The Canticles

“He hath put down princes from their thrones, And hath exalted them of low degree. The hungry he hath filled with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away.” (1:52–53)ASV

Mary does not sing about her feelings; she sings about God's habits. Every verb is his — he looked, he did, he showed strength, he scattered, he put down, he exalted, he filled, he sent empty away. And they are past-tense verbs about a child not yet born: the reversal is treated as already accomplished because the Actor is already committed to it.

“Because of the tender mercy of our God, Whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us, To shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death; To guide our feet into the way of peace.” (1:78–79)ASV

A priest's song, and it sounds like one: covenant, oath, holy prophets, remission of sins, service without fear. Zacharias sings about his own son for exactly two verses (76–77) and about someone else's for the other ten. The word behind “tender mercy” is splanchna — the same root as the compassion that will later move a Samaritan, and a father who runs.

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.” (2:14)ASV

Two lines, two storeys: glory above, peace below, and the hinge between them is a manger. Note who hears it. Not the court, not the temple — shepherds, ritually inconvenient men on a hillside. Luke's Gospel announces its own social logic in its first published bulletin.

“For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; A light for revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of thy people Israel.” (2:30–32)ASV

Four verses, and the Gospel's whole horizon is already in them. Simeon calls the baby “thy salvation” — not the bringer of it, the thing itself — and then does what no one in Luke 1 had yet done: he says the word Gentiles out loud. The old covenant lets go, in peace, because it has seen what it was holding on for.