December 10 | Waiting for Justice | O Come, O Come Emmanuel | Dave Rodriguez

Luke does not give us many specifics about Mary’s background or social situation. However, reading between the lines we get the sense that she is relatively poor, disadvantaged, and vulnerable. She refers to herself as a “lowly servant girl” (1:48). Like many marginalized people in her day, Mary was at the mercy of powerful, corrupt systems of injustice and the iron fist of Roman occupation. As with many generations before her, she longed for God’s justice to come on the earth. Which is why, when she learns that she will be the mother to God’s anointed one who will deliver Israel, she is overcome by the hope that political oppression (1:51-52), economic hardship (1:53), and national shame (1:54-55) will soon be swallowed up by God’s mercy and the hungry will soon be fed (1:53). Mary was looking for justice and found it in Jesus!