Live out the Divine Life Within

Sermon on Luke 1:46-56

A pastor, on reflecting this morning’s passage, mused: “What would make you celebrate wildly and without inhibition?” Obama winning the US presidential election? The stock market picking up? You got a promotion – more salary, more work. Your wife is pregnant? Or your doctor telling you that you’re fit as a bull and will leave for a long time more?

All these are good news to some, not so good to others. One group will celebrate, but likely another group will be disappointed and anxious. Such is the reality of life. There doesn’t seem to be any particular news that’s universally joyous for all.

What would make you sit up today and get all really excited? Some of us here are facing mid-life crisis and impending retirement. We harbor doubts for our tomorrows. Others are young but seem restless and lifeless. You complain all the time that life is boring, even during Dec holidays. Nothing interests us; nothing seems worthy enough to make us commit time and effort. For me, every morning I wake up to a question: how should I live today and every available day so that – at the end of my life – I know I have not lived in vain?

Once upon a time, there was an ordinary girl. Something happened that made her excited and challenged. This young lady got pregnant. Moreover, she was with child before she got married. Yet there was no fooling around. She conceived by supernatural means; and she was the only human being alive who could honestly testify to this. I’m not sure who will believe her word, so this should have been devastating blow to her. Yet when the significance and implications of her untimely pregnancy dawn on her more fully, her joy far outweighs her concerns. She celebrated with a song. This song has since passed on from for more than 2000 years. And the young lady – her name Mary – is remembered for generations till this day. Mary’s song is this morning’s devotion. Let’s read Luke 1:46-56.
Mary said: With all my heart I praise the Lord, and I am glad because of God my Savior. God cares for me, his humble servant. From now on, all people will say God has blessed me. God All-powerful has done great things for me, and his name is holy. He always shows mercy to everyone who worships him. The Lord has used his powerful arm to scatter those who are proud. God drags strong rulers from their thrones and puts humble people in places of power. God gives the hungry good things to eat, and send the rich away with nothing. God helps his servant Israel and is always merciful to his people. The Lord made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his family forever!

Mary sensed a new life developing within her – bodily. It’s something truly happening to her. She can’t deny it even though she can’t explain what is actually happening, unbelievable as it seems. There are changes taking place in her that she can sense – the morning sickness, hormonal effects, a kick in the womb etc. It can be quite frightening actually. What’s going on? What’s happening to me? But God has assured her not to worry. God tells her that the new life within her is no ordinary life. It is life with divine will and resources to make things right in the world.
It is this staggering information that overwhelms Mary. Mary is one who know first-hand what it means to live in a world that is not quite right. There are many Marys in our world even today. These are the millions of silent victims who are at the receiving end of a lousy deal in life. They are often those who are treated unjustly; whose existence and plights go unnoticed. They may not be directly persecuted, yet indirectly they are oppressed because no one bothers to give than a chance to succeed. Their oppression stems from others’ ignorance and neglect.

Looking at the odds against her, if anyone stands a chance of influencing or dramatically changing the world, it can’t be Mary! She has little educational credentials. She is not economically viable and productive. She has no special talents at all to make it big. The world just doesn’t belong to these Marys! The world belongs to the minority that live in Wall Street and Hollywood, who graduate from Harvard and Oxfords, who are simply born into families that are rich, powerful and educated.

Would today’s super-powers pay any attention to people like Mary? They won’t bother. These Marys are in no position to challenge any politicians, much less topple their rule. When Obama and PM Lee pick their cabinet members, Mary will never be on the list. It therefore comes as a big surprise to Mary that the Almighty God actually noticed her, attended to her and recruited her in his Kingdom mission.

Today God calls us, just as he invites Mary, “Join me to change the world; transform lives.” Mary’s response is: Yes I will – even when it means doing the unthinkable and un-believable. With this willing submission, something takes over Mary’s life. Quietly, wondrously, mysteriously – the divine life is conceived and develops to fullness in her.

In one significant aspect, we are like Mary. Though we are not physically pregnant with the Son of God, yet in a true sense divine life is impregnated within us. Each of us is created in the image of God. Divine life already resides within our soul. God’s likeness, God’s life, is very much part of our humanity. But not yet re-discovered, unleashed and fully manifested is us. When one day we acknowledge God and invite Jesus Christ into our lives, we are in fact saying: “Take over my life, my God my Jesus, and henceforth live in my shoes.” Just like the way Mary submits to God’s will, we hand ourselves over to Christ. Then Jesus’ life – the divine life - will develop within us and transform us inside out. Mysteriously, wondrously yet certainly, our lives will manifest greater beauty and maturity. We will sense the change in us even though we cannot explain how it happens. We may not have symptoms of expectant mothers. But we will experience strength to persevere in trying circumstances. We will experience joy amid difficult situations, out of a great hope that something good will emerge eventually. Others will testify to our strange transformation. They will be irresistibly attracted – not to us – but to the divine life residing within us. Just like baby John in Elizabeth’s womb - he leaps for joy in Mary’s presence. Not because of Mary but in recognition of the divine life in her.

I sometimes wonder what will happen if the angel were to delay his visit 2000 years and come amid our postmodern society. He will have a tough time finding a youth like Mary who relishes every opportunity to do God’s will. It’s very hard to talk to young people today about taking the road less travelled; about embracing surrender, sacrifice and service as the way to life. It takes a stilled and attentive heart to hear God. But more often we are too flustered to pause, to listen. We dash through one meaningless activity after another. Worse, if the angel were to approach while you are gaming on the computer, and he patiently tries to explain to you the magnitude of participating in God’s adventure, you will probably snap at him and shove him out. There are many innovative ways that the evil one blinds and binds us today. All these distract us from God, hurt our relationships, wreck our health and ultimately destroy us. May God help us identify our addictive bondages and break free. My dream is that Jubilee’s youths are stand out in their non-addiction to gadgets. People claim, hey this kid is not stuck on gaming. He must be from Jubilee!
In our time, Mary will still stand out as one who does the extraordinary. She commits her whole life to do God’s will. Obedience was the first step to unleash the inherent God-given resources in us to accomplish the extraordinary. If you still recall, the first woman and mother Eve chose to disobey God. The consequence of that act resulted in a no-return road of death and destruction. Now a test fell on another young woman. Against the odds, she chose to join God in his redemptive work. Consequently, humanity has a way back to the presence of God.
Mary rejoices that she has as part in God’s wondrous work. God has revealed himself to her. She realizes what kind of God he is and she celebrates that.

1. Promise Keeper
Mary celebrate that God is a covenantal God. He fulfills his promise, even one that is made as long as 2000 years ago to one particular old man. That senior citizen was Abraham – Mary’s ancestor. Mary is overwhelmed that God remembers and honors that ancient promise. Today, people make their vows flippantly and readily break it to their own advantage. We only need to look at the rising divorce rates, broken contracts and fallen politicians to realize how lies and empty words have eroded our society. It is rare to find someone that honors his word, even when it is costly for him to do so; when the other party has absconded. When we meet such persons, we witness a glimpse of divine glory and we are attracted to them.

2. Mighty Warrior
Mary describes God as a powerful warrior who fights and wins battles. Sometime ago I watched “Hancock” and was really swooned by Will Smith. I thought wow if Hancock applies for Singapore citizenship (instead of Gong Li), that will really be wonderful. God is mighty victorious warrior. With a catch – for his people. The lingering question is: are we his people? It will be frightening indeed if this victorious mighty warrior is not on our side, but against us. Fortunately for us, even though none of us are Abraham’s blood descendents, but all who receives Jesus life into theirs are received into the divine covenant. Through Christ, we are grafted into God’s family. We are God’s people and the divine warrior is on our side too.

3. Merciful One
Finally Mary describes God as merciful. Power without compassion is destructive. Might without justice is frightening. Mary celebrates that the Fearsome one shows favor to those who fear him. He watches over his people. He doesn’t brush them away like flies or crush them like cockroaches. The way the world disregards the lowly and bullies the less privileged. Those who remember God – who honor God’s ways in their daily dealings – God remembers them favorably in return. He helps them; lifts them out of their plight.
Who then are God’s enemies? How does he deal with them? Mary celebrates that: God scatters the proud; Brings down the powerful; Send the rich away empty handed.

It doesn’t mean that God is un-discriminately against all who are rich and powerful. Abraham, Joseph and Solomon all were blessed with wealth and status. There are many others in our world who use their money and influence to help others. God is not against such people. God is against those who show off their privileges; who execute their authority without concern for others; who hoard their gains through unfair exploitation. They devise clever ways to suppress others from succeeding. Ultimately they monopolize their own favorable status. It is the vicious cycle of social injustice, abuse and uncurbed selfishness that God wills to break. Mary is called to join God to topple these wicked establishments. The divine life conceived Mary – Jesus, Son of God – will usher in a new kingdom. His kingdom community will offer a radical alternative to the patterns of the world.

Not by coercion or violence, the kingdom people will quietly but surely transform world order.
Life impacts life. We all influence one another – positively or negatively, depending on who is stronger. Jesus, however, impacts our lives from within. He enters into our life and causes a fundamental long-lasting change deep within. A deep awakening and enlightenment overtakes us and we realize what it means to live life fully. Like Mary, we are “impregnated” and infused with Jesus’ life. Already we are favorably predisposed to live the fullness of life that God intended us to. The definitive turning point is the moment we choose to submit and obey.
What may be some awful life patterns that God wants us to join him in demolishing in our postmodern culture? Let me close by briefly bringing to our awareness four areas that we can actively break away from – in God’s strength.

1. Me-ism
This is the wrong belief that I am all-important and everything must revolve around me. I have the right to be happy at the costs of others. For Jesus, his entire earthly life is lived always and totally for others, out of love for humanity. We join God to break me-ism by cherishing and building strong relationships. We celebrate community living. We practice fidelity, respect and generosity. We are not loud, rude and demanding. We recognize our rightful status before God and put others’ needs before ours.

2. Free Lunch-ism
Many youngsters today disdain hard honest work. We want shortcuts that will get the job done with the minimum effort. We aspire to be the next Bill Gates, to make US$300 per second seemingly doing nothing other than exist. We look for ways that maximize profits without lifting a finger. Friends, there are no free lunch no short-cuts in our world. Mary carried the baby for 9 months. Jesus walked his life journey all the way up to the Cross on Calvary. Ultimately we will reap what we sow. Let us counter the free-lunch myth by celebrating diligence and responsible work.

3. Consumerism
For many people, buying and consuming has become the only way of life. Making money for the sake of consuming then becomes a big thing. A teenager told me that he can’t wait to grow up. O why? “Then I can earn lots of money to buy stuff I can’t buy right now.” Do you seriously think that when you will be happy when you can finally buy everything? We break the consumerism cycle by practicing simple lifestyle. Learn to appreciate the little things in life that are not costly but often taken for granted. And discover the joy in sharing. I have 2 friends. A year ago one invested $50,000 in unit trust. Another used his money to finance a youngster to complete her tertiary education overseas. In the wake of this global financial downturn, the first friend’s money went up in smoke. The other who invested life continues to reap.

4. Market value competition
Finally, we counter wrong belief that defeating others is the only way to win. We learn to relish the success and deep satisfaction that comes with helping unlikely underdogs make it in life. We learn from Jesus the paradox of victory in surrender.

Conclusion
Friends, indeed there is a lot more to life than what the world can offer. May God enrich our days. May God empower us to live in radical meaningful ways throughout this holy advent season.

Let us pray.
Eternal God, through long generations you prepared a way for the coming of your Son, and by your Spirit you still bring light to illumine our paths. Renew us in faith and hope that we may welcome Christ to rule our thought and claim our love, as Lord of lords and King of kings, to whom be glory always. Amen.