Magnificat
Mary's Choice for the Life of the World
The Magnificat—Mary's Song in Luke 1—has cosmic significance. This means that the implications it entails are beyond our meager existence here on earth and deals with eternal matters concerning life and death.
Curse and Blessing
In the Garden, Eve chose the way of death, disobedience to God. She and Adam hid in shame and as a result all generations were cursed by their disobedience.
He said to the woman:
“I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children with painful effort.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.”And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
- Genesis 3:17-19 (CSB)
Mary, in the Great Reversal, chose the way of life, obedience to God. She openly magnified God and "all generations call her blessed."
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
For he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from now on,
all generations will call me blessed;
For he that is mighty has magnified me, and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him,
throughout all generations.
He has shown the strength of his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones,
and has exalted the humble and meek.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He, remembering his mercy, has helped his servant Israel,
as he promised to our fathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.
- Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55 (BCP 2019)
New Adam and New Eve
Unbeknownst to many from Protestant backgrounds like my own where we tend to shy away from anything “promoting” Mary unnecessarily (whatever that even means), Mary is clearly the New Eve as Christ is the New Adam (Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:45-19). The actions we read Mary doing is a direct, parallel unraveling of the events Eve lived that led to the Fall, just as in many cases the things Christ did are a direct reversal of the events of Adam.
As America grapples with the likely overturning of Roe vs. Wade, what does Mary’s story tell us is the path of God?
This specific parallel in the Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38) and Magnificat shows us the ultimate example of choosing life, choosing God, and an example of how to directly participate in undoing the death-plague of sin and death that has engulfed our world.
All of this links with a cosmic tale taking place which we are apart of that has two paths, the path of life and the path of death. Through these stories we can begin to see where the heart of God is.
There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.
- Didache, an early catechism of the church written approx. 75AD-200AD
The biblical story of Mary tells us the heart of God is for the life of the woman and the child, for both to have the opportunity to live in the grace Mary and Jesus made possible for them to walk through their Great Reversal. Both Mary, through her obedience, and Jesus, through His obedience, death, and resurrection, made a way for us to be reconciled to the Father (Romans 5:10).
This is not a question of healthcare, choice, or anything else. Those qualifiers bind life by worldly parameters. The question of life is cosmic, and the choice was made by Mary in her obedience to the Holy Spirit and Jesus in His obedience in His own Garden (Luke 22:39-53)!
Have you ever noticed these direct reversals? Humanity, under Adam, fell out of disobedience in a Garden. Yet, our redemption took place by the obedience of the New Adam in a Garden.
If humanity were to continue in the way of death, the way of Adam and Eve, Mary would’ve said no and walked off when confronted by Gabriel. But she didn’t. Instead, she said humbly, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.”
If humanity were to continue in the way of death, the way of Adam and Eve, Jesus would’ve ended his prayer at “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me,” and walked away. But He didn’t. Instead, He said humbly, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Like mother like son.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
It is now our duty to walk in this new lease on life. Christ “gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). The life of Mary and Jesus teach us that preserving life is as much the ministry of reconciliation as everything else He’s called us to reconcile.
Assuming this Supreme Court decision takes place as anticipated, it will now be the Church’s duty through reconciliation to take up this ministry full-force.
Laws must be advocated for that codify life-preservation in every state, including removing barriers to adoption and supporting foster families.
The incredible 2,500+ network of pregnancy crisis centers, many of them faith-based, that have served women and families faithfully must be given all the resources they need to serve women and families facing crisis pregnancies.
Churches and pastors must be equipped to show the forgiveness of Christ to women and families who have participated in abortions and grace of Christ to those who suffer by losing children to miscarriages and other tragic circumstances.
Begotten
You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.
- Didache
Some today have attempted to redefine the Christian understanding of this cosmic struggle between life and death. Yet, God’s heart from the beginning is clearly revealed in the words of Scripture, lived in the life of Mary and Jesus, and clearly understood by the Disciples and their own disciples who wrote the Didache mere decades after Jesus’ earthly ministry. This teaching was passed down through the Church to the great definers of the catholic faith; St. Basil the Great (329-379), St. Jerome (340s-420), St. Augustine (354-430), and St. John Chrysostom (347-407), who all wrote against the practice of abortion.1
Scripture and Tradition dictate that we are to protect what is begotten. It is essential to our faith to be able to define what life worth protecting is. What do I mean by essential?
Jesus was incarnate in the womb from the moment the Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her (Luke 1:35). To say life begins anywhere but at conception suggests that at some point in the womb Jesus was fully God, but not fully human. To deny Jesus is fully human at any point in the womb is to deny the essential definition of Jesus in the Creeds. This is a non-negotiable point of Christology, and to deny Jesus' humanity in the womb is the ancient heresy of Nestorianism repeated.2
There were not two persons in the Saviour of men: the Son of God and the Son of man are always one and the same Son; the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. This truth is the very foundation of the Gospel; and it is so absolutely and necessarily true, that never once through the New Testament is there any attempt to prove it or any indication that it might be supposed to need proof.3
- William Burt Pope
To affirm a different Christology would stand in contrast to the Nicene Creed and Chalcedon Definition. This creates a different Jesus than the One the Church has worshipped consistently for 2000 years. A consistent, orthodox Christianity and its adherents must not deny the full humanity of persons in the womb, otherwise they implicitly suggest the denial of the full humanity of Jesus. The Church must be weary of this Nestorian error creeping back in and confront it.
Adoption
Further, we too are begotten in a slightly different sense, by adoption (Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:5), meaning through the obedience of Mary and Jesus we have life and unique relationship with God through Christ. We can either partner with God in the ministry of reconciliation of all who are made in His image through protecting life, or partner with the Tempter, who in both Gardens (Genesis 3:1-7, Matthew 26:14-16, 41) tempted humanity with death. We cannot neglect this reality - the same cosmic theme of two paths is being replayed repeatedly with every new life. We must stand on the whole witness of Scripture, Tradition, and the Church and chose the path of God: life.
Our hope is in the fact that Mary mothered the Life of the World and He overcame the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:55). Blessed is she among women for her obedience to God and faithfulness that made way for the death that began in the Garden to be defeated by our Savior King for the benefit of all humanity forever! It is now up to us to live the benefits Jesus bought for us, true life itself.
In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her!”
- Luke 1:39-45 (CSB), emphasis added
“Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” by mere proximity to Jesus and John in the womb. “The baby leaped for joy inside her...,” there is a clearly defined way of life in the cosmic struggle of life and death. Recognizing the real Jesus depends on it.
Davidson, J. R. (2016). Abortion in Antiquity. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press.
https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/the-nestorian-controversy-11629695.html
Pope, W. B. (1885). The Inward Witness and Other Discourses (pp. 231–232). T. Woolmer.