“Jesus Unmasked” is now a FB live as well as a podcast! We warmly invite you to join the conversation every Wednesday afternoon at 5 CT / 3 PT on the Raven Foundation Facebook page! Adam and Lindsey unmask Jesus from exclusive theology and violent cultural lenses. But, during COVID times, Jesus would wear a mask! Loving others as Jesus loves us requires us to wear a mask too! “Jesus Unmasked” seeks to remove the masks of exclusive theology and violent cultural lenses that obscure the truth of Jesus’s unconditional love. Scripture passages are read from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. “Jesus Unmasked” is a Raven Foundation production.
“My soul magnifies the Lord,” Mary sings with joy, “and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. … Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”
What extraordinary words from a newly pregnant, unmarried 14-year-old girl at a time when such a condition could mean death or shunning!
It’s amazing to meditate on Mary. Even before pregnancy, the living God who is Love must have filled her being so much to cast out the fear that would otherwise come with such a precarious situation. What must the whispers and rumors have been as her belly began to swell? The world is not a place for young pregnant girls – not then, not now.
But the systems of violence that make up the world – all of the hierarchies that oppress, all of the power structures that prey on the vulnerable – Mary could feel them coming to an end with the new life inside her. Her song is deeply personal, deeply political, and also universal and holy. Pregnancy can be a scary time, but to have the faith that the life inside you can truly change the world for the better… that’s a miraculous joy.
Mary’s incredible faith nurtured Jesus’s. It took her whole being to nurture the fully human embodiment of Love, whom we follow into new life and transformation of the world. Lindsey and Adam meditate on her world-upending love.