Singing A Song Ahead of Time

In today’s passage, Mary, who was chosen by God to bear the Christ baby, intentionally chose joy in the midst of all her possible embarrassed, scared, and afraid situations.

Imagine the moment when Mary was told by the angel what would happen to her. It surely frightened her to think about being pregnant without a biological father hanging around. The news that the angel brought to Mary was no news for a little girl.

What if Joseph would denounce her? What if her parents would disown her? How would Mary take care of a baby all by herself with no place to live, no way to get food, no one to help her?

With these heavy questions in Mary’s mind, she visited her cousins--Elizabeth and Zechariah. Without asking a single question, Elizabeth took her young cousin in her arms and let her know that everything would be all right. Then, Mary’s stomach did another flip, and she opened her mouth, and began to sing, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

What I’d like to invite us to pay attention to in today’s passage is that Mary was singing a song ahead of time—not in the future tense but in the past, as if the promise had already come true while she was waiting.

All Mary had was her unreasonable willingness to believe that the God who has chosen her will be part of whatever happens next—and that, apparently, was enough to make her burst into song. Mary did not wait to see how things would turn out first. Rather, Mary sang a song and praised the Lord ahead of time.

In today’s passage, yet, Mary was like us. Mary just wanted to thank God for visiting her, but her thanksgiving ended up bearing the son of God. Mary just wanted to be blessed in a small way, but she ended up bringing the good news for changing the whole world. Mary just wanted to sing a happy song and praise to the Lord ahead of time, but her song ended up giving her power
to endure all kinds of humiliation.

Today, I invite us to praise the Lord and sing a happy and grateful song to God ahead of time
even though we do not know about tomorrow; because we know how God has acted in the past,
and we know what happens when we say “Amen” by holding a faith for sure about how it all turns out.

Let’s keep singing ahead of time how happy we are and how thankful we are as Mary did.
“May our souls magnify the Lord; and our spirit rejoice in God our Savior; For God has looked on the humble; For God has looked with favor on us; And all generations will call us blessed; For the Mighty One has done great things for us; And holy is God’s name.”

Thanks be to God. Amen.