Mary | Luke's Take on Women | Part 2 (Courtney Clark)
Transcript: Mary
We are in part 2 of our 4 part series titled Luke on Women. The works of Luke and Acts are attributed to the same creator, who we’ve named Luke though no one knows for sure. Whoever the author of these texts was, they’re well educated and have an artistic writing style that captures a lot of detail. Luke is concerned with the Christian churches relationship with The Roman Empire. He spends a lot of time painting the Christian faith in a positive light to establish it as it’s own religion separate from Judaism and works to paint the Roman Empire as sympathetic to this religious movement. As a means to influence Rome positively toward Christianity, a religion started by a revolutionary. The primary audience of Luke and Acts are gentiles, people who are not Jews. The primary writing style, though there are many, is that of a Roman Historian. Luke was not an eye witness to the life of Jesus, so writes the text through investigative journalism. Luke himself was a gentile, and theologians argue that his cultural lens as a Roman helped influence him to view women more positively. Though theologians seem to disagree on if Luke was pro the inclusion of women or not. There are good arguments on both sides. But one thing we can note for sure, the book of Luke includes stories of women found no where else in the Bible, includes more stories of women than any of the other gospels, and sets women in positions of power and leadership within the life of Jesus.
Last week we dove head first into the book of Luke and talked about Elizabeth and how including her in the birth story of Jesus sends a powerful message that foreshadows so much about Jesus’s life to come. A life of inclusion, of shifting culture, of fighting power imbalances. Of flipping tables in a sense, of the cultural expectation. Elizabeth is faithful and continues to believe for a baby when no one else around her, not even her husband, believes. And once she receives this baby she walks along side Mary as Mary enters into a season of anguish, judgment, pain, and uncertainty. We learn that Elizabeth is the first in the Story to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which is a theme we see a lot throughout the books of Luke and Acts. (It’s an expression to show an ushering in of a new age. To experience the presence of God there were a lot of requirements to enter into the temple. Now with the ‘holy spirit’ the presence the life, the glory of god can’t be felt anywhere we may need or want it.) Each step of the way, Luke gives Elizabeth power and credibility creating her as a person to be respected, revered, and loved.
Luke writes in parallels, putting similar stories in pairs. Often times the pairs are written with a male main character in one and a female main character in another. The first parallel we see is the story of the messenger appearing to Zachariah, Elizabeth’s husband, to tell him his wife who is old in age will conceive a baby. The same messenger, named Gabriel, appears to Mary and tells her she will be pregnant. Though these stories are very different there are several parallels that tell us they’re related. Both are stories of God’s initiative of grace and power. Power as a means of what is happening in the world with the birth of Jesus and John who has a powerful social movement of his own, (Luke is intentional about painting both of them as important yet he’s clear that Jesus is the focal point here). Grace in that God is using the unable to do so, an old couple and a young unmarried woman. Both stories follow a similar pattern. Characters are introduced, the angel appears, followed by fear, good news, doubt, a sign, and a response from the character, then departure of the messenger/angle. Both messages are about the conception of a baby. The primary difference being that in the first story the message is delivered to Zachariah, a man, and in the second story the message is delivered to a woman, Mary. Each character responds with a question. Zachariah says in vs 1:18 “how can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Mary’s question we find in vs 1:34 “How will this be, Mary asked the angel since I am a virgin?” Yet Zachariah is struck mute by the messenger for disbelief and Mary goes on to be painted as faithful and obedient. Zachariah kind of is starting to look not so great here. Remember last week we talked about the juxtaposition of Elizabeth and her husband. When he experiences the presence of the Lord in the temple he becomes mute yet she is filled with the Holy Spirit, or in other words experiences the presence of the lord, she is given a prophetic speech and is the first to proclaim that this baby is the Lord, the promised messiah when she hasn’t even been told that Mary is pregnant yet. I want to be clear here that I don’t think Luke is painting men as awful and women as good. Zachariah is redeemed in the end, after john in born Zachariah is given a prophetic speech of his own that is beautiful. But I think Luke is making a point. He’s doing what Jesus set out to do. Flipping the tables of the expected social norm. That men have have the faith and the power and the women just submit wholly along with it. Rather the women are the ones who are faithful and powerful in this story right from the start.
Throughout chapters 1 and 2 of the book of Luke Mary is painted as favored by God, thoughtful, obedient, believing, worshipful, and devoted to Jewish law. Luke even goes on to later name her in the company of believers in Acts 1:14. He clearly thought very highly of Mary. I also want to point out that the text doesn’t say Mary was chosen because of these qualities, in fact the scriptures never tell us why Mary was the one to conceive and bear Jesus. Just that Mary exemplifies these characteristics because of her response to the call to do so.
We walked though the first parts of what is called the Visitation, essentially a conversation between Elizabeth and Mary. Where we read Elizabeth’s praise to Mary. Today we’re going to look at Mary’s response to hearing Elizabeth’s encouragement. In which she breaks out into song, a song of praise, hope, and excitement. She’s realizing that what the messenger said is true, Elizabeth is pregnant, SHE is pregnant and they’re facing something powerfully larger than themselves. Let’s take a look! Turn to Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has looked with favor on His humble servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed,
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His Name.
He has mercy on those who fear Him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of His servant Israel
for He has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise He made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen, Alleluia
This song, which is commonly referred to as The Magnificat, is prophetic in nature. She’s proclaiming the message and the mission that Jesus will go on to live. Proclaiming that God is bringing peace, justice, and hope for those who are oppressed. The marginalized, the poor. The song holds a lot of powerful language and paints Mary as not just the body who housed Jesus for 9 months outside of her will, but as a powerful woman who was determined to see this thing through. Who knew what it was like to be lowly and powerless. Who wanted different for her family and was doing everything she could with what little power she had to see that change through.
Luke portrays Mary not only as a meek vessel to be used for 9 months and tossed aside. But as intelligent, powerful, and courageous. Only someone profoundly familiar with Hebrew scripture and tradition, specifically Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel could have composed the Magnificat. Which is thematically dependent on Hannah’s song. I won’t read it but if you want to look for yourself it’s found in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. First century audiences who Luke is writing to, would have been familiar to the parallels in the two songs. Mary is being established as a hero. We don’t know if Mary actually said these words and Luke wrote them down after speaking with her or if he composed it himself. Regardless of who composed the Magnificat by giving the song to Mary Luke’s point is clear; Mary is an educated young woman with vision and determination.
This song is made up of 4 stanzas. The first is of praise and rejoice for what God is doing. The second is about the character of God. The third is uses past tense language to describe the future, which is pretty common in Hebrew literature. The fourth reiterates promises from God. Meaning Mary knew scripture and was able to see these promises being fulfilled with the baby she held in her womb.
This song isn’t a song about God or about Mary, it’s rather more of a meditation on the grace and mercy of God to see things through. The realization that Mary is being used to usher in something new yet she is no one. Vs 48 says “he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.” She’s recognizing that this is something big, yet she is someone forgotten by society. She’s an unmarried woman in a society that values women on their martial status in relation to their fathers or husbands. She is essentially nobody. She knows this and is in awe of God’s choice to use her. And see’s the power in it. She continues on to describe what this might mean for not only her but all marginalized communities. ‘From generation to generation’ it says in vs 49. The third stanza tells of what is to come, but speaks as if it has already been done. It’s a description of this reversal of social normals. The equalizing of power dynamics. Where the powerful and proud are brought down and the humble are brought up. Where the hungry are filled and the rich are sent away empty. A foreshadowing of the work and life of Jesus.
Mary sings of liberation, liberation not for herself in the midst of a pretty terrible situation, but liberation for anyone who has ever felt like they could never get one step ahead, for anyone who has questioned their place in the world, for anyone who has ever felt like there was nothing left to hope for. She’s singing a song of liberation for a people who have known only oppression. She’s entering into this fully aware of what she’s signing up for, and not only does she accept the invitation to carry the baby Jesus, she accepts everything that comes along with it. The revolution, the turning of tables, the isolation, the fear, the victory, the death, the longing, the Messiah and everything he stands for. She was not just the body who housed the baby of Jesus, she was the mother who taught him how to exist in the world, who taught him how to stand up for the oppressed, the marginalized, the forgotten. As someone who was keenly aware of what life in the margins looked like. She taught him to love, to stand up for those who have no voice, and she taught him how to be bold. Jesus would have done his work no matter who his mother was, but just like each and every one of you learned from your parents what values to stand up for, Jesus learned from his mother. We see here the values Jesus exhibited in his life, Mary knows and values herself. She wasn’t meek and docile as we paint her today. She was bold, brave, brilliant, and actively apart of the revolution of Jesus. A revolution not of violence, but of love.
We have this bold brave picture of Mary because of Luke. He includes immense detail and intentionally portrays her this way. When the other gospels don’t say much on who she was, Luke tells us Jesus was who he was because of Mary. Luke revered Mary and wanted all of his readers to know that she was important to the story. Not just as the mother, but as an individual who took on a task much larger than herself. As a revolutionist of love.
Women have been pushed aside from the beginning of time. Even in Mary’s time, yet Luke continues to include women again and again. We’re only in chapter 1 and we have two beautiful pictures of strong powerful women. I set out to write this series to prove to myself more than anyone else, that women have a place at the table, that women are included in the story of Jesus and everything he’s trying to do. A place to contribute and serve and lead not just to sit in silence but to be a part of the revolution. A revolution that started with a woman, Mary.