Power

In our small group, we're studying Luke and I was responsible for Luke 1. We read through it aloud and as I read Mary's prayer in vv. 46-55 and then Zechariah's in vv. 67-79, I thought about how rarely we hear those passages read in our non-liturgical church setting. People rarely choose to read these aloud. And I wondered why.

One of the thoughts that I had was that this was referring to a specific instance. When Mary and Zechariah spoke about these things, they had their immediate context in mind: the oppression of the Jews by the Romans. And so as they spoke the had the overthrow of the Romans in mind that must take place with the arrival of God's Anointed, the Messiah. But if we extrapolate the context, we can see that the reference is not just to the Romans, but to those in power who oppress those beneath them.

Is that us? Are we the oppressors? And when I say "we," I could be talking about us as Christians, us as upper-middle class Americans; basically any place where our position could be oppressing other people, politically, economically, or otherwise. Do we not read these because we're afraid it could be talking about us?