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Policy: The Bible and Welfare Reform
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of those restrictions neglect the bold content of the speech Mary delivers,
liven when mindful of Luke’s possible motives related to controlling the
impact she might have, the message within the text of Mary’s prophetic
speech deserves an attentive listener. Attentive listening can, perhaps,
allow Mary to have liberative significance in the midst of restrictive inten
tions and could open the way for the listener to be affected by her chal
lenging message.
As she serves God’s interests, Mary prophesies about God’s power. The
significance of her pregnancy is asserted with this pronouncement about
how God exercises divine power in society. Mary explains that God is con
cerned with the poor and the lowly as well as the rich and the powerful.
[ 1er prophecy indicates a direct relationship between what the rich and
the poor deserve, and what the powerful and the lowly deserve. This mes
sage guides Christians to look for this kind of parity in contemporary pub-
lic policies. For example, when welfare reform goals for the poor and
lowly consist of ideas such as, “the birth rate among welfare recipients
should be zero,” as asserted by House of Representatives leader Tom
DeLay, what analogous policies do the rich and powerful who receive a
host of benefits and breaks from the government (related to taxes, invest
ments, business) deserve?64 In keeping with the emphasis on parity in this
scripture, shouldn’t one also ask, for pregnant women in this privileged
^roup who want to continue receiving such benefits, what kind of “tough
love” is in order for them as they give birth in the hospital to dependent
children?
Finally, gathering cultural information about marriage and women’s
sexuality in Luke’s ancient context also enhances one’s ability to envision
the betrothed girl, possibly only a teenager, who would have been the ref
erent for the author, and to fathom the humiliation that would likely have
been attached to her pregnancy. This pregnancy, as womanist ethicist
Cheryl Kirk-Duggan puts it, is “a scandalous blessing.”65 Some knowl
edge of ancient cultural expectations permits the scripture reader to be
attuned to the extraordinary defiance simultaneously represented in her
joyous, pregnant bodily self and her prophetic assertions about the lowly
and the powerful in her society. Rather than adhering to the popular
rhetoric and restrictive policies for the poor offered by contemporary
political leaders, the church could be inspired by her example. Insofar as
it is possible to reconstruct and imagine them, Christians could find
courage for countercultural support of poor women from these particu
lar ancient realities of the historical Marys life.