…or do the rich reject God?
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
The Line That Wouldn’t Let Me Go
“He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”
That line grabbed my attention.
What struck me is this: Jesus doesn’t send anyone away who comes to Him. He doesn’t favor one group over another. He doesn’t close the door on the rich and open it only for the poor. The God that I have come to know teaches me to love everyone and not show favoritism. So why would he then do that? Perhaps that’s not what is being said here.
This verse comes to life in the story of the rich young ruler.
Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But he went away grieving, for he owned much property.
Jesus didn’t send him away. He loved him and tried to help him.
Jesus invited him to follow him. But…
The man walked away.
No one leaves empty because God rejects them. We leave empty because we don’t want what God offers. Often we come to God thinking He’ll give us more of what we already have.
God doesn’t need us. He sets the table anyway.
But we come carrying our own food and never touch the feast.
Our refusal to eat because we didn’t like anything at the feast, can feel like rejection—
so we leave, full, full of ourselves and yet empty because we say we were never fed.
When I’m hungry and I come to God, it’s my hunger that allows me to experience God’s goodness as goodness and fullfilling.
Hunger Is a Posture, Not a Punishment
The verse “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” is not about God choosing to bless some groups and punish others. It’s about who gets it. Its about those who reject what the world offers because they are looking for something eternal. It’s a promise. A promise that those who are willing to wait for God’s goodness, even if that means doing without, will receive it. Those who don’t wait, miss out on it.
Not because God rejected them, but because there is no room in their hands to receive anything.
God remains wildly available. But only those who are truly seeking Him, find him.
The rich young ruler is the perfect mirror to the Magnificat. He came to Jesus looking for eternal life, but he didn’t come hungry. He just wanted to pad his resume. But it cost too much. But the hungry come empty so they can only be filled.
The rich you ruler wanted God—but only within the life he had already built.
He didn’t come empty. He came full.
Sometimes God has to empty us before He can fill us.
God’s Goodness Is Always Offered—But Only the Empty Can Receive
The Magnificat isn’t about class warfare or divine punishment. It’s a spiritual X‑ray of every human soul.
Where am I hungry?
That’s where I’ll taste God.
Where am I rich, full, self‑assured, and self‑protected?
That’s where I’ll be sent away empty—not because God doesn’t want to give to me, but I don’t want what God gives.
We walk away empty because we want the wrong thing.
We want God to add to our lives, but He wants to reorient them.
Or to bless our plans, be He wants to replace them.
We want Him to grant our desires, but He wants to transform them.
God only fills what is empty.
Those who are truly hungry come to God to be fed.
Those who aren’t hungry come to be entertained or enlightened.
Here’s the paradox:
The full walk away empty.
The empty walk away full.
Hunger as Holy Waiting
When was the last time you were really hungry and had to wait for food?
It’s uncomfortable.
Fasting teaches us how to live with hunger without immediately satisfying it. We learn to control our appetite instead of letting it control us.
Hunger is the body’s built‑in signal that something essential is missing—and that we can’t fix it internally. Hunger requires an external source. We must receive something from outside ourselves.
And even then, it only lasts so long. We get hungry again.
In Advent, the Church intentionally enters this posture of waiting.
We wait for God to act.
For God to fill what we cannot fill ourselves.
Because our emptiness becomes a guide—it helps us notice God’s presence where we might otherwise miss it.
Fasting becomes a physical parable of spiritual truth. We’re not rejecting what doesn’t satisfy. Food does satisfy—but only temporarily.
What we’re really saying is this:
Rather than settling for what is temporary, we are waiting for what is eternal.
Fasting trains the soul to distinguish eternal nourishment from temporary relief.
It cultivates yearning—not for less, but for more than the world can offer.
Advent says:
Wait. Pay attention to your hunger. Let it teach you.
The Magnificat as an Unveiling
When I read the Magnificat, I get the sense that Mary is seeing the spiritual realm with unusual clarity. It’s a moment that won’t last forever—but what she learns from it does.
The Magnificat isn’t just a beautiful poem. It’s an apocalyptic moment.
“Apocalypse” means unveiling—seeing reality as God sees it, even if only briefly.
Mary is:
- a poor Jewish teenager
- living under Roman occupation
- with no social power
And suddenly she’s caught up in God’s cosmic redemptive plan.
Her song bursts out as the veil is pulled back.
She sees the real power structures of the world.
And reveals the real priorities of God.
Exposing the real trajectory of history.
This isn’t day‑to‑day perception.
This is what happens when God draws near and someone becomes truly awake.
The Magnificat is read every Advent because we forget.
We drift into consumerism.
Or we let culture set our desires.
We measure success by possessions.
and confuse abundance with accumulation.
Advent is the Church saying:
Wake up.
Something deeper is true.
Lift your eyes.
The Magnificat cuts through the fog like a trumpet:
- God is still filling the hungry.
- God is still lifting up the lowly.
- God is still scattering false fullness.
- God is still turning the world right‑side‑up.
Consumerism numbs us.
The Magnificat wakes us.
God’s revolution begins in hidden places.
And the hungry are the first to taste it.
