Singing Mary's Song in the Right Key

“My soul magnifies the Lord. . . .” ~ Luke 1:46

The song Mary sings after her visit with her sister Elizabeth regarding the coming birth of the Messiah is traditionally referred to as the Magnificat.  It has received its traditional Latin title from the first words of the song, “My soul magnifies [glorifies] the Lord.”  Throughout the history of the Church, this wonderful poem has been set to music countless times: perhaps most famously by J.S. Bach, who captures both the delight and deep reflection in this important precursor to the birth of Jesus.

What We Think We Know: Focusing Upon the First Part

Even Bach’s interpretation of this passage tends to fall into a common trap: it focuses too much on the first part.  The song of Mary begins with these words:

My soul magnifies the Lord; My spirit rejoices in God my savior;
For He has been mindful of the humble estate of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
For the Mighty One has done great things for me,
Holy is His name!

Of course, we should not overlook the exuberance of this teenage mother to be, called by God up from the ashes of despair and given the opportunity to be the mother of the Savior of the world.  However, at first glance, this song can be a simple rehashing of the individualistic “prosperity Gospel” put forth by much of popular Christian media today.  

At first reading, especially if one stops here as many do, the message is: God wants us to be prosperous and healthy, and if He can do it for me, He will do it for you, too!  But this approach takes away the prophetic edge of this important song. 

This is not just a song of individual rejoicing.  It is also a proclamation of prophetic warning to all those who gain success and power on the backs of the poor and marginalized.  Finding this part of the message requires us to read (and sing) further.

A Closer Reading: Who is Singing the Song?

Theologian Robert McAfee Brown, writing about Mary’s song, asks readers this question: Who is more qualified to interpret Mary’s song: a middle-aged white male American theologian or a barely educated South American teenage girl whose family is fighting the government to stay on their land?  

Brown noticed that when people in the position of the teenage girl from South America read the Magnificat, they become excited about a different part of the story than most of their North American counterparts.  For them, the last part of the song is the most significant:

51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.

As Brown notes, Mary’s son, the son of one who would be perceived as a “nobody,” would be called “Son of the Most High”, according to this song.  Through this lowly born child, even great rulers will be “cast down from their thrones.”  Through him, the poor will be fed but the rich oppressors will be “sent away hungry.”  Brown rightly asks: Can we trade our view of the “comfortably demure Mary” of our tradition for the uncomfortably militant Mary of the tradition of those around the world who even today are suffering oppression? *

Why Singing in the Right Key is Important

As often as this song has been proclaimed and sung, especially around Christmastime, it is too often sung in the wrong key.  The “key” that Mary sings in here is not the bright major key of ease and of personal abundance, but rather a more ominous minor key that warns those who oppress that, just as in the days of Moses, God has heard their cries and is doing something about it.  The One who comes to right those wrongs, to bring peace instead of war, to create a Body (the Church) that will become the hands, feet, and voice of God’s peace to those who are in physical and spiritual bondage, is what makes this song more than a prophetic warning.  However, it is not a funeral dirge.  The whole song represents a dramatic turn in all of human history.  Often what is bad news to one group is good news to another.  The powerful and those who ignore or (even worse) oppress those who are seen as “nobodies” may hear an ominous song of warning.  But the poor, the sick, those in need, those overlooked by the powerful hear a beautiful symphony expressing God’s victory over sin, suffering, and death in the world.  When we all start singing in God’s key – the key expressed by Mary as “May it be to me as the Lord desires” – then it becomes the love song of the Kingdom of God.

·         * For a further discussion of this, see Robert McAfee Brown, Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes (Philadelphia: WJK Press, 1984), chapter 5.  The entire chapters is dedicated to a detailed “re-reading” of the Magnificat.

What is Prooftexting?

Q and A from Holiness Today, Fall 2014

Question: What is “prooftexting”?

Answer:

On the surface, the idea of “prooftexting” sounds like a great thing for Bible believing Christians.  Prooftexting is what happens when a person picks a biblical text (usually a short verse or passage) to attempt to prove a theological or ethical point.  An example might be, “I do not cut my hair, because the Bible says here that a woman’s hair is her ‘glory,’ and so that proves that we should not cut our hair.”  

Right away, we can see the potential downside of prooftexting.  In fact, there are at least three difficulties with prooftexting, and all of these speak to our view of plenary inspiration in the Church of the Nazarene.   

The first potential problem with prooftexting is contextual.  While Scripture is to be our final authority in all matters of faith and practice, John Wesley reminded early Methodists that Scripture is only authoritative when properly interpreted and applied in its proper context.  When one separates a passage of Scripture from its larger context and simply lifts the words from the page in order to drive home a point, we can come dangerously close to the error found in a cartoon in which a boy is shown reading his Bible and telling his sister, “Quiet down!  I am trying to find a passage to justify my preconceived notions!” 

A second potential problem with prooftexting concerns the scope of inspiration.  In the Wesleyan tradition – indeed in most Christian traditions – we do not believe that God dictated Scripture word for word to its authors.  That means that while the message of Scripture has a unique inspiration (literally, a “God-breathed,” God-directed purpose), we believe that every passage is important precisely because of the big picture of the message: namely, that God wants a relationship with us grounded in His love and care.  Therefore, God does not “inspire” every word with equal weight to the point where we can simply pull words and passages and mold them to fit our situation or preferences.  For the Christian, the truest test of a passages meaning(s) has to do with whether our interpretation fits within the overall character of Jesus Christ (we are Christians, after all) and the overall emphasis regarding God’s plan of salvation for God’s creation.  If our interpretation does not fit into that rubric, then chances are, we are simply prooftexting and not really doing the hard work of interpretation.

Finally, prooftexting can create a problem regarding the proper use of Scripture.  In 2 Timothy, Paul writes that Scripture is “useful” to believers in regard to correction, teaching, and growth.  Historically, the Christian Church has been entrusted with giving voice to the way Scripture is and is not to be used, and that determination has been connected to correction, teaching, and growth in grace.  Issues and approaches to Scripture that detract from these – things the Bible calls foolish arguments – are not proper uses of Scripture.  A prooftexting approach makes it very tempting to wield the “Sword of the Spirit” in a manner that the Spirit never intended.  Instead of simply finding a text to justify our behavior, why not get to know true Word – Jesus Christ – whose life and Spirit, embodied by His Church, can help us do the hard work of sound interpretation, providing a guide for living instead of simply a tool for winning theological arguments.

Dr. Charles W. Christian is pastor of the Church of the Nazarene in Cameron, Missouri, and is an adjunct professor at several universities and seminaries.