Reflecting on Luke 1:46-56
"He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble."(Luke 1:52)I am currently watching The Chosen, a made-for-TV Jesus story.
There are things I really like about it, and some things that make me cringe.
But one thing stands out: He was NOT the Messiah they were hoping for.
Yes, they wanted the Messiah to bring down the Roman rulers.
But they also wanted their own thrones protected.
They wanted a warrior king, and to sit on his left and his right.
In the context of Roman occupation, Jesus’s message was very weak.
All His talk about love, forgiveness, mercy for sinners was troubling.
Mary cannot help but sense the shock of God’s plan in Jesus.
“For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” (Luke 1:48)
She was a nobody from nowhere, a little girl in a man’s world.
In picking her, God was showing His prioritization of the humbled.
God scatters the proud, brings down the mighty.
God sends the rich away empty, while filling the hearts of the hungry.
Through His whole ministry, Jesus lives out this prioritization.
He is constantly upsetting social distinctions and divisions.
He loves the unlovable, and touches the untouchable.
He picks the ones that are always picked last, the least and unlikely.
If any day is ‘opposite day’, the Day of the Lord certainly is.
The people of Israel should have understood all this.
Their own history demonstrates God’s grace to the lowly.
Abraham was an immigrant who moved to Canaan, taking their land and jobs.
Canaan was the armpit of the world at that time.
It was straddled between the major superpowers: Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome.
Israel was subjected to slavery by all of these superpowers.
The brief moment of David’s throne was but a pause between superpowers.
Their teacher Moses stressed their littleness.
“The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.” (Deuteronomy 7:7)
Ezekiel describes their origins as a despised and rejected baby girl.
“Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.” (Ezekiel 16:3-5)
“Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.” (Ezekiel 16:8)
God choosing an under-valued, overlooked girl as His bride.
This is the story of Mary, and the story of Israel.
“He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” Luke 1:54-55)
God is merciful to the humbled and lowly, to lift them up.
But this does not mean they can now become the powerful throne-sitters.
This is the mistake that God’s servants often make.
Instead of recognizing their dependance on mercy, they become full of themselves.
They used their being chosen to become oppressors themselves.
Some people today point to modern Israel as God’s chosen nation.
That may be, but they are not living, loving or leading like servants.
They have become the oppressive rulers, crushing their enemies.
They do the the people of Gaza what the people hoped Jesus did to Rome.
Modern-day Israel has become another throne that needs to be brought down.
I would say the same about the evangelical alliance with politics in the US.
Saved by grace alone (evangel = gospel/good news), they now rule by force.
To be ‘the chosen’ involves becoming humble, gracious choosers.
The blessed are to be a blessing, the graced to be gracious.
We are not called to go to the top, but to go to the bottom.
We are servants called to serve, loved one called to love.
Who are the lost, the least, the little ones, the unlikely ones today?
Who are being crushed, abused, oppressed, ignored, scorned, condemned?
If you want to find Jesus, look among these people.
These are the ones Jesus prioritized, following the example of God.
As Jesus followers, we need to follow this example too.
In my experience, this is not where you find the church.
Or if the church is among such people, it is in a Pharisee way.
Shunning, judging, avoiding the sinners that Jesus associated with.
If the church is not humbled and gracious, it is not following Jesus.
Jesus restores us as God-like rulers, generous and gracious.
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45)
“Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:35-36)
This is how Jesus’s church operates.
Shining grace on the evil and the good.
Pouring blessing on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Showing kindness to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Being merciful, just as God has been merciful.
Mary experienced first hand the backwards way of grace.
And so have we… humbled servants called to be servants.
Graced sinners called to be gracious.
May we not become full of ourselves, but full of grace.
Following Jesus in prioritizing grace for the least and unlikely.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You have shown us what it means to be 'the Chosen'. Help us to understand that being chosen is not a privilege but a responsibility, a call to get off our thrones and on our knees, lifting up the humble, those who are currently on the bottom.