celebrations can only hint at.

And the same is true for us because, when we come to the point of, like Mary, saying ’Yes’ to God, submitting ourselves to him, then we too can be released into great joy, freed to praise. God will grow in us and move us on and give us the joy, peace, hope and love we need for ourselves and which we need to be a light to the world.

Magnificat – humble people used by God

But there’s another reason for Mary’s joy. It’s not just that the promises of God are now being fulfilled but that it’s happening through her, through Mary. And who was this person God was using? A humble, poor, struggling woman. God didn’t choose the mighty and powerful. He didn’t pick those in authority, with great wealth and influence. God didn’t choose some high class woman who had all the designer gear but an ordinary girl called Mary.

When Mary was chosen by God her first reaction was – how? Why me? Little me, insignificant me, inadequate me, unimportant me. God can’t use me. God wouldn’t want to us me. God couldn’t use me. I’m just a poor girl, from a poor family (to misquote a phrase from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody).

I think that we’ve done a great disservice to Mary in some parts of the church. Some parts of the Christian church have embellished Mary, made her out to be something she never was intended to be. Some have made Mary god-like, something that I firmly believe wasn’t meant and certainly isn’t the intention of the Bible.

This vulnerable young woman was thrown out in the desire to make Mary sound as important as some of the mythical goddesses, some of whom were said to have had virgin births. Christians seem to have wanted to give Mary more god-like qualities and she became far removed from real life. She eventually became sinless, taken into heaven where she prays for us and through whom we offer our prayers.

That’s not Mary. Mary was a real, down to earth, humble young woman with no sense of any importance other than she was chosen by God. How else can we ever try to make sense of the incarnation, of God become flesh and blood, real life, human? Mary had to be real so that Jesus became real man, flesh and bone like us.

And if Mary is real and down to earth, and gritty, and vulnerable, and poor and struggling, then we can relate to her. It makes much more sense to me that Mary was ordinary and vulnerable like us. It makes sense to me that she grew old and had to be cared for. We don’t need, and it’s not helpful, to have an other-worldly image of Mary. Mary suffered like us. After all, she stood and watched as her own son was cruelly nailed to a cross and died there in front of her.