God loves the underdog.
Think about it. The Chosen People arose from a small group of Bronze Age clans and tribes who were in no way part of the power brokers of the day. The royal line came from a family of shepherds from the small town of Bethlehem. The Law and the Prophets made much of orphans, widows, and outsiders, and gave an absolute duty to look out for them.
So when it came time to launch the greatest part of His plan for redemption, the Incarnation, God chose Bethlehem to be the site of His birth (Micah 5.2-5a, OT reading for Mass for Advent IV). Not only that, but the Lord of All Creation chose to be Incarnate of a discredited and disinherited royal line with blood ties to the priestly tribes (Tradition holds Mary, like Joseph, was of the line of David, but she also had relatives among the Kohanim, the priest of the tribe of Levi, as evidenced by her relation to Elizabeth and Zechariah). His foster father would be also of the royal line of David, but a small-town carpenter, a far cry from palaces and state-craft.
So in our Gospel lesson for Mass (Luke 1.39-55), we have Mary and Elizabeth, greeting each other, knowing their low place in the world, but in awe of how God has chosen them, the humblest of the humble, to bear both God Incarnate and His Forerunner. In prophetic ecstasy Elizabeth greets her humble cousin with words befitting an empress or queen. Mary in turn prophesies that despite her lowly state, God has favoured her and blessed her, and echoing Hannah's hymn of praise centuries before, proclaims the love of God for the poor, the hungry, the lowly, the meek, and His displeasure for those who put them down. Truly, this prophetic utterance, the Magnificat, which we now chant every day at Vespers (or at Matins in Byzantine usage), proclaims deliverance for the Underdog and a reckoning for the Top Dog.
Before we start identifying ourselves with the unfortunate, let us take a moment where we ponder where we have oppressed those less fortunate than ourselves. Have we turned a blind eye to a beggar when we have something to give (and by the way, don't think for a moment God likes the protest, "They will only use it for drugs/liquor.")? Have we not given from our plenty to help those who have nothing? Have we begrudged people public assistance because we deem them unworthy? Have we failed to acknowledge the humanity and the glimmers of the image of God in even the lowliest and most destitute among us? God promises much mercy for those of us in these positions who humble ourselves, who recognize Jesus in the least of these, who learn to reach out in love and empty ourselves of hate, bitterness, envy, pride, arrogance, and their like.
God loves the underdog. Shouldn't we too?
