The Canticles

“He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.” (1:52–53)BSB

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, by which the Dawn will visit us from on high, to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (1:78–79)BSB

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 to men on whom His favor rests!” (2:14)BSB

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 my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.” (2:30–32)BSB

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.