Impossible Possibilities

In season 4 of the comedy television series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Captain Raymond Holt tries to improve morale at the police precinct by throwing an impromptu party, but it’s not working. “Why is no one having a good time?” he asks. “I specifically requested it.” The internet loves that line, repurposing it over and over, so it’s no surprise that someone leveraged Captain Holt’s complaint to suggest that Mary, the mother of Jesus, might be frustrated with the legacy of her famous song in today’s Gospel from Luke. I recently came across a meme that casts Captain Holt in the role of Mary, “watching churches everywhere quote the Magnificat” and asking, “Why is no one casting down the mighty? I specifically requested it.”

Humor takes the edge off a little, but it’s an honest, even cynical, question. Given the popularity of the New Testament over the course of 2,000 years, why haven’t the radical claims of the Magnificat made more of an impact? “[God] has shown strength with his arm,” Mary declares with revolutionary flare;

[God] has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
 [God] has brought down the powerful from their thrones
  and lifted up the lowly;
 [God] has filled the hungry with good things
  and sent the rich away empty.

It’s a striking confession coming from the mouth of the Messiah’s mother. But, does the advent of Jesus really make for a more just society? Do the events of that first Christmas really contribute to better equity? Where in actuality is the evidence of divine reversal? Looking around at the state of the world today, Mary would have reason to wonder.

“Why is no one casting down the mighty? I specifically requested it.”

In some cases, the answer to that question is political repression. Did you know that the public recitation of the Magnificat was outlawed in colonial India because the British worried that it might incite rebellion? So, too, in Argentina in the 1970s and Guatemala in the 1980s. At various times in history, power brokers have grasped the potential of Mary’s Song to spark real change for the poor and disempowered. Those authorities feared the word of God enough to forbid it. And for as tyrannical as that may be, it is a kind of faith.

But I wonder if there’s a more common reason why the Magnificat has fallen by the wayside. I wonder if we’ve learned some hopelessness over the generations, resigning ourselves to the ways of the world such that Mary’s Song sounds implausible. Will those who abuse power ever be held to account? Will marginal communities ever have a real say in political affairs? Will hungry people ever get enough to eat? If in your heart of hearts the answer is no, then the Magnificat is little more than a well-meaning, if sadly impossible, dream.

It’s a good thing Advent deals in dreams just like that. Hear how Brian McLaren interprets the stories of Elizabeth and Mary:

[Excerpts from We Make the Road by Walking, pp.67-9]

Elizabeth blesses Mary because Mary had faith “that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Friends, what is faith but a sneaking suspicion that God is not finished with the world yet, that justice and peace, though seemingly out of reach, are yet to be? And, what is faith but the impossible notion that God is inviting you, like Elizabeth and Mary, to play a part in making God’s dream for the world a reality?