Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant;
from this day all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel ,
remembering his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
Source: https://dailygospel.org/M/AM/
Analysis
Today's analysis is no less easy than yesterday, perhaps it's much more complicated than yesterday. As today we are confronted with a passage that involves a topic that to be honest, I have never thought of before, the birth of Christ. Looking back to the story, I fear that this topic might be the hardest to unravel, as it is presented in a way that it seems incredibly literal. However, there will come a time where it shall be unraveled. For now, we'll decipher what we can decipher. The passage describes Mary's visit to her relative, Elizabeth. Elizabeth herself was pregnant with a boy, that is John the baptist which will baptize Jesus Himself, another complicated topic. They then exchange a conversation while praising God, let's see what they're saying.
Elizabeth opens the exchange by praising Mary, with a sentence that we can of course find in the prayer of Hail Mary. Notice how Elizabeth calls Mary the "mother of my Lord", this is referencing to the fact that Mary will become the mother of Christ, which is the Lord. Elizabeth knew this because Gabriel told her most likely. It is also mentioned that John the baptist in his mother's womb leaped in joy at the presence of, not Mary, but Jesus in Mary's womb. This story will serve to complicate our interpretations of the Gospel, as this is another evidence of Jesus-centric belief. If we are to believe that Jesus is a metaphor, then we should be prepared to examine Mary as well.
Mary then responds by praising God, saying that God has "looked with favor on his lowly servant," and also saying some sentences that is related to the paradox I mentioned yesterday. However this part also paints God as a ruthless ruler, that "has shown might with his hand, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart." It almost looks like that God is punishing the sinners, of course in the historical context, the low classes are the sinful people, but in today's context, we know that the elites are often the true sinners. And talking about taking down the elite class, this reminds me of communism, but that's a topic of another day.
So, does this passage brings down Christianity as it shows Mary describing God as someone who would serve the low people and punish the elites? Even when Jesus said to love thy neighbors as you love thyself? Of course not, that's ridiculous, as upon further inspection of the last part of Mary's praise towards God, Mary's praise started to become ethnic-centralized. Mentioning Israel and Abraham, referencing to the old testament, saying "The promise he made to our fathers." Again, if you've read my rants on religion, God, and atheism, you'll know that I don't trust some religions because they are so focused on their ethnic culture and tradition, such as Judaism and Islam. Then how do you explain this weird passage?
It's not that hard actually, Mary was still Jewish, and had Jewish beliefs, which is why she's quite focused on her nation. But look anywhere else, and you won't see Jesus being radically supportive of Israel or the Jews, after all He's not here for just the Jews, He's here for the world. In fact, Judas was upset that Jesus wasn't the prophesied messiah. Or realize that the people of Zion is still waiting for the true messiah. So in fact, the reason Mary said this is because she's Jewish, she, like others thought that Jesus was the prophesied messiah of the Jews, and not the world. Perhaps we can say Jesus is a messiah, but not in the way Jews wanted it to be. Anyway, I still find it hard to believe that there would be a nation that is "chosen" by God, that's favoritism and God doesn't show favoritism. I believe this is enough for today, see you tomorrow.
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