{"id":1592,"date":"2006-12-10T02:31:26","date_gmt":"2006-12-10T02:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2006\/12\/christmas-is-about-the-poor.html"},"modified":"2006-12-10T02:31:26","modified_gmt":"2006-12-10T02:31:26","slug":"christmas-is-about-the-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2006\/12\/christmas-is-about-the-poor.html","title":{"rendered":"Christmas is about the Poor"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Magnificat kind of Christmas, which understands Christmas as about God’s acts to redeem through the incarnation, is also about the poor. Here are the words of the Magnificat, and I’d like you to observe words connected to poverty and the ending of the injustice of poverty:
\n46<\/span>And Mary said:
\n“My soul glorifies the Lord
\n47<\/span>and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
\n48<\/span>for he has been mindful
\nof the humble state<\/strong> of his servant.
\nFrom now on all generations will call me blessed,
\n49<\/span>for the Mighty One has done great things for me\u2014
\nholy is his name.
\n50<\/span>His mercy extends to those who fear him<\/strong>,
\nfrom generation to generation.
\n51<\/span>He has performed mighty deeds<\/strong> with his arm;
\nhe has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
\n52<\/span>He has brought down rulers from their thrones
\nbut has lifted up the humble.<\/strong>
\n53<\/span>He has filled the hungry with good things
\nbut has sent the rich away empty.<\/strong>
\n54<\/span>He has helped his servant Israel,
\nremembering to be merciful
\n55<\/span>to Abraham and his descendants forever,
\neven as he said to our fathers.”
\nI suspect that Mary understood the conception of the Messiah in her womb as the first act of God to establish justice through her son — he would scatter the proud and bring down rulers and send the rich away empty and he would also lift the humble and fill the hungry with good things.
\nAnd it seems obvious to me that Mary thinks this kind of thing — the disestablishment of unjust powers and the establishment of just powers — is how God is being faithful to the Abrahamic promises. I’m not sure Genesis 12 etc connects the covenant promises with justice, but by the time of Mary God’s faithfulness to that covenant — God being their God and they being God’s people — meant protection from unjust rulers.
\nThis was especially true for the poor. Above all, they experienced the rough side of Herod’s (and Caesar’s) tongue and and the sharp side of their swords.
\nMary’s friends undoubtedly lifted a toast when Mary sang this song. “It’s about time!,” they all said when their jugs hit the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Magnificat kind of Christmas, which understands Christmas as about God’s acts to redeem through the incarnation, is also about the poor. Here are the words of the Magnificat, and I’d like you to observe words connected to poverty and the ending of the injustice of poverty:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-mary"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas is about the Poor - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2006\/12\/christmas-is-about-the-poor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas is about the Poor - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Magnificat kind of Christmas, which understands Christmas as about God’s acts to redeem through the incarnation, is also about the poor. 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