Following the angelic announcements of Elizabeth’s unlikely
conception of John the Baptist and of Mary’s miraculous conception of Jesus,
these parallel stories intersect when Mary travels to visit her kinswoman
Elizabeth. This is the context for what has come to be known as Mary’s Magnificat,
the hymn or canticle that Mary sings in praise of God. Many readers of the Magnificat
have noted echoes of the Prayer of Hannah, which is spoken by Hannah after she
gives birth to the prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 2:1–10. If you compare these
texts side by side, one of the major themes that you might notice they share in
common is the notion of the divine reversal of fortunes, according to which the
high are brought low and the lowly are exalted.
This reversal of fortunes in the Magnificat also
foreshadows the beatitudes and woes spoken by Jesus in the Sermon on the Plain.
An interesting observation that arises from comparing the Magnificat to
the Sermon on the Plain is that whereas Jesus promises future blessings
on those who are hungry and poor and future woes on the rich and well
fed, the Magnificat proclaims that this reversal has already occurred:
“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the
lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away
empty” (Luke 1:52–53).
Mary proclaims that
with the conception of Jesus the promises of the Kingdom have already been
fulfilled. Jesus, on the other hand, appears to contrast the experience of
those who are hungry and poor now with their status in the future
Kingdom of God. Jesus’ vision is eschatological, that is, it has to do
with the last things, such as the fate of individuals at the final judgment.
The apparent contradiction between Mary’s declaration that these things have
already taken place and Jesus’ affirmation that they remain a future hope
underscores a tension that is present in many New Testament writings—that the
Kingdom of God is “already but not yet.” The technical term for this is inaugurated
eschatology, according to which the Kingdom of God is already present in
the coming of Jesus and yet still awaits its final consummation.
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