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Social Locations in the Christmas Narratives

Social Locations in the Christmas Narratives

Last updated on: December 19, 2024 at 12:05 pm by Herb Montgomery

Social Locations in the Christmas Narratives 2024-12-19T12:05:10-04:00 Herb Montgomery

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(Part Two of Mary’s Magnificat and the Intersection of Faith and Social Justice)

A few phrases jump out at me this year as I take time to contemplate Mary’s words: the “humble state of his servant,” the actions of scattering “those who are proud in their inmost thoughts,” bringing “down rulers from their thrones,” lifting “up the humble,” filling “the hungry with good things,” and sending “the rich away empty.” Lastly, I notice that this is all a “remembering” to be “merciful to Abraham and his descendants” in accordance with a promise to their “ancestors.” This thread of a promise to the ancestors runs all the way to the book of Acts. There, the good news is not defined as something Jesus accomplished through his death. The disciples teach that death and death-dealing had been overturned by life and life-giving: Jesus, the champion of the underprivileged and marginalized, had been brought back to life. These stories connected to ancestral promises that one day injustice, oppression, and violence would be brought to an end is renewed once again:

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(Read this series from its beginning here.)

“We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.” (Acts 13:32-33)

Let’s start with the phrase the “humble state of his servant.” The social location of the characters in the birth stories of Jesus matters. Pay attention to who is doing what. Those on the edges and undersides of society are the ones to whom God’s social salvation and justice show up. The more socially privileged, powerful, and centered characters are the ones who feel threatened or have the role of obstructing the advent and birth of this one the hopes of a just world.

The “scattered proud” are those who believe their social standing or wealth somehow make them intrinsically worth more than those who have less money, less land, less power, and less standing. “Scattered” means that they are dispersed to various locations rather than grouped all together. It is about breaking the power the group holds over society by its concentration and centralization. They will be scattered. How? Rulers, beginning with the priesthood of the Temple State in Judea and Herod in Galilee all the way up to Caesar in Rome, will be brought down from their thrones. This isn’t the only thing that happens, though. Those scratching out survival in the more humble social locations will be lifted up too. This isn’t about those whose character or personality exhibits humility. It is about those who are living in more humble situations and stations of life. They will be lifted up. This is a precursor to such phrases as mountains being brought low, and valleys being raised, the first being made last and the last being made first. Just to make sure we are getting the point, the next phrases define what is being spoken of: the hungry who will finally be filled and the rich who will be sent away empty.

This echoes Jesus’ sermon on the plain later in Luke where Jesus states:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.” (Luke 6:20-21)

Followed immediately by:

“But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,

for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.” (Luke 6:24-26)

In his book The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, the late Peter Gomes reminds us:

“When the gospel says, ‘The last will be first, and the first will be last,’ despite the fact that it is counterintuitive to our cultural presuppositions, it is invariably good news to those who are last, and at least problematic news to those who see themselves as first.” (Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good About the Good News?, p. 42)

And all of this is in accordance not with the hope of escaping one day to another world or retreating into inner peace. It answers the promise made to the people’s ancestors. At the time of Jesus, the Jewish prophetic hope was not to one day become a disembodied soul in some far distant heaven, but that one day all injustice, violence and oppression in our world would be put right. And that hope is where we wrap up what the Magnificat is all about, next.

(Read Part 3)

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General Christian

Politics and Religion

About Herb Montgomery

Herb Montgomery, director of Renewed Heart Ministries, is an author and adult religious re-educator helping Christians explore the intersection of their faith with love, compassion, action, and societal justice. You can read more about the author here.

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December 17, 2024

Mary’s Magnificat, Faith and Social Justice

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December 19, 2024 Reversing Injustice, Violence and Oppression

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