December 2005 - Archdiocese of Glasgow

26 SCRIPTUREDECEMBER 2005 ·Magnificat - our oldest Advent hymnEverybody’sBibleby Dr Noel DonnellyIT WAS THE GERMAN theologianDietrich Bonhoeffer, killedby the Nazis, who described theMagnificat as “the oldestAdvent hymn”.“The Song of Mary,” he said,“has none of the sweet, nostalgic,or even playful tones of some ofour Christmas carols. It is instead ahard, strong, inexorable song aboutcollapsing thrones and humbledlords of this world…. These are thetones of the women prophets of theOld Testament that now come tolife in Mary’s mouth”.We can read this hymn inchapter one of the Gospel of Luke.That’s where Mary goes to visither cousin Elizabeth.In the song we find six verystrong verbs: showing strength,scattering, filling up, pulling down,lifting up, sending away. In manyways it is a rebel song. It was evenbanned in Guatemala during the1980s since it was deemed sosubversive!In Luke’s Gospel, the hymnprovides a noble preface to theprogramme that Jesus willproclaim during his ministry. Hewill say in his local synagogue,perhaps in the presence of hismother, that he was the person sentby God to bring good news to thepoor and oppressed and to set prisonersfree.In the Beatitudes he willproclaim the greatness of God’sfavour for the poor, the hungry, theabused and persecuted remnants ofsociety, burdened by Roman ruleand male religious domination. IsJesus reflecting his mother’s influenceduring his upbringing?This strong Galilean peasantwoman would be acutely aware ofthe injustices around her; the songthat Luke puts on her lips seems tobe modelled on the Maccabeeanwar hymns we find in the DeadSea Scrolls.It also reflects the Song ofHannah (1 Samuel 2:1–10) whosings: “My heart exults in theLord; my strength is exalted in myGod… The bows of the mighty arebroken, but the weak gain strength;those who were full have hiredthemselves out for bread, but thosewho were hungry are fat with thespoil!”Mary’s hymn consists of twogreat blocks of poetry. The firstcelebrates the greatness of theSaviour God. It recalls Mary’snamesake, the Old Testamentwoman of strength Miriam, sisterof Moses, with her tambourine andher singing and dancing in praiseof the Lord (Exodus 15:2-21).While the first section of theMagnificat has been described as“raising a toast” to God, the secondsection proclaims how God bringsjustice to the weak by turning thepower structures upside down.People sometimes wonder whywe know the mother of Jesus as‘Mary’ while to her companions inNazareth she would be called‘Miriam’.The Greek translation of thename is Maria which we carry overin our English translations of theNew Testament. But when the OldTestament Hebrew language or theAramaic of the time was used thenthe same name appeared as‘Miriam’.Scholars give three meanings tothis name: ‘The Lord’s Woman’;‘the fat one’ (being fat was a signof great beauty in that culture!);and ‘rebel’.So we might peer behind thechinks of tradition and describeMary as ‘God’s Beautiful Rebel’.We hear frequently about Mary’s‘Yes!’ – Let it be. This, of course, isrightly proclaimed. It is a positiveand responsible commitment to theinvitation of a gracious Lord at theAnnunciation.But in the Magnificat at theVisitation she also is a proponent of‘No!’ wherever injustice is around:No to the mighty! They need to betoppled from their power structures.No to those who cause starvation!The hungry poor must be fed.No to those who deny the dignityof every person, born or unborn!Human dignity needs to be affirmedamong those who seem debased bydrugs, colour, gender, creed, socialstanding or poverty.The biblical scholar Fr DenisMcBride (from Clydebank), writesabout Mary voicing her Magnificatfrom “a Cinderella people!” - alovely phrase, full of hope!“The proud are toppled fromtheir precious pedestals; themighty find themselves unemployed;the little people are unimportantno more; the hungry areattended to at last; the rich aresolemnly awarded nothing. TheMagnificat praises the revolutionof God”.As part of the prayer of theChurch, the Magnificat isproclaimed each day duringEvening Prayer. In music, it is sungin many forms, from Bach to themore modest local compositionsincluding a popular setting to thetune ‘Amazing Grace’.It is quite remarkable that theMagnificat, the hymn of Miriam ofNazareth, has found its way intothe grass-roots piety of today’spilgrim people as we celebrate theamazing grace of God our saviourwho has done great things for us.Our earliest Advent hymn stilllooks for our gracious response.Funeral DirectorsFour Generations of Service,One Standard of Excellence