WEBVTT 00:00:16.190 --> 00:00:19.190 Welcome to the Nonviolent Jesus Podcast. I'm 00:00:19.190 --> 00:00:22.129 John, Father John Deere, and today I'd like to 00:00:22.129 --> 00:00:25.629 reflect with you on Mary of Nazareth. and the 00:00:25.629 --> 00:00:28.550 Advent Journey of Nonviolence. This is a project 00:00:28.550 --> 00:00:33.490 of www .beatitudescenter .org, where you can 00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:36.390 find many other podcasts and regular Zoom programs 00:00:36.390 --> 00:00:40.070 on the nonviolence of Jesus and practicing nonviolence 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:42.990 and working for a more just, more nonviolent 00:00:42.990 --> 00:00:45.729 world. So let's begin with a little prayer as 00:00:45.729 --> 00:00:48.750 usual. I just invite you to just take a deep 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:53.329 breath and relax. and notice how you're feeling 00:00:53.329 --> 00:00:58.109 and recenter yourself. And together, let's enter 00:00:58.109 --> 00:01:00.590 into the presence of the God of peace who loves 00:01:00.590 --> 00:01:04.390 you infinitely, personally, and everyone everywhere. 00:01:04.670 --> 00:01:07.810 Let's welcome the risen nonviolent Jesus here 00:01:07.810 --> 00:01:11.189 with us and ask for whatever graces we need to 00:01:11.189 --> 00:01:13.450 follow him more faithfully and do God's will. 00:01:18.989 --> 00:01:21.450 God of peace, thank you for all the blessings 00:01:21.450 --> 00:01:24.689 of life, love, and peace that you give us. Be 00:01:24.689 --> 00:01:27.909 with us now during this holy season of Advent 00:01:27.909 --> 00:01:30.930 as we prepare to welcome again the nonviolent 00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:35.049 Jesus. Bless us, inspire us, disarm us, heal 00:01:35.049 --> 00:01:37.730 us, strengthen us, and send us out to do your 00:01:37.730 --> 00:01:41.069 will, to do our part to help end poverty, racism, 00:01:41.310 --> 00:01:46.250 greed, war, injustice, fascism. nuclear weapons, 00:01:46.390 --> 00:01:48.430 and environmental destruction, that we might 00:01:48.430 --> 00:01:52.030 live out your gospel and be your beatitude people, 00:01:52.269 --> 00:01:55.909 your holy peacemakers, and welcome Jesus' Christmas 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:59.010 gift of peace on earth. In Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:59.629 --> 00:02:03.030 So as we enter the holy season of Advent, preparation 00:02:03.030 --> 00:02:05.909 for the coming of the non -violent Jesus, I thought 00:02:05.909 --> 00:02:08.639 we could look... a little bit at the story of 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.960 Mary of Nazareth, the mother of the nonviolent 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:16.520 Jesus, and discuss Luke's account of her as the 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:19.159 Advent journey of nonviolence. So this is my 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:23.699 theory. I think Luke presents Mary as Jesus' 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:27.139 teacher of nonviolence, so she can be our teacher 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:32.780 too. Luke, if you're with me, in chapter 1, tells 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:37.080 her story. as three movements of the spiritual 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:40.800 life, if you will. From the Annunciation and 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.460 Mary and Contemplative Nonviolence, to the second 00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:47.759 movement, the Visitation and Mary and Active 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:51.819 Nonviolence, to the third movement, the Magnificat 00:02:51.819 --> 00:02:55.180 and Mary and Prophetic Nonviolence. You can read 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:57.819 more about this in my recent book, The Gospel 00:02:57.819 --> 00:02:59.939 of Peace, but I actually wrote a whole book about 00:02:59.939 --> 00:03:03.550 this long ago called Mary of Nazareth. prophet 00:03:03.550 --> 00:03:06.889 of peace. So here's chapter one of Luke. In the 00:03:06.889 --> 00:03:09.050 sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:12.310 God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to 00:03:12.310 --> 00:03:15.090 a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph of the 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:17.469 house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. 00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:21.550 And coming to her, he said, Hail, favored one, 00:03:21.789 --> 00:03:25.870 the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled 00:03:25.870 --> 00:03:28.210 at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting 00:03:28.210 --> 00:03:31.860 this might be. Then the angel said to her, Do 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:34.659 not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor 00:03:34.659 --> 00:03:37.979 with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:41.020 and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:44.659 He will be great and be called Son of the Most 00:03:44.659 --> 00:03:47.400 High, and the Lord God will give him the throne 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:50.539 of David his ancestor, and he will rule over 00:03:50.539 --> 00:03:53.580 the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom 00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:58.199 there will be no end. But Mary said to the angel, 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.080 How can this be, since I have no relations with 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:04.340 a man? And the angel said to her in reply, The 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:07.319 Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:09.780 of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:12.879 the child to be born will be called Holy, the 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.639 Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.420 has also conceived a son in her old age, and 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:23.379 this is the sixth month for her who was called 00:04:23.379 --> 00:04:27.300 barren, for nothing will be impossible for God. 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:32.060 And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:34.540 God of peace. May it be done to me according 00:04:34.540 --> 00:04:37.480 to your word. And so the angel departed from 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:42.560 her. My question has always been, how did Jesus 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:47.100 learn his spectacular nonviolence? Luke says 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:50.300 he learned it all from Mary. his holy Jewish 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:54.019 mother. Mary's journey begins with contemplative 00:04:54.019 --> 00:04:56.819 prayer. So I think Luke is teaching us that the 00:04:56.819 --> 00:04:59.500 spiritual journey of peace and nonviolence begins 00:04:59.500 --> 00:05:03.339 with contemplative peace and nonviolence. In 00:05:03.339 --> 00:05:05.620 other words, the Annunciation, this famous scene 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:08.079 we've heard so much about, is a scene of contemplative 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:11.360 prayer where Mary communes with the God of peace, 00:05:11.459 --> 00:05:15.600 and she sits listening attentively for God. And 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:20.209 in that silence and stillness, She's ready for 00:05:20.209 --> 00:05:24.170 God when she encounters God. And Jesus learned 00:05:24.170 --> 00:05:27.470 to do the same from his mother, as we see later 00:05:27.470 --> 00:05:30.370 on, a couple of chapters later, when he's sitting 00:05:30.370 --> 00:05:33.430 in prayer by the Jordan River after his baptism. 00:05:33.589 --> 00:05:37.490 And in that contemplative peace, he hears the 00:05:37.490 --> 00:05:40.050 God of peace call him my beloved, which sets 00:05:40.050 --> 00:05:43.769 him on his journey. So the first lesson of Luke 00:05:43.769 --> 00:05:46.870 in nonviolence, I think, is to sit in silence 00:05:46.870 --> 00:05:50.850 and solitude. a contemplative prayer, and open 00:05:50.850 --> 00:05:55.009 ourselves to God, listen for God, and be available 00:05:55.009 --> 00:05:59.930 if the God of peace chooses to come to us and 00:05:59.930 --> 00:06:03.550 speak to us. Mary learned to spend time in peace 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:06.470 with the God of peace, to prepare a peaceful 00:06:06.470 --> 00:06:11.069 place in her heart for the God of peace, and 00:06:11.069 --> 00:06:13.350 then to let the God of peace speak. And she was 00:06:13.350 --> 00:06:17.689 ready. And we can do that too. We can learn from 00:06:17.689 --> 00:06:22.779 her. to be ready for the God of peace, so that 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:26.079 if the God of peace speaks to us, we will be 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:28.540 ready to go forth as peacemakers into the world 00:06:28.540 --> 00:06:32.759 of war. And then notice that like Zechariah, 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:36.019 when the angel appears and greets her, Mary is 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:38.839 terrified. That's actually the real translation 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:42.139 there. Her first reaction is fear. She's really 00:06:42.139 --> 00:06:45.220 deeply, profoundly disturbed. And I think this 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:49.220 is very instructive. When God enters our lives, 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.459 we are afraid and disturbed. And so the first 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:57.220 thing the angel says is, do not be afraid. So 00:06:57.220 --> 00:07:00.439 Lucan nonviolence also begins with that commandment. 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:04.779 Do not be afraid. In fact, many scholars have 00:07:04.779 --> 00:07:06.740 said it's the one thing Jesus says more than 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:09.819 anything else in the Gospels. Some 15 times he'll 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:12.860 later say that to the disciples who are terrified. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:16.480 If we are going to proceed with Mary and Jesus 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.199 on this gospel path of daring nonviolence in 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:22.120 the world of total violence, we've got to sit 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:24.959 down and examine our fears right now from the 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.199 start and learn to let them go and give them 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:32.300 to God and to embark, as Gandhi described it, 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:36.720 in a spirit of fearlessness. And my experience 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:39.459 with that is that takes serious lifelong work. 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:43.019 It means attention, journaling, reflection, and 00:07:43.019 --> 00:07:45.620 surrendering our fears to God. So then next, 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:48.180 Mary speaks with the angel and asks questions, 00:07:48.180 --> 00:07:51.699 and I find this so helpful. She moves from fear 00:07:51.699 --> 00:07:55.740 to confusion. And that's the next step in the 00:07:55.740 --> 00:08:00.240 spiritual journey. Mary's like, huh? The angel 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:02.500 says, the God of peace is doing this in you. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:04.759 A child will be born. He'll be the savior of 00:08:04.759 --> 00:08:07.079 the world. And she's like, well, she's not, but 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:10.339 you and I would be. Savior of the world? That's 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:13.579 the title reserved for the emperor. The Roman 00:08:13.579 --> 00:08:16.240 emperor is called the savior of the world. He's 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:20.439 divine, as his armories and persecutors tell 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:23.379 us. And the angel says, and you shall name him 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:25.379 Jesus. He will be great, will be called the Son 00:08:25.379 --> 00:08:27.180 of the Most High, and the Lord God will give 00:08:27.180 --> 00:08:29.399 him the throne of David, and he will rule over 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:31.720 the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom, 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:36.159 there will be no end. What? His kingdom will 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:39.759 have no end? We're so used to this, I think it's 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:44.659 really hard to fathom this unfathomable announcement 00:08:44.659 --> 00:08:49.139 in this familiar story, because it's terrifying. 00:08:50.059 --> 00:08:52.879 It couldn't be more political and revolutionary. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.080 If you will, this is an illegal announcement, 00:08:56.419 --> 00:09:01.320 an illegal plan, an illegal vision, an illegal 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:05.399 hope. We're going to welcome some new illegal 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:08.679 kingdom other than the Roman Empire. This is 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:11.700 far from being like a pious spiritual experience. 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:17.259 Couldn't be more political or dangerous. I think... 00:09:18.220 --> 00:09:20.220 The angel is saying, this child's going to be 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:23.159 greater than the Roman emperor. His kingdom will 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:25.720 be far greater than the Roman empire and America 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:30.120 combined. And his kingdom will never end. Does 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:34.980 Mary want that? Would we want that? If Mary agrees 00:09:34.980 --> 00:09:37.879 to this, isn't she guaranteed to get into trouble? 00:09:38.299 --> 00:09:42.559 Because right away she's participating in something 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:46.029 that goes against the empire. Isn't Luke saying, 00:09:46.169 --> 00:09:47.909 you know, if we're going to go along this journey 00:09:47.909 --> 00:09:50.389 with Mary, aren't you going to get into trouble 00:09:50.389 --> 00:09:55.049 too? So Mary very politely asks, how will this 00:09:55.049 --> 00:09:58.500 happen? The Holy Spirit will come upon you and 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:00.460 the power of the Most High will overshadow you 00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:03.620 and the child to be born will be called Holy, 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:07.659 the Son of God. And more, she goes on, the angel 00:10:07.659 --> 00:10:11.080 goes on to tell Mary about Elizabeth and gives 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:13.720 Mary some support and encouragement. In other 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:17.340 words, your relative who is conceived a son in 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:20.000 her old age, something that was thought impossible, 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:24.909 but nothing will be impossible for God. And then 00:10:24.909 --> 00:10:29.710 Mary gives the punchline. Behold, I am the servant 00:10:29.710 --> 00:10:32.629 of the God of peace. May it be done to me according 00:10:32.629 --> 00:10:35.750 to your word. And the angel leaves. So the great 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:38.149 question for me in this great story has always 00:10:38.149 --> 00:10:42.669 been, how is Mary able to calmly accept the angel's 00:10:42.669 --> 00:10:46.269 revolutionary message? How could she say yes? 00:10:47.110 --> 00:10:50.769 This political announcement. which comes from 00:10:50.769 --> 00:10:53.549 an angel, from God as a spiritual apparition, 00:10:53.549 --> 00:10:56.490 we're being told, can only mean trouble for the 00:10:56.490 --> 00:10:59.149 child and therefore her, the mother. But she 00:10:59.149 --> 00:11:03.490 says yes without batting an eyelid. I think the 00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:07.009 answer is right there in the way she speaks about 00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:10.730 herself. And this to me is... critical for the 00:11:10.730 --> 00:11:13.509 gospel of Luke and the whole life of nonviolence. 00:11:13.629 --> 00:11:16.210 And maybe some of you have heard me say this 00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:18.830 because I've been pondering it for 45 years. 00:11:19.610 --> 00:11:24.629 Mary knows who she is. She calls herself the 00:11:24.629 --> 00:11:27.629 servant of God. Behold, I am the servant of God. 00:11:28.090 --> 00:11:30.350 I think this is one of the most important teachings 00:11:30.350 --> 00:11:33.129 of the gospel. And Luke puts it right up front. 00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:37.850 And he's implying that Luke is implying that 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:41.440 Mary will teach Jesus this, and then Jesus teaches 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:45.259 the rest of us this. So the journey of peace 00:11:45.259 --> 00:11:47.519 and nonviolence, in other words, comes down to 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:51.740 our identity. Of all things, our identity. Mary 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:55.500 knows that first and foremost, my whole purpose 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:59.559 on being alive is to be a servant of God, a servant 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:02.259 of the God of peace. Hey, if the God of peace 00:12:02.259 --> 00:12:04.279 wants her to do something, the answer is yes, 00:12:04.340 --> 00:12:07.070 no matter what. That's my sole purpose and mission 00:12:07.070 --> 00:12:10.090 in life is to serve the God of peace. In other 00:12:10.090 --> 00:12:13.070 words, Mary is not self -centered or egotistic. 00:12:13.269 --> 00:12:17.049 Her focus is solely on God. She has long ago 00:12:17.049 --> 00:12:20.509 surrendered every bit of her life to God. She's 00:12:20.509 --> 00:12:24.909 no longer in control of her life. God is. She 00:12:24.909 --> 00:12:27.929 had let go of her life long before. So when God 00:12:27.929 --> 00:12:29.929 comes up and says, I need you to do this, she's, 00:12:29.950 --> 00:12:33.919 sure. It's easy for her to say yes. And that 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:37.860 yes raises questions for us about our identity. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:41.019 And Jesus is going to pick up on it. Who are 00:12:41.019 --> 00:12:47.419 we? How do we see ourselves today in this terrible 00:12:47.419 --> 00:12:49.919 culture of violence and war we live in, in this 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:54.480 country and world? What is our fundamental bottom 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:58.580 line identity? The culture of war is always telling 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:02.159 us who we are. And we go right along. You'll 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.220 be somebody if you buy this car. You really want 00:13:05.220 --> 00:13:07.580 to be all you can be? Join the Marines and kill 00:13:07.580 --> 00:13:12.039 the enemy. Luke says if we want to be peacemakers 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:14.620 like Mary, we have to identify ourselves first 00:13:14.620 --> 00:13:17.620 and foremost as servants of the God of peace. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.059 So how do we do that? How can we do that? How 00:13:21.059 --> 00:13:24.600 are we doing that? How do you identify yourself 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:28.970 as a servant of God? which means we're only going 00:13:28.970 --> 00:13:32.509 to try to do God's will from now on and let go 00:13:32.509 --> 00:13:35.009 of our lives and not be in control of our lives, 00:13:35.169 --> 00:13:39.909 even if it seems scary initially. And whatever 00:13:39.909 --> 00:13:42.990 the God of peace is telling us for peace in the 00:13:42.990 --> 00:13:46.330 spirit of nonviolence and love, we will do. And 00:13:46.330 --> 00:13:49.590 I think this becomes the major theme of the Sermon 00:13:49.590 --> 00:13:52.029 on the Mount, as I've said in previous podcasts. 00:13:52.250 --> 00:13:55.350 Blessed are the peacemakers. Well, why? Because 00:13:55.350 --> 00:13:59.110 your fundamental identity is your son and daughter, 00:13:59.230 --> 00:14:02.629 the God of peace. Love your enemies. Why? Because 00:14:02.629 --> 00:14:06.309 fundamentally, Jesus says, you are servants of 00:14:06.309 --> 00:14:08.629 God. Actually, the sons and daughters of the 00:14:08.629 --> 00:14:12.950 God of universal love. It's about identity. Well, 00:14:13.110 --> 00:14:16.830 what's so exciting, of course, is that the angel 00:14:16.830 --> 00:14:20.029 is not sent to someone rich or powerful or a 00:14:20.029 --> 00:14:23.570 man or the emperor or the Roman procurator. or 00:14:23.570 --> 00:14:26.950 a military leader, or some arrogant, self -righteous 00:14:26.950 --> 00:14:31.090 religious authority, or a U .S. president. The 00:14:31.090 --> 00:14:34.629 angel is sent to a poor, unwed Jewish woman on 00:14:34.629 --> 00:14:36.710 the outskirts of the brutal empire in the middle 00:14:36.710 --> 00:14:39.909 of nowhere. This is another key teaching in Luke. 00:14:40.409 --> 00:14:43.009 Women are equal to men. That was revolutionary. 00:14:43.529 --> 00:14:46.169 Luke's gospel is full of it. God calls women 00:14:46.169 --> 00:14:49.370 just as God calls men. Therefore, patriarchy 00:14:49.370 --> 00:14:54.029 and sexism are over. in the nonviolent Jesus 00:14:54.029 --> 00:14:59.909 and in the nonviolent Mary. And just as importantly, 00:15:00.029 --> 00:15:02.429 and this is very, very important to notice and 00:15:02.429 --> 00:15:06.769 ponder, God is not at work in the center of the 00:15:06.769 --> 00:15:10.129 empire, in the center of the culture of violence 00:15:10.129 --> 00:15:12.610 and war, whether the Roman Empire or the American 00:15:12.610 --> 00:15:17.549 Empire, but at the margins among the poor, where 00:15:17.549 --> 00:15:20.549 no one expects God, where no one's looking for 00:15:20.549 --> 00:15:23.950 God. That's where God breaks through, where God's 00:15:23.950 --> 00:15:27.210 reign breaks through. So this leads us then to 00:15:27.210 --> 00:15:30.629 the second movement of nonviolence, the visitation. 00:15:31.590 --> 00:15:34.669 And Luke's story tells us how Mary makes the 00:15:34.669 --> 00:15:38.110 journey from contemplative nonviolence to active 00:15:38.110 --> 00:15:40.970 nonviolence and love for neighbor and service 00:15:40.970 --> 00:15:43.690 of someone in need. So here's Luke chapter one. 00:15:44.149 --> 00:15:46.789 So during those days, Mary set out and traveled 00:15:46.789 --> 00:15:49.009 to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah. 00:15:49.850 --> 00:15:51.929 where she entered the house of Zechariah and 00:15:51.929 --> 00:15:55.730 greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's 00:15:55.730 --> 00:15:58.970 greeting, the infant leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth, 00:15:59.250 --> 00:16:02.690 filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud 00:16:02.690 --> 00:16:05.809 voice and said, Blessed are you among women, 00:16:05.970 --> 00:16:11.169 and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Who am 00:16:11.169 --> 00:16:14.350 I that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:17.889 For at the moment The sound of your greeting 00:16:17.889 --> 00:16:19.990 reached my ears. The infant in my womb leapt 00:16:19.990 --> 00:16:23.389 for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what 00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:26.529 was spoken to you by the God of peace would be 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:30.909 fulfilled. So I'm calling this the second movement 00:16:30.909 --> 00:16:34.750 of Mary's journey, which is a movement from contemplative 00:16:34.750 --> 00:16:36.929 nonviolence to active nonviolence, if you're 00:16:36.929 --> 00:16:40.789 with me in this. Her experience of God and saying 00:16:40.789 --> 00:16:46.269 yes to God pushes her out of herself. It leads 00:16:46.269 --> 00:16:50.129 us to love for neighbor, showing compassion to 00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:52.429 someone in need, starting with the elderly Elizabeth. 00:16:54.429 --> 00:16:57.669 So I think these are public actions and that 00:16:57.669 --> 00:17:00.769 they become the bedrock teachings of Luke's Jesus. 00:17:01.730 --> 00:17:03.750 If you're with me on this, we're told that Mary 00:17:03.750 --> 00:17:06.490 immediately set off in haste to the hill country 00:17:06.490 --> 00:17:09.589 to visit Elizabeth. She gets up off the couch 00:17:09.589 --> 00:17:12.519 and... gets out and gets moving. That's very 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:16.279 powerful. So then the visitation becomes a story 00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:20.589 of two women talking. But what are they talking 00:17:20.589 --> 00:17:23.130 about? They're sharing their experience of God 00:17:23.130 --> 00:17:26.970 and how they've said yes to God and God's reign 00:17:26.970 --> 00:17:30.410 of peace. And it fills them with joy and consolation. 00:17:30.589 --> 00:17:33.250 And so the lesson here is that Mary's contemplative 00:17:33.250 --> 00:17:36.390 prayer and heartfelt surrender to God makes her 00:17:36.390 --> 00:17:38.809 get up, leave home, travel, and reach out to 00:17:38.809 --> 00:17:41.809 love someone in need. And that's what contemplative 00:17:41.809 --> 00:17:45.470 prayer, contemplative nonviolence pushes us out. 00:17:46.059 --> 00:17:48.859 to do. It takes us out of ourselves into action 00:17:48.859 --> 00:17:52.180 for someone in need. So just as we're focused 00:17:52.180 --> 00:17:56.400 on God and doing God's will, it stirs us to reach 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:01.119 out to those in need. And we're told about the 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:04.359 greeting. Well, what does Mary say when she reaches 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:07.279 Elizabeth that causes all this reaction? She 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:09.519 would have said what appears throughout the four 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:14.930 Gospels, Shalom. Peace be with you. And Jesus 00:18:14.930 --> 00:18:18.490 will make this the hallmark of his language. 00:18:20.150 --> 00:18:23.150 Later in Luke 10, when he sends the 72 disciples 00:18:23.150 --> 00:18:26.049 out, remember, he says, you're to go from house 00:18:26.049 --> 00:18:28.009 to house and you say, peace be with you, peace 00:18:28.009 --> 00:18:30.450 be with you. If there's someone peaceful there, 00:18:30.549 --> 00:18:32.329 your peace will rest with them. If they're not 00:18:32.329 --> 00:18:34.269 peaceful, come back. Remember all that. When 00:18:34.269 --> 00:18:36.390 he rises from the dead, he says, peace be with 00:18:36.390 --> 00:18:39.029 you, shows his wounds, and then says, peace be 00:18:39.029 --> 00:18:41.930 with you again. You know, the way Luke describes 00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:44.329 this, he learns all this from his mother. That 00:18:44.329 --> 00:18:48.109 was her language. I think our contemplative experience 00:18:48.109 --> 00:18:50.990 of peace and nonviolence leads us to speak a 00:18:50.990 --> 00:18:53.750 new language, the language of the nonviolent 00:18:53.750 --> 00:18:56.730 Mary and the nonviolent Jesus. Now on, we never 00:18:56.730 --> 00:19:02.740 say anything hurtful. or humiliating much less 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:06.180 mean or bullying or violent we only speak words 00:19:06.180 --> 00:19:10.000 of peace so that when Elizabeth hears Mary's 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.680 greeting of peace she's suddenly full of joy 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:16.779 she rejoices and even the child in her womb jumps 00:19:16.779 --> 00:19:20.900 for joy I think this is instructive Luke is teaching 00:19:20.900 --> 00:19:23.200 that if we speak words of peace to one another 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.839 we will give joy and consolation to one another 00:19:28.539 --> 00:19:30.380 Unfortunately, we don't know that. We're not 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:34.599 taught that. But we sure do know from the culture, 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:37.339 from the movies, from our politicians, if we 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:42.140 speak words that hurt, insult, belittle, humiliate, 00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:45.980 words of violence and words of war, we will not 00:19:45.980 --> 00:19:50.099 console anyone or give joy to anyone. That's 00:19:50.099 --> 00:19:52.680 why we see so little consolation or joy around 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.460 us in the country or the world. Luke, even in 00:19:56.460 --> 00:19:58.740 this simple encounter, We're being called to 00:19:58.740 --> 00:20:01.480 practice nonviolent communication and speak words 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:04.779 of peace. That's one of the things I learned 00:20:04.779 --> 00:20:06.980 from the second movement of nonviolence, that 00:20:06.980 --> 00:20:09.859 when we reach out in love to serve someone in 00:20:09.859 --> 00:20:13.440 need, the goal is to bring them peace, joy, and 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.220 consolation. That's what peacemakers do. That's 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:19.640 what the peacemaking Mary did and the peacemaking 00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:22.740 Jesus learned. We don't want to leave a trail 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:25.099 of wreckage throughout our lives, wherever we 00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:29.190 go. And the best way to do that is not to talk 00:20:29.190 --> 00:20:31.609 about ourselves, but to talk about our experience 00:20:31.609 --> 00:20:34.230 of the God of peace, because that's what these 00:20:34.230 --> 00:20:36.890 two women immediately start doing. And that's 00:20:36.890 --> 00:20:39.650 what I invite you to do this Advent and to practice 00:20:39.650 --> 00:20:41.569 and train yourself for the rest of your life. 00:20:42.210 --> 00:20:44.630 Go and talk with your friends and relatives about 00:20:44.630 --> 00:20:48.130 your experience of God. What is God saying to 00:20:48.130 --> 00:20:50.329 you these days? Where are you finding God these 00:20:50.329 --> 00:20:52.829 days? A little side note, for those of you who 00:20:52.829 --> 00:20:56.789 heard my recent podcast with my friend, the spectacular, 00:20:57.029 --> 00:20:59.990 legendary Joan Baez, you heard me actually say 00:20:59.990 --> 00:21:03.609 to her, hey, Joan Baez, where are you experiencing 00:21:03.609 --> 00:21:07.230 God these days? And it takes the conversation 00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:11.289 to a much better, deeper, and I dare say, happier 00:21:11.289 --> 00:21:16.859 place. So notice how Elizabeth responds to Mary's 00:21:16.859 --> 00:21:19.839 words of peace. What does Elizabeth do? She speaks 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:24.420 to Beatitudes. Blessed are you, and blessed is 00:21:24.420 --> 00:21:28.200 your child. She blesses Mary and her unborn child. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.619 Luke shows us here that this is how holy peacemaking 00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:34.960 women, who become the teachers of John the Baptist 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:38.240 and Jesus, speak to one another. They speak the 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:41.829 language of Beatitudes. They bless one another, 00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:44.910 and in doing so, they bless God. And, you know, 00:21:44.950 --> 00:21:48.210 it raises a powerful series of questions. How 00:21:48.210 --> 00:21:52.849 do you bless people? What language, well, what 00:21:52.849 --> 00:21:57.230 language of peace do you speak? Have you ever 00:21:57.230 --> 00:22:01.970 spoken a beatitude toward another person? What 00:22:01.970 --> 00:22:07.569 beatitudes do you speak? I think it's very powerful. 00:22:07.589 --> 00:22:10.720 I'm thinking friends of mine. That's how I thought 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:15.480 of this years ago. I'll tell you who it was, 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:17.319 but don't tell anybody. It was Father Richard 00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:20.299 Rohr. When I was with him one day, I met him 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:22.960 in a parking lot in Taos, New Mexico. He immediately 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.759 started giving me all these blessings. Just like 00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:29.900 a beatitude. But he did it as his normal practice. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.440 That's what he had been teaching himself to do. 00:22:33.099 --> 00:22:36.880 And I was very moved by that. So notice too that 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:40.000 even the unborn John the Baptist rejoices at 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:42.660 the greeting of peace, at the news of Jesus. 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:45.640 Now, just bear with me here, but I think John 00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:50.180 is so attentive and alert toward God that he 00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:52.279 recognizes the coming of the God of peace even 00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:54.019 before he's born. That's what Luke is trying 00:22:54.019 --> 00:22:57.059 to say. The question for me then is, how alert 00:22:57.059 --> 00:23:00.720 are we? toward the coming of God in our lives, 00:23:00.819 --> 00:23:03.059 and at Christmas, the coming of the nonviolent 00:23:03.059 --> 00:23:07.180 Jesus in our lives. How do we rejoice when we 00:23:07.180 --> 00:23:09.920 hear Jesus coming into our lives? When have we 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:13.440 recognized the God of peace coming in our lives? 00:23:13.539 --> 00:23:15.160 And God has been coming to our lives all the 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:19.039 time, all our lives. How can we help one another 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:22.359 celebrate and rejoice at the coming of the nonviolent 00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:25.680 Jesus now? Isn't that a lovely question? And 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:28.549 then we get back to this. bedrock teaching of 00:23:28.549 --> 00:23:33.609 Luke. Elizabeth says, who am I that the mother 00:23:33.609 --> 00:23:37.390 of my Lord should come to me? There's the question 00:23:37.390 --> 00:23:41.769 of identity again. Mary knew who she was. Behold, 00:23:41.869 --> 00:23:45.990 I am the servant of God. Elizabeth doesn't know 00:23:45.990 --> 00:23:48.089 who she is. She's like the rest of us. Who am 00:23:48.089 --> 00:23:52.029 I? And I think that's very helpful. Like Elizabeth, 00:23:52.130 --> 00:23:57.119 we can all learn from Mary that we too First 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:00.339 and foremost, our servants of the God of peace. 00:24:00.420 --> 00:24:03.240 We have to claim that as our fundamental identity 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:06.460 as Jesus will teach us in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:24:07.299 --> 00:24:11.059 Now, you could end there, but then Elizabeth 00:24:11.059 --> 00:24:16.319 gives a third beatitude. So powerful. These women 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:20.140 giving beatitudes and teaching Jesus how to give 00:24:20.140 --> 00:24:23.519 beatitudes. This is where he got all this. Blessed 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.240 is she who trusted that the Lord's words would 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:29.599 be fulfilled. And with this beatitude, the great 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:32.619 Elizabeth invites us to trust the God of peace, 00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:36.279 to say yes to God and let God's word of peace 00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:39.440 be fulfilled in us. That's all we have to do, 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:43.900 dear friends. I think so. Like Mary, we will 00:24:43.900 --> 00:24:46.960 be blessed if we do our part to serve the God 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:50.440 of peace wholeheartedly, full time, to welcome 00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:53.480 God and God's reign of peace. even if we don't 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:55.740 understand it, even if we're a little afraid, 00:24:56.019 --> 00:25:00.059 even if we're confused, but to say, okay. So 00:25:00.059 --> 00:25:02.839 in the visitation story, I think it's a call 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:07.460 to become activists, actually, to get up and 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:10.700 get going and reach out and serve those in need, 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:13.240 or just to put it simply, to love our neighbors 00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:17.259 and to help each other rejoice with God. So I 00:25:17.259 --> 00:25:20.259 love how contemplative nonviolence here, right 00:25:20.259 --> 00:25:22.940 at the beginning of Luke, pushes us to action, 00:25:23.059 --> 00:25:26.019 not vertical action, you all heard that, but 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:29.319 focus solely on God, but also horizontal action 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:32.819 to reach out to those around us in need. I think 00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:35.519 if we follow the example of the nonviolent Mary, 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:40.940 the teacher of the nonviolent Jesus, we will 00:25:40.940 --> 00:25:43.940 reach out to the poor, especially to women and 00:25:43.940 --> 00:25:46.519 children in need, and we will serve the poor 00:25:46.519 --> 00:25:49.400 and accompany the poor and walk with the poor 00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:51.940 and befriend the people. poor and then stand 00:25:51.940 --> 00:25:54.740 with the poor and then defend the poor and then 00:25:54.740 --> 00:25:58.720 give our lives for the poor and become like Mary 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:03.420 and Jesus, one with the poor. All of this leads 00:26:03.420 --> 00:26:07.640 Mary to the third movement of the Advent journey 00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:10.720 of nonviolence, what I call prophetic nonviolence. 00:26:10.740 --> 00:26:15.519 So we go from contemplatives, activists, to prophets 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:18.299 of nonviolence. She's made the full journey, 00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:20.539 and Luke is trying to teach us something, and 00:26:20.539 --> 00:26:24.200 only he does this. Her acceptance of God's will 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:26.400 and her reaching out to Elizabeth fill her with 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:29.640 joy and consolation, which doesn't end there. 00:26:29.819 --> 00:26:33.599 It leads her to proclaim a bold prophetic statement 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:36.839 that is at once a political denunciation of the 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:41.319 Roman Empire and all empires and its culture 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:45.019 of greed, war, and injustice. And there's also 00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:48.339 a bold proclamation about the God of peace and 00:26:48.339 --> 00:26:51.480 all that the God of peace has already done in 00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:55.000 history and is doing in history and will do in 00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.319 history to come for justice and peace. I think 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:02.559 her statement, the Magnificat, is one of the 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:07.680 greatest statements in the entire Bible and one 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:10.519 of the greatest prophetic statements in history, 00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:14.690 in all of written history. So here's the Magnificat. 00:27:14.890 --> 00:27:18.069 My soul proclaims the greatness of the God of 00:27:18.069 --> 00:27:21.490 peace. My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. 00:27:21.769 --> 00:27:24.569 God has looked upon his servants' lowliness. 00:27:24.829 --> 00:27:28.009 From now on, all generations will call me blessed. 00:27:28.269 --> 00:27:30.609 The Mighty One has done great things for me, 00:27:30.670 --> 00:27:34.289 and holy is God's name. God's mercy is from age 00:27:34.289 --> 00:27:37.309 to age to those who fear God. God has shown the 00:27:37.309 --> 00:27:39.869 strength of his arm. God has scattered the arrogant 00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:42.759 of mind and heart. God has thrown down the rulers 00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:45.859 from their thrones, God has lifted up the lowly. 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:48.759 The hungry, God has filled them with good things. 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:52.859 The rich, God has sent them away empty. God has 00:27:52.859 --> 00:27:56.319 helped Israel, God's servant, remembering God's 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.539 mercy according to God's promise to our ancestors, 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:03.160 to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants forever. 00:28:04.660 --> 00:28:10.069 Wow. Remember again, Mary's a nobody. You can't 00:28:10.069 --> 00:28:12.769 get more nobody than Mary of Nazareth. She's 00:28:12.769 --> 00:28:15.829 a poor, pregnant, unwed woman, about to be a 00:28:15.829 --> 00:28:18.210 homeless refugee on the outskirts of the empire, 00:28:18.430 --> 00:28:21.130 and the God of the universe and history has chosen 00:28:21.130 --> 00:28:25.250 her. And then Luke portrays her as a prophet 00:28:25.250 --> 00:28:28.509 of peace and justice in a class, dare I say, 00:28:28.529 --> 00:28:32.369 even greater than Isaiah and Jeremiah, if you 00:28:32.369 --> 00:28:38.319 go deep into this text. How could Jesus end up 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:41.519 any other way? He's showing us as Jesus learned 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:44.359 that the spiritual journey of peace and nonviolence 00:28:44.359 --> 00:28:49.039 and love leads each one of us to speak out publicly, 00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:53.859 boldly against systemic injustice and empire 00:28:53.859 --> 00:28:55.779 and for the coming of God's reign of justice 00:28:55.779 --> 00:28:59.099 and peace here on earth. That's why I'm going 00:28:59.099 --> 00:29:02.700 through this story and talking about this in 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:05.619 the Christmas season. Because I think this text 00:29:05.619 --> 00:29:09.380 means that like Mary and Jesus, we too have to 00:29:09.380 --> 00:29:13.579 become prophetic peacemakers who proclaim a new 00:29:13.579 --> 00:29:16.079 magnificat to the world of injustice and war 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:18.980 that we're all suffering through right now. Just 00:29:18.980 --> 00:29:21.859 look. There's only a handful of characters in 00:29:21.859 --> 00:29:27.259 the story. Like five. Mary, Elizabeth, their 00:29:27.259 --> 00:29:32.619 unborn son, Zechariah, and the angel. Yet look 00:29:32.619 --> 00:29:35.859 at this Mary of Nazareth, totally confident, 00:29:36.140 --> 00:29:40.759 filled with joy, sees the whole outcome. She's 00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:43.420 total faith and hope in the God of peace, the 00:29:43.420 --> 00:29:45.519 coming of God's reign of peace that will never 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.400 end, and God's loving action throughout history. 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:52.960 And so why not be full of joy? This great woman 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:56.690 has a lot to teach us. My soul proclaims the 00:29:56.690 --> 00:29:59.349 greatness of God. My spirit rejoices in God, 00:29:59.470 --> 00:30:02.250 my Savior. These are words of great consolation. 00:30:02.250 --> 00:30:05.890 They're focused on God, God's greatness, God's 00:30:05.890 --> 00:30:09.150 saving action. So I invite us this Advent to 00:30:09.150 --> 00:30:14.529 move into that space of consolation and joy with 00:30:14.529 --> 00:30:18.259 the Mary who pronounces this Magnificat. So you 00:30:18.259 --> 00:30:21.019 can see how Jesus was raised to speak out in 00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:23.680 praise of God and eventually teach his disciples 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.680 and the rest of humanity to speak out publicly 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:29.920 about God's greatness and action in the world. 00:30:29.940 --> 00:30:32.920 It's God doing this. For God has looked upon 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:35.559 God's servant's lowliness. From now on, all generations 00:30:35.559 --> 00:30:37.720 will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done 00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:40.980 great things for me. She's saying, wow, God is 00:30:40.980 --> 00:30:44.859 active in my life. And she knows. that she's 00:30:44.859 --> 00:30:47.180 blessed and she can see the future. She's way 00:30:47.180 --> 00:30:51.539 beyond fear now or trouble or worry. And that 00:30:51.539 --> 00:30:54.640 everybody will be touched by this blessing. So 00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:56.980 in other words, for Mary and later for Jesus, 00:30:57.180 --> 00:31:01.359 the life and journey of peace, how shall I put 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:06.980 it, are not about results and success, but about 00:31:06.980 --> 00:31:11.339 the blessing, the rejoicing in what God is doing. 00:31:12.109 --> 00:31:14.849 about being blessed by God and sharing that blessing 00:31:14.849 --> 00:31:17.109 and announcing it to one another. Look, this 00:31:17.109 --> 00:31:20.650 is all God's work. And we too want to reflect 00:31:20.650 --> 00:31:23.849 on our lives and notice how God has looked upon 00:31:23.849 --> 00:31:27.170 each one of us, but especially in our brokenness 00:31:27.170 --> 00:31:30.869 and our poverty and all our faults and mistakes 00:31:30.869 --> 00:31:34.710 and our littleness and how God has done great 00:31:34.710 --> 00:31:37.089 things for us and is doing great things for us 00:31:37.089 --> 00:31:42.140 now. Notice too that she says God's eyes are 00:31:42.140 --> 00:31:45.680 on God's servants, the poor, the lowly, the peacemakers. 00:31:45.859 --> 00:31:48.779 Holy is God's name, God's mercies from age to 00:31:48.779 --> 00:31:51.740 age to those who fear God. I think this is really 00:31:51.740 --> 00:31:55.539 helpful. Mary's saying God's very name is holy 00:31:55.539 --> 00:32:01.960 because she's encountered God through the angel. 00:32:02.140 --> 00:32:05.519 She knows what God is like. She's telling us. 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:09.980 And God is so holy because God is a God of infinite 00:32:09.980 --> 00:32:14.420 love, God of mercy, God of nonviolence. God's 00:32:14.420 --> 00:32:17.539 in charge. God's got a plan bigger than the Roman 00:32:17.539 --> 00:32:21.759 Empire or America. And it's a God of peace, love, 00:32:21.819 --> 00:32:26.099 and nonviolence. Through this proclamation, Luke 00:32:26.099 --> 00:32:29.160 invites us to proclaim our experience of God. 00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:33.140 which I invite us to reflect. If we go deep into 00:32:33.140 --> 00:32:36.140 it, when did you meet God? How have you experienced 00:32:36.140 --> 00:32:39.500 God? Was God ever mean to you and started yelling 00:32:39.500 --> 00:32:41.900 at you? I've asked that to a thousand people 00:32:41.900 --> 00:32:44.819 one -on -one, and not one person has said yes. 00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:50.039 We're always yelling at God. So, contrary to 00:32:50.039 --> 00:32:52.539 the culture of violence, greed, racism, war, 00:32:52.859 --> 00:32:57.819 hatred, division, which says that God is violent, 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:03.140 mean, war -making, hateful, and so forth. Our 00:33:03.140 --> 00:33:05.500 experience of God is what we announce. God is 00:33:05.500 --> 00:33:08.140 a God of infinite love and compassion and mercy 00:33:08.140 --> 00:33:12.420 and peace and what I call nonviolence. And that 00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:15.039 God's peace, mercy, nonviolence, and universal 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:19.039 love are upon every human being throughout history. 00:33:19.460 --> 00:33:22.140 And if you go further into that sentence in the 00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:25.920 Magnificat, I translate it to mean that. Buckle 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:29.259 your seatbelts. This gets me excited. God is 00:33:29.259 --> 00:33:34.039 at work from generation to generation. How? Through 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:38.509 Bottom Up. people power movements of active creative 00:33:38.509 --> 00:33:42.710 daring prophetic non -violence that begins with 00:33:42.710 --> 00:33:45.509 women on the margins the poorest women like i 00:33:45.509 --> 00:33:48.269 think of all these incredible women i've met 00:33:48.269 --> 00:33:52.769 in south africa nicaragua my friend the salvadoran 00:33:52.769 --> 00:33:55.710 women and palestinian women one could go on and 00:33:55.710 --> 00:33:59.480 on That's how the movements happen. God works 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:01.859 through grassroots movements for the coming of 00:34:01.859 --> 00:34:04.880 justice and peace. So we should all be rejoicing. 00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:08.000 Seriously. And that's the lesson Jesus will teach 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:10.179 in the Sermon on the Mount. Well, I haven't even 00:34:10.179 --> 00:34:12.320 gotten to the good stuff yet. Luke then goes 00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:16.260 on and has Mary list a whole series of revolutionary 00:34:16.260 --> 00:34:19.980 actions that God has done and is doing. He uses 00:34:19.980 --> 00:34:24.510 for Mary. Totally loaded, radical, political 00:34:24.510 --> 00:34:26.889 words about social and economic justice for the 00:34:26.889 --> 00:34:29.570 poor and marginalized. Actually, you know, if 00:34:29.570 --> 00:34:33.289 you said these words around many places in the 00:34:33.289 --> 00:34:36.429 world, you could be killed. And in fact, that's 00:34:36.429 --> 00:34:38.650 what happened. A lot of you may know the story 00:34:38.650 --> 00:34:42.190 that, remember Argentina in the 1970s and the 00:34:42.190 --> 00:34:46.250 dirty war where the junta disappeared 30 ,000 00:34:46.250 --> 00:34:48.750 men. We now know they were flown out over the 00:34:48.750 --> 00:34:52.489 ocean and killed. So the mothers and wives organized 00:34:52.489 --> 00:34:54.570 and formed the Mothers of the Disappeared, and 00:34:54.570 --> 00:34:56.789 they stood in silence in the streets of Buenos 00:34:56.789 --> 00:35:01.309 Aires. And then one day, dressed in black, they 00:35:01.309 --> 00:35:04.789 all appeared by the thousands with placards with 00:35:04.789 --> 00:35:08.630 the Magnificat on it. And there was so much publicity 00:35:08.630 --> 00:35:12.789 throughout Argentina that the evil junta banned 00:35:12.789 --> 00:35:16.269 the Magnificat. and said, if you put the Magnificat 00:35:16.269 --> 00:35:18.849 out, you'll be arrested and killed. That's what 00:35:18.849 --> 00:35:23.010 these words mean. She's saying the living God 00:35:23.010 --> 00:35:25.570 is leading a global nonviolent revolution on 00:35:25.570 --> 00:35:28.590 behalf of the poor and oppressed. God has already 00:35:28.590 --> 00:35:31.210 shown the strength of his arm. God has already 00:35:31.210 --> 00:35:35.090 scattered the arrogant, the proud, the egocentric, 00:35:35.150 --> 00:35:39.969 narcissists, powerful politicians. God has thrown 00:35:39.969 --> 00:35:42.849 down the rulers from their thrones. Mary, about 00:35:42.849 --> 00:35:46.250 your nonviolence there. That doesn't say God 00:35:46.250 --> 00:35:48.690 is killing people, but they are leaving their 00:35:48.690 --> 00:35:51.469 thrones and their power. And God is lifting up 00:35:51.469 --> 00:35:53.869 the lowly. God is filling the hungry with good 00:35:53.869 --> 00:35:56.989 things. God is sending the rich away empty. I've 00:35:56.989 --> 00:35:59.110 thought a lot about that. I thought that doesn't 00:35:59.110 --> 00:36:01.590 sound very nonviolent or good. That is such a 00:36:01.590 --> 00:36:04.610 blessing. God's not killing people, but freeing 00:36:04.610 --> 00:36:07.750 them. the rich and the oppressors, as well as 00:36:07.750 --> 00:36:13.130 Dr. King taught us, of their slavery to wealth 00:36:13.130 --> 00:36:17.809 and power, to learn the journey of self -emptying 00:36:17.809 --> 00:36:22.949 love. And God has remembered God's mercy and 00:36:22.949 --> 00:36:25.269 helped God's people according to God's promise 00:36:25.269 --> 00:36:28.789 to our ancestors, to Abraham and Sarah and their 00:36:28.789 --> 00:36:32.250 descendants forever. Mary declares that all these 00:36:32.250 --> 00:36:36.050 events have already happened. and are already 00:36:36.050 --> 00:36:40.110 happening. Wow. We've only just a couple sentences 00:36:40.110 --> 00:36:43.909 into the Gospel of Luke. This God shows a preferential 00:36:43.909 --> 00:36:47.329 option for the poor and the oppressed. This God 00:36:47.329 --> 00:36:51.449 is actively at work right now on the margins 00:36:51.449 --> 00:36:54.050 of the world, the margins of every empire, and 00:36:54.050 --> 00:36:56.889 the margins of every city, liberating the poor 00:36:56.889 --> 00:37:00.329 and oppressed, toppling tyrants, rulers, emperors, 00:37:00.329 --> 00:37:04.110 dictators, and presidents. This God is lifting 00:37:04.110 --> 00:37:06.230 up the lowly and feeding the hungry and sending 00:37:06.230 --> 00:37:09.809 all the rich away empty -handed. And that God 00:37:09.809 --> 00:37:12.210 is on the side of God's servants and remembering 00:37:12.210 --> 00:37:16.730 mercy. That God is faithful and that God has 00:37:16.730 --> 00:37:19.489 done and is doing great things for humanity, 00:37:19.590 --> 00:37:22.010 for justice, for peace. Therefore, we should 00:37:22.010 --> 00:37:25.630 all take heart with Mary and rejoice. This dramatic 00:37:25.630 --> 00:37:30.050 prophetic climax of the journey of the non -violent 00:37:30.050 --> 00:37:34.599 Mary. I find electrifying. With this, for me, 00:37:34.719 --> 00:37:38.880 she becomes the greatest holy prophet in history. 00:37:40.099 --> 00:37:44.519 There's no John the Baptist yet. She's it. She's 00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:47.679 the climax of all the prophetic literature leading 00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:52.190 up to... now Mary and then Jesus. So Jesus could 00:37:52.190 --> 00:37:55.489 only grow up to speak out publicly, boldly, and 00:37:55.489 --> 00:37:57.650 prophetically for justice for the poor and for 00:37:57.650 --> 00:38:00.030 peace and call his followers to do the same. 00:38:00.150 --> 00:38:03.309 So I invite us all this Lent to walk with the 00:38:03.309 --> 00:38:08.110 nonviolent Mary on her journey of Advent nonviolence, 00:38:08.150 --> 00:38:12.809 to prepare your own Magnificat that as we celebrate 00:38:12.809 --> 00:38:17.030 the birth of the nonviolent Jesus, we too will 00:38:17.030 --> 00:38:19.949 stand up in the new year. and boldly denounce 00:38:19.949 --> 00:38:23.849 injustice, war, greed, fascism, racism, nuclear 00:38:23.849 --> 00:38:26.710 weapons, and violence of every kind. Better yet, 00:38:26.789 --> 00:38:30.190 like Mary and Jesus, boldly announce that God 00:38:30.190 --> 00:38:35.650 is alive and well and active right now in all 00:38:35.650 --> 00:38:38.210 the thousands of grassroots movements around 00:38:38.210 --> 00:38:41.820 the world, led by the poor, led by women. for 00:38:41.820 --> 00:38:43.920 social, economic, racial, environmental justice 00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:46.519 and mercy and nonviolence, even for the abolition 00:38:46.519 --> 00:38:49.039 of war and nuclear weapons and the protection 00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:52.079 of all creation. This Advent, I invite you to 00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:55.880 reflect on your own lifelong journey from contemplative 00:38:55.880 --> 00:38:59.300 nonviolence to active nonviolence and how you're 00:38:59.300 --> 00:39:02.599 going to go farther into prophetic nonviolence 00:39:02.599 --> 00:39:06.070 like the nonviolent Mary. Thanks so much, friends, 00:39:06.170 --> 00:39:08.130 for listening to the Nonviolent Jesus podcast. 00:39:08.349 --> 00:39:11.369 You can hear more podcasts and find other upcoming 00:39:11.369 --> 00:39:15.590 Zoom programs at BeatitudesCenter .org. Please 00:39:15.590 --> 00:39:17.909 consider offering a donation to support this 00:39:17.909 --> 00:39:20.989 free work and maybe leave a little positive feedback 00:39:20.989 --> 00:39:24.869 or view at NCR or Apple or Spotify or YouTube 00:39:24.869 --> 00:39:28.000 or Substack or whatever platform you use. But 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:29.900 most of all, please tell your friends about the 00:39:29.900 --> 00:39:32.960 Nonviolent Jesus podcast and send it out in your 00:39:32.960 --> 00:39:35.320 e -blasts and newsletters so more people will 00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:38.639 find out about it. May the God of peace bless 00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:42.300 you all. Keep on following the Nonviolent Jesus 00:39:42.300 --> 00:39:44.699 and together let's welcome his Christmas gift 00:39:44.699 --> 00:39:47.440 of peace on earth. See you next time.