Mary: the activity and intimacy Luke 1:39-56 WBC 12.12.04pm
Introduction:
This week I set Monday aside for reading and preparation for an essay for my MA on ‘How may the spiritual life of an individual be helped by a knowledge of different streams and religious traditions’
- busy reading through notes… trying to take in the facts… how I can craft my essay to get the maximum marks most efficiently
- struck me: here I am READING this stuff rather than doing it!
o Most ironic! So busy as a pastor & Christian that my soul is hungering for more of Jesus
Discussed it with Pam
- in many (some?) ways I’ve grown: more obedient. I do things more because they are the RIGHT thing. (not just because I want to)
o even do them joyfully most (some?!) of the time
- but my heart is crying out for more of Jesus at Christmas time
o “bet I’m not the only one!”
o that’s what I want to preach on, soon
And then I read through the Christmas stories in search of the Word for you, tonight
- and this struck me!
Here is this little girl. And what does she do? This little person who was the very first to carry Jesus inside her. The first to carry the good news.
- what does she do when she conceives (v 39 ‘at that time’)?
- She goes to Elizabeth’s house
- The spiritual experiences start
- She spends time cultivating the life that is within
- And then (v56) she stays with Elizabeth 3 months!
This struck me: the result of the incarnation to her was spending three months meditating on… talking about… the One within her
How different is that from our experience? Your experience?
- we rush to activity. She runs to intimacy
o in fact the only rushing she does is down to Elizabeth’s house (v39)… to where she can cultivate the life within
Because, in the end, that’s what matters.
Friday I went and had lunch with some of the local ministers:
Peter Doyle, David O’sullivan from St Peters, Charles Stewart, David Scott, Howard Mellor, Peter Davey, Robert Teare, Michael Starr
- what we call the City Centre Ministers
- made to leave at 2.15pm. ‘I’ve got 2 sermons to finish’
- said “Ewen: chill out! You’ve always got something to rush to! You need to relax and let God. God will provide. These things come from God, not from straining. Here- have a glass of port!”
So, I did!
- these are the ones who are telling me… but am I.. we as a certain kind of evo… the ones who are always saying ‘not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of God’?
- we have a lot to learn. There’s a quiet, very attractive, power in these kinds of traditions
o Illustr: Roy Searle ‘incoming’ BUGB president. Leader of the Northumbria Community. Coming here Oct 2005. Celtic spirituality. It’s magnetic
It’s magnetic at this time of year- AND it’s what this time of year is all about.
Don’t you want more of Jesus? To find Him born in your hearts this Christmas
Well: here are three brief points from Mary that might help.
INTERIORITY
The first is interiority. (it’s a real word. My spell checker told me so).
Mary cultivates the life of Jesus within her. That’s what she’s doing.
- it’s not about activity. Rushing around. DOING.
o That’s not what Christmas is to her.
So- she spends time preparing for His birth by
- talking about Him
- praising God. The magnificat: “my soul magnifies the Lord!”
- humbling herself (v48 ‘the humble state of his servant’)
- recognising God’s mercy
- recognising that the proud (and maybe the busy) get scattered in their innermost thoughts (v51)
o but in her innermost thoughts she cultivates Jesus. Life
o meditates on Him
This is the exact opposite of what our culture will try and get you to do
- our Christmas culture
- our CHRISTIAN sub-culture as well
And I have come to realise the more we… I am doing it- the more I can be running away!
- missing the real thing
- even: having a show of religion but missing it’s power
It’s about INTERIORITY… not ACTIVITY. Intimacy not doing
.. cultivating the life…Jesus within
I mean: how can you MAKE a baby grow? You CAN’T.
- God is the only one who can do that… and He will do that naturally in you … if you slow down enough… honour Him enough.. to have eyes to see it
SIMPLICITY
The second thing about Mary is simplicity
She would have been a simple girl… and in the end it’s all very simple
There were countless other Jews who were busy keeping commandments and studying Torah
- but God came to a simple girl who simply said ‘yes’
o “oh come to my heart, Lord Jesus. There is room in my heart for thee’
She had room where others didn’t. Even the hotels didn’t. They were so complicated…educated… busy
But- where meek souls will receive Him, still
- we have a lot to learn from Mary about meekness
I believe in using the brain! But you can get yourself in a right state if you HAVE to understand everything before Jesus can be born or grow in you!
- Jas 1:21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Now you may pooh-pooh such simplicity or ‘child-likeness’
- may poo poo it in Mary: “what did she know of the realities of life. No TV to see babies starving in Africa”
But you forget! I dunno what life was like in those days- but in 1662 when the Book of common prayer came out (with may you see your children grow up)
- average life expectancy of a bloke was 36. Woman about 25/26!
- Only something like 1:3 mothers and babies survived childbirth (seriously!)
So you didn’t say lightly ‘let’s have a baby’
- “let me kill you by getting you pregnant!”
Of course, Mary and Elizabeth met together to share stories of faith
- (every woman dreamed that she would be the mother of the Messiah!)
.. but you wonder if they met together to share their fears as well
- particularly Elizabeth (1:1 barren and well on in years)!
So- where do they go? In their fear and faith (and life is always a mixture of both, eh?) they gather together in fellowship and SIMPLY cultivate the life within
Jesus…. The life within Mary… is simply the answer
PROXIMITY
More of the same, really- but why do you think Elizabeth wants Mary around?
- sure, she’s a cousin
- sure, they enjoy talking!
But SHE knew something at the very moment they met
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
She knew there was something special about the baby in her womb
- more than that! She refers to Mary as the ‘Mother of my Lord’
o get that! (Mary gives birth/life to the One who gives her life- the Lord)
Elizabeth knows the Lord is in Mary’s womb… and she wants to do all she can to be in proximity to Him
- Mary is the same
Whereas JTB (1:80) seems to have virtually no childhood with parents around- Jesus grows up with His parents (certainly Mary) and is a joy to them
- and wherever Jesus is, Mary is
- the Passion of the Christ conveyed this well. Even at the cross
Illustr: Sun Pm Don Francisco.
If I can get a little closer to Jesus
Just a little bit closer to Jesus
Just a little bit closer to Jesus
Everything’s gonna’ be all right.
The answer is in Jesus. Getting closer to Jesus.
That’s what Christmas is about. Not the activity, but the intimacy.
Don’t you WANT it? It’s what you need.
We have within us a virgin place,
A holy space which belongs to God alone.
We know it by its hunger,
We name it by its need,
The space will not be touched
By the people we love
Or the things we gather
Or the positions we hold
We have within us a growing place,
An eternal space that exists for truth,
Where the love of God overcomes us,
Where the life of God fills us,
The Immanuel space where we conceive
And become pregnant with the Holy One
And day by day, give birth
To Christ in the world
Joy Cowley
From Psalms down-under (Catholic supplies [NZ} Ltd) cited in ‘No empty phrases’, Donald Hilton, NCEC
Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep,
I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient cradle song,
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given
While angels sing with pious mirth.
A glad new year to all the earth.
Martin Luther.
