An Afterthought on the Magnificat

I was praying the Magnificat last evening, and looking at the words, I was reminded about how radical this prayer is, especially in the time that Mary lived in. Imagine, teenage Mary who has realized the reality of becoming the mother of the Messiah, declaring that God's time has come to flip everything upside down: the haughty and oppressive Roman and Herodian rulers God will throw down, while God will enthrone the Galilean and Judaean lowly. The wealthy rich who enjoyed its luxuries will be sent away with nothing, while the hungry poor will be given their due feast to delight in. All of this, as the fulfilled promise to Israel and a signage of the Kingdom of God. For that, Mary will praise the Almighty One evermore.

I ran across Episcopalian artist Ben Wildflower's woodcut of the Magnificat. He was inspired when he attended Epiphany Sunday service at Saint Mark's Church, an Anglo-Catholic church, hearing the Magnificat for the first time, as he never encountered it in the evangelical church he grew up in. While in Luke, the Magnificat is written in past tense, the liturgy he heard framed in a more active, imperative tense: "Cast down the mighty from their thrones. Amen. Lift up the lowly. Amen. Fill the hungry with good things. Amen. Send the rich away empty. Amen." Mary wasn't this quiet, submissive girl. She was defiant. Such revelation and power stuck with him so much, that he grabbed a piece of wood and cut out this provocative image:

This is image was taken from Ben Wildflower's Tumblr page.