Read Luke 1:26-56.
Try to think of the most famous person that you’ve ever met or even seen from a distance - maybe a musician, politician, influencer, athlete or something else. When they came into the room or stepped on stage, how did people respond? Did they begin to scream in excitement? Did they turn to the person beside them, whispering, “Do you know who that is?!” Go out of their way to have a conversation with that person? My hunch is that people reacted differently to their presence in the room than they would have if you or I showed up.
From my experience, people who have more wealth, fame, power, or social status tend to be more highly valued than others. Simply being near these people excites us. We hope to be like them and we hope that we can become more important in the eyes of others based on our proximity to them. Just as we elevate others based on their status, we seek wealth, power, and influence so that we will be elevated in the eyes of others. This is a natural, common thing since the beginning of human history and yet Mary, the mother of Jesus, has a very different experience and perspective.
In Luke 1:46-55, shortly after Mary has become pregnant, she’s gone to visit her relative, Elizabeth who is also pregnant. At the sound of Mary’s greeting (and Jesus’ presence), Elizabeth’s child “leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,” Elizabeth talks about how blessed Mary is, and then Mary sings a song of praise which includes an understanding of God that is surprisingly accurate for a “lowly servant girl” (Luke 1:48) like her.
In Luke 1:51-53, Mary talks about God scattering people who are proud, bringing down princes, and sending the rich away with empty hands. The sorts of people that we like to elevate, God likes to bring down. The ones that we tend to put down, God tends to lift up.
Mary is young, she isn’t wealthy, educated, or powerful, and her family doesn’t seem to be significant in any way. Mary didn’t know how to read or write, didn’t have access to the New Testament, and yet she knew God so well. She knew that God “opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
This is a theme that we see throughout the life of Jesus. The people who possessed the power, the wealth, and the status are the very people who Jesus was most likely to speak negatively about (Luke 6:24-26). But those who gave up their power, wealth, and status are the ones whom Jesus constantly elevated and spoke highly of (Luke 6:20-23 & 7:28).
I don’t think there’s anything that can push us further away from Jesus than an arrogant attitude that says, “I have life figured out and I don’t need anything from anybody.” Conversely, the best way for me to draw near to Jesus is in humility, by acknowledging my dependence on Him for everything - the roof over my head, the clean water that I have to drink, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the loving people around me, and ultimately freedom from sin and eternal life!
This is what we see from the wealthy wise men (notice that the rich are not excluded) who “bowed down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11), the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20) as well as from Mary who was asked to carry, birth, and raise the Son of God and simply answered, “I am the Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:37).