2012 Lenten GuideWeek 4

Occupy: Where is the Church?The best biblical example – may-be the best example, period – of God occupying us has to be Mary. One day, an angel shows up and lets her know that she has been chosen for a vocation unlike any other the world has ever known: she will bring forth a baby, and that baby will be God in human flesh. The child occupying her womb is “light of light, very God of very God.” This God has moved in and taken up residence within a woman, and will be birthed into the world by her. Surely such news could only stir up trouble. Mary is unmarried. She had not consented to such a thing. Mary is a woman of the peasant class, definitely in the 99%, but the son she is being promised is said to be “heir to the

throne of his ancestor David…, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” None of this makes sense from Mary’s social location – it is all too wonderful, too fearsome, too revolutionary to be true. All of which makes Mary’s answer that much more remarkable: “Let it be with me according to your word.”

This whole series of events stirs up within Mary a prayer. This prayer – the Magnificat, so named for its first word in Latin – has become one of the most beloved prayers of the Church throughout history. It is a prayer that does not begin with Mary, but hearkens back a thousand years prior to Hannah, the barren woman miraculously blessed to carry Samuel in her womb. The prayer goes like this:

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

for he has looked with favour 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 for ever.

Mary’s beloved prayer, and Han-nah’s before her, has an edge to it: God has not only filled the hungry with good things, but also sent the rich away empty; has not only lift-ed up the lowly, but also brought the powerful down from their thrones. If the Church stands any-where, it is going to be with Mary, pregnant with vision and energy that will bring forth the reign of God in particular places and times. That vision – we call it Good News – will not come without cost. It will not only require the raising up of the lowly, but the humbling – and maybe the humiliation – of the powerful from their thrones. It means that the wealthy will have to accept walking away empty as the Good News of Jesus, and re-joice with the hungry as they are filled up. The powerful oppressor will come to know the gift of low-liness in Mary’s vision, just as the lowly will be raised up from the Pit.

This turns out to be a common theme in the Bible, though per-haps overlooked. The good news that the poor are blessed has a flip side that does not make it to our pulpits so often. The liberation of captives means that those who are in power lose it, those who ben-efit from the system topple with it. Another good example of this comes from Luke’s parallel to the Sermon on the Mount. After the well known “blessed statements (“blessed are you poor…, blessed are you who mourn…, blessed are

you who are persecuted and re-viled for my name’s sake…”) comes the flip side of those statements: “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation; woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry; woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.” (Luke 6:24-25)

The “woe” statements are not bad news. Oppression is cleary not good for the oppressed, but nei-ther is it good for the oppressor, albeit in different ways. Being set free from the way of oppression is not what the powerful might choose, but it is a freedom none-theless – the freedom to see every-one as brother or sister in Christ.

Where can we locate the Church in light of this testimony? There will be at least two places to look. The Church will be located with those who are poor, who are mourning, who are meek, and further, the Church will tend to be those who are poor, mourning, and meek. Where the lowly are being lifted

up from the ash heap, the Church will be there being lifted up and helping to lift others. But not only that, where the mighty are being brought low, the Church will be there helping to dismantle the domination system. Where the

Luke 6:20-26

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. ‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

rich are feasting while others go hungry, the Church will be there disrupting the banquet and re-distributing the bounty. The testi-mony of Mary, the occupied one, teaches us that this is the good news of the Gospel.

1 Samuel 2

Hannah prayed and said,‘My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God.My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory.

‘There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth;for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap,to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honour.For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world.

‘He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail. The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven.The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.’

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1 Cor 1:18-31For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wis-dom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolish-ness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’