In our the early years of our nation, Congress voted on whether to make our church the State Church. We would have been the Church of the United States. Thanks be to God, that vote failed, and soon a first amendment to the Constitution created what Thomas Jefferson called a "high wall of separation" between church and state. The government cannot interfere with religion, nor promote religion, nor favour one religion over another. Every citizen to free to worship according to conscience, or not to worship at all, without interference. That was a novel concept when introduced.
Religion and politics were inseparable in the ancient world. Political leaders had ceremonial religious functions and often held religious office. The Roman Emperor was High Priest, divine being, political authority all wrapped into one. The early Christians appropriated to Jesus all of the titles that had been accorded Caesar: Divi Filius (Son of the Divine, Son of God), Salvator (the Saviour), Redemptor (Redeemer), Princeps Pacis (Prince of Peace), Pontifex Maximus (Supreme Bridge Builder, High Priest). In other words, Christ was a nonviolent alternate king who resisted Roman imperialism and the Empire's cultural assumptions and false values.
That's tells us something of the context of Mary's song we recited today [Luke 11: 46-55]. Scholars now believe -- and I concur -- that Jesus was born in the year 4 BCE. That is a poignant fact, for it was in that year that Herod the Great died. That event triggered Jewish revolutionary activity over a wide area. Syrian legions (directed by the Roman government) crushed all resistance. For example, the city of Sepphoris -- five clicks from where Jesus lived, and where he and his dad likely did a lot of carpentry work -- was destroyed. The Syrians boldly raped, killed, and enslaved all resisters. Mary and Joseph, and Zechariah and Elizabeth, would have witnessed those horrors. No wonder Jews were praying for divine intervention.
In Mary's song she recaps some themes that are important to the Lucan agenda. We glean that, like Mary, we must each be Theotokos, a God-bearer to the world in which we live. We look to a "New Israel" based not on ancestral heritage but on faithful response to God's calling. And Mary tells us the importance of becoming "reversers," called to turn the world and its fake values upside down. Indeed, in the Magnificat, Mary is a revolutionary. Using proleptic speech, she tells us that God desires a reordering of public priorities -- pulling down the rich and mighty and lifting up the also-rans, the marginalized, and the oppressed. Maybe even those of us who struggle just to feed kids, pay bills, and afford health insurance. Maybe the unemployed and underemployed, and those in struggle to live on minimum wage. Seniors caught by cancelled pensions, inflation, and threats of reducing social security and medicare. People struggling against hatred and bigotry, seeking a fair chance in life. Students battling to manage stifling education loans set at high rates of interest.
Our Lady seems to be saying, imagine what the world would be like with my Son on Augustus' throne, bringing justice and peace. We could ask what our world would be like if Jesus were in the White House. Do you think things would look any different?
Christmas is almost here, to remind us one more time of our call to be social revolutionaries like Mary; to work for God's Reign on earth; to call our society, culture, and religions, to get serious about the divine agenda with which we have been tasked. To make love of God and neighbour a reality in our world.
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