Jesus the ultimate subversion

Better late then never. Prior to Christmas Garret requested some thoughts on Mary’s Magnificat. Now, post Christmas, I finally find myself having some time to respond.

The text, Luke 1:46-55 (NIV):
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

Amid all the business of the Christmas season I find it easy to forget what it really means (cliché I know), but reflecting upon the opening section of Luke I find something tangible. Beyond all the sermons filled with theology about the incarnation, the miraculous, and the look forward to Jesus’ death, I find the story of one who shook things up from the very beginning.

Jesus was to be the ultimate subversion, completely reversing all the structures and norms of life. The humble are lifted up, the rich are sent away empty, such is the beginning we celebrate. It is a challenge to the empire, and therefore it is a challenge to you and me. Here is an excerpt from my work on empire in the Luke-Acts narrative:

“The thrust of Luke’s anti-imperial rhetoric continues as he uses the word “salvation”. God as saviour (1:47) in Mary’s song is a counter claim to that of Caesar, as Caesar was saviour to the barbarians the Empire conquered. The horn (power) of salvation coming through the line of David (1:69) continues this direct political challenge. This salvation is characterized as a tangible deliverance from enemies (1:71), nullifying any rebuttal that this use of “salvation” does not affect the Roman Empire, as Rome was understood as enemies of the Jews. This salvation through deliverance is told to be a path of peace (1:79), a direct rhetoric challenge to the Pax Romana the Empire enforced.”

This makes me excited. It pulls me into the story Jesus lived to tell. It is s story of alternative modes of living; a story of an alternative worldview. The birth of Jesus is the initiation of the freedom to think of a world not constrained by those in power.

Mary’s song is a foreshadowing of what Jesus would say about himself.
Luke 4:18-19
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus freely shook up the status quo. As followers, we have been given the fullness of life, the fullness of freedom to subvert, to think, to encounter one another in ways that the powers of the world oppress. In this beginning, there is the opportunity to once again challenge everything.

Now as we approach the end of one year, and look forward to another (possibly the end of the world! Ya 2012), I am challenged to realign myself with a paradoxical worldview. I hope you are challenged to do the same.

No Room at the Inn?

I found myself retelling my experience of visiting Bethlehem in May yesterday. The primary point of interest -the argument by our intructor that the translastion "there was no room at the inn" is ridiculous. In the Middle East hospitality is an extremely high cultural value and that much more so within a family. Given Joseph is travelling to his ancestoral home it is inconcievable that they would not have family in Bethlehem and equally inconcievable that family would not have hosted them. However, given the census it is very possible that there was a lot of family in town and that this may have made accomadations cramped. A typical Judean house at the time was a four room house: the family's sleeping quarters, the kitchen, the storage/work/animal room and the front room - where guests were entertained. Therefore, our instructor argued that it is far better to understand the meaning as there was no space in the guest room (of the family house) and so Mary and Joseph stayed/gave birth in the storage/animal room (which was empty since the flocks were in the fields). This room would have contained a stone manger (as pictured below) for when the animal were there and being stone was not the type of item that moved much. So you can now spend the rest of Christmas break redesigning your nativity set...