Mama Mia in Luke's Gospel

4 Advent B        December 24, 2017

2 Samuel 7:4,8-16     Ps.89       

Romans 16:25-27     Luke 1:26-38  

Lectionary Link

How many of you like musicals? There is something fascinating about them.  In the middle of a story and narrative, all of sudden the characters break out in song and dance, with full orchestration.  You don't even think about how illogical it is:  Where are they hiding the band and the orchestra as they sing and dance in La La Land?  And how is it that all of the bystanders in Mama Mia can suddenly break out in song?

Are musicals foreign to the Bible?  Perhaps not.  There are songs and poetry found in the Bible and it could be that the book of Psalms is in fact the hymn book of the Hebrew Scriptures.

But one might have to call the Gospel of Luke the Musical Gospel.  Angels break out in song in heaven.  Zechariah breaks out in song.  The old man Simeon breaks out in song with prophetic prediction.  And the greatest song of all in the Gospel of Luke is from the greatest Mama Mia of the Church, the blessed Virgin Mary.

Luke inserts songs within the narrative of his Gospel and such insertions make them have something of the artistic appearance of Musical.  Song and art make us suspend our logical minds.  Art makes us suspend reason.  How is it that these folks can be so instantaneously inspired to spontaneously break out in chanting this lovely poetic songs?

And of course, it didn't happen this way, the Gospel of Luke is probably the liturgy of the early church re-presenting the life of Jesus and including in this artistic literature, Songs of those who witnessed Jesus.  These songs were being sung by members of the early church who have witnessed the birth of the Risen Christ in their lives.  And how did the birth of Christ happen in the lives of the early Christians?  They were over-shadowed by the Holy Spirit.  They were inspired.  They were made to feel favored.  They were made to confess their belief in God's justice in the middle of living under the conditions of the justice of the Roman Empire.

The Gospel of Luke with its famous songs is still the liturgy of repetition for the church today.  We repeat it because we want to reinforce the primary identity of our lives.  And what is that identity?

We are children of God, we are brothers and sisters of and in Christ.  Jesus was born of Mary.  The Risen Christ is born in us.

These are anchors of our identity as people and so we repeat the Song of Mary as a song of our identity with Jesus Christ.

Jesus was born in Mary as a gifted Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Risen Christ is born into each of us by the power of the Holy Spirit, making us children of God.  And so like Mary we can break out in song:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: *the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him * in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, * he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, * for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, * to Abraham and his children for ever.  Amen.