Love, a Word Unspoken, but an Action that Saturates the Magnificat

⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
   in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
   to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

She doesn’t say love.  Nowhere in the piece does she say love.  He has ‘looked with favor’ on the lowliness of his servant.  Is that love?  Perhaps love is not found in what Mary says about God, but rather, it is found in what Mary says about what God does.  Would God favor His lowly servant if He did not love her?  Is it not love that is being expressed when she says all generations will call her blessed?  God has indeed done great things for her.

Love is also evident in the way that Mary ends her Magnificat, in vss. 54 and 55, “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’  What God has done for Mary is in fulfillment of the promise He made to her ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants for ever.  It is the promise of Jesus, who will be Emmanuel, God With Us…Them…

As peace rests upon love, we must know it is not simply a word.  Love rather is an attitude, it is an activity, it is ongoing.  It does great things.  It is assumed by Mary as she sings.  When God “scattered the proud”, bringing his justice into the world, that is an expression of his love.  When his faith is raised within, “my soul magnifies the Lord”, that is an expression of his love.  Indeed, God’s whole plan, his whole purpose, from the promise he made to Abraham to making Mary blessed, all is for the expression of His love. 

The argument could be made that ‘all you need is love’.  Love as an activity, peace as an activity, they could be considered synonymous.  But Jesus has developed his thinking about love in his recap of the Law.  First, love the Lord.  What is that but faith?  Second, love your neighbor.  How can that be better expressed but in the provision of justice?  After all, everyone is my neighbor. 

Upon these three, we build ‘peace’.