Scripture: Luke 1:46-55
Video Link: https://youtu.be/LMr7Om-kBKQ
Structure:
- Introduction
- God is mindful
- God is mighty
- God is merciful
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Kai ora whanau and Merry Christmas.
Have you ever noticed how good things often come in threes?
There are three primary colours from which all other colours can be made.
There are only three bones in the human ear, all of which are needed for us to hear.
A chair or a table needs at least three legs to stand.
A triangle, the strongest geometric shape, has three sides.
There are three feet in a yard, three dimensions in the physical world, three wickets in a hat trick, three Bronte sisters and three main ingredients in a BLT sandwich (apart from the bread).
What’s more, there are three things needed to decide any kind of dispute: rock, paper, scissors.
Today’s message is based on Luke chapter 1, verses 46-55. This is Mary’s song of praise, sung while she was still pregnant with Jesus. From Luke 1, verse 46 we read…
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
In these verses, Mary is basically saying three things about God…
God is mindful, God is mighty and God is merciful.
These three attributes of God are like the three bones in your ear, or the three primary colours or the three legs of a table or the three sides of a triangle. We need them all. We need to know God is mindful, mighty and merciful.
God is mindful:
According to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, mindfulness means paying attention to what is presently occurring, with kindness and curiosity.
The idea with mindfulness is to bring some order and control to our patterns of thinking. Not let our thoughts run away from us. Not allow ourselves to think the worst, nor set ourselves up for disappointment by manufacturing unhelpful expectations. Just breathe and stay present in the moment.
In verse 48, of Luke 1, Mary says that God has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
I’m not sure that our human definition of mindfulness is transferable to God exactly, but Mary (the mother of Jesus) is certainly mindful that God is paying attention to her present situation with kindness.
Mary had quite a bit to worry about. What would people think of her being pregnant and not married? How would she tell her fiancé Joseph and what would Joseph do?
But Mary doesn’t go down that path in her mind. Instead Mary enjoys the moment. She focuses on what God has done for her and how blessed she is.
The past couple of years have been difficult. Change is the only constant. We are all pretty tired and feeling over it. Maybe our thoughts are running ahead to next year and what the future might hold.
Try not to go there. Today is Christmas. Now is the time to be mindful of what God has done in sending his Son Jesus. This is the day to be aware that God is thinking of you personally and of his world collectively.
God has not forgotten. God understands the losses you have suffered, the pressures you feel and the burdens you carry.
God is mindful and God is mighty.
God is mighty:
Some of you may be planning to do one of New Zealand’s great walks this summer. Perhaps the Routeburn or the Abel Tasman or the Milford Track.
If you are spending time in the bush you might come across some predator traps. For many years now our native birds have been under threat from rats and stoats and possums. Conservationists have been seeking to restore the balance by culling as many of these introduced predators as they can.
Mindfulness can be helpful, as far as it goes, but if you are a Kiwi or a Kōkako or a Black Robin, then you don’t need people to just be thinking about you. You need humans to build a predator proof fence to stop stoats from raiding your nest.
In verse 49 Mary says, the Mighty One has done great things for me, and in verse 51 she says, He has performed mighty deeds with his arm… he has scattered the proud… but has lifted up the humble.
If God were only mindful of you, what good would that do? If you are homeless then you don’t need a sympathy card. No, you need affordable housing. More than that, you need someone with the might (as in the wisdom and power) to make the system more just so you can get into your own home.
As a young woman in a male dominated society, Mary was somewhere near the bottom of the social ladder. She didn’t have much power or influence. She was vulnerable, like a Kiwi or a Kākāpō.
But God, the Mighty One, has done great things for her. He has lifted her up, as humble as she is, by making her the mother of the Messiah.
In some ways, the nation of Israel was a bit like Mary in that they were relatively poor and vulnerable compared with other nations. Israel were oppressed by the Romans and needed God’s mighty power to save them.
Like Mary and like Israel, New Zealand is not mighty. We don’t have an arsenal of nuclear weapons or a huge navy or the latest in drone strike technology. We need God to defend our free land.
God’s might (his power) goes hand in hand with his mercy.
God is merciful:
Recently the United Nations (in Geneva) discussed the issue of Lethal Autonomous Weapons (or killer robots). Most countries were against the sort of technology where humans are not in control and decisions are outsourced to computers. But the bigger more powerful nations didn’t want rules around it.
Lethal Autonomous Weapons maybe mighty but they are hardly mindful, much less merciful. The world has enough problems without introducing more.
In verse 50 Mary says that God’s mercy extends to those who fear him and in verse 54 she says that God has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful…
Mercy is essentially about using your power or might to help someone else.
Power comes in many forms: for example, money & wealth, knowledge & skill, physical strength, political leverage and so on. When you use the power you have, to help someone who is in a weaker position than you, that’s mercy.
If someone is having a heart attack and you know CPR, then mercy is stopping to help them. If someone owes you money and can’t repay you, then mercy is forgiving the debt. If someone is marginalised or an outsider and you are well connected, then mercy is including them in your community.
By definition God is the mightiest being there is. Fortunately for us, God chooses to use his power for the benefit of those who fear him. That is, those who respect and reverence God, those who hold the Lord in high regard.
As one who was relatively powerless, Mary was very mindful of God’s mercy. Usually it is when we are at our weakest and feeling vulnerable that we are most conscious of God’s mercy.
Conclusion:
For some, Christmas is a time of happiness and fun and good feelings. For others though, Christmas is a time that just seems to highlight what we have lost and how far from ideal our lives are.
Whatever you are feeling today, may you know that God is thinking of you with love, that nothing is too difficult for him and that he wants to use his power and might for our wellbeing.
Although her situation in life was far from ideal, Mary rejoiced because of God’s mindfulness, might and mercy for her personally.
She also rejoiced because the child she was carrying, Jesus the Christ, embodies the mindfulness, might and mercy of God for the world. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas.
Tawa Baptist 