I read Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection a few years ago. It was his last novel, published when he was 71. I have discovered that reading someone’s final works gives you the best of their lifetime wisdom, especially from a great thought leader like Tolstoy.
Most of you know Tolstoy for his famous book War and Peace. But did you know he had a spiritual awakening when he was around 50 years old? If you read his books written after that point, they will be more meaty, weighty, and highly spiritual.
Why should we take Tolstoy seriously? Here’s why. He is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times and the Nobel Peace Prize three times. That’s incredible! However, he did not get the award despite being nominated so many times, probably because he was critical of the governments and powerful religious institutions of his time.
Tolstoy was also known as a Christian Anarchist, submitting to no human ruler, including religious authority. Christian Anarchists believe Christ alone is their king and no one else. Are you one of them? Are you supposed to be one? Abraham was one. We will talk more about that later.
Tolstoy’s other book, The Kingdom of God is Within You, based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, was banned in Russia but published in Germany. In that book, Tolstoy presented the idea of “nonviolent resistance,” which fueled the movements of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
By now, I am sure you are convinced that he should not be ignored.
The book Resurrection depicts the corruptive nature of society. If you are rich and powerful, you can be corrupted by your power, procession, and prestige; if you are poor, you might be forced to choose the wrong means to survive. So, whether rich or poor, the human civilization will corrupt you.
That’s why the wise King Solomon asked God not to make him too rich or too poor. He knew that if he were too rich, he could forget God; if he were too poor, he might dishonor God by committing crimes. That doesn’t preclude those in between because rich or poor is relative.
We live in a fallen world—a sea of suffering. What’s worse than suffering is its corruptive nature. It brings out the worst of you.
Tolstoy’s Resurrection takes us on a journey to see the injustice of the legal system, the prejudice of society, the hypocrisy of religious institutions, and, most importantly, the unintentionality of it, making it hard to change. He helps us see that many evils are done unintentionally or even with good intentions.
We often think those who fight for justice are righteous, but they often become a new force of injustice. Communism is an example. It starts out with good intentions but ends up worse than the evil they fight against. We all want to make this world better, but no one knows how to correct the wrongs the right way, except through a personal resurrection. If you want to change the world, change yourself. That change must be thorough; that is resurrection—the old must be gone, and the new must begin.
That community of new lives is called the kingdom of God, and I call it Civilization Next—the civilization of the resurrected people. The Kingdom of God is not just on the other side of death. You can experience the new life right now and right here because you belong to Civilization Next if you have accepted Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, you are in the world but not of the world. You live in the future now.
Based on the scripture lesson on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we will look at two women in history who brought the Civilization Next to Earth—the 88-year-old Elizabeth and the 14-year-old Mary. Let’s begin!
The scripture lesson for today is from the Gospel According to Luke 1:39-45. [Listen to the Word of the Lord!]
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:39-45).
[Blessed are those who delight in God’s Word. Thanks be to God!]
Just to give you the context, Mary was just visited by the angel Gabriel informing her that God has chosen her to be the mother of Jesus. Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I am just a virgin?”
The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Lk 1:35–38).
Mary was filled with joy, but she could not share it with anyone because no one would believe her. She was pregnant with the king of a new civilization. She was only about 14 years old, engaged but not yet married. If people knew about her pregnancy outside of marriage, she could be stoned to death.
She could not even tell her fiancé, Joseph. How could you inform your fiancé if you are pregnant? “Hey, honey, I’m pregnant, but the child is not yours. He is the Son of God.” Would he believe it?
God knew Mary would have difficulty sharing this news with anyone, so he let the angel tell her that her cousin Elizabeth was also pregnant in her old age. Elizabeth was barren, and the community in those days regarded it as a disgrace. Now, she is pregnant with John the Baptist and filled with gratitude.
Based on the Mandaean Gospel, Elizabeth was 88 years old. If you think you are too old to be pregnant, think again. I know it’s scientifically impossible, but Christmas is about the impossible becoming possible. As the angel told Mary, “Nothing is impossible with God.” Now, Mary had at least one person to share her secret with, or maybe two, since Zachariah also knew.
Based on the historians, it was quite a journey for Mary to see Elizabeth in those days, but it was worth it. The gathering of Mary and Elizabeth was like the first church congregation of the New Testament in the presence of Jesus Christ. We often say the church was born on Pentecost, but this is actually the first.
We gather as believers today here to worship God and share the life of resurrection that other people out there don’t understand. In Tolstoy’s Resurrection, Dmitri, the main character, is lonely because people don’t appreciate his resurrected life. He explained his feeling and thoughts to his family and friends, but no one understood him.
We can be lonely out there because we are in the world but not of the world. If we are not lonely in the world, we have to reevaluate our lives. If we are too comfortable in the world, we may have become of the world. That means we may have become the elements of injustice and indifference.
We are here today to share our resurrection, also known as the new creation, the Kingdom of God, eternal life, or what I would call Civilization Next. The Holy Spirit is here to help us reaffirm one another. The Bible says,
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (Luke 1:41-42).
That is the first word Mary heard from a human being about the child in her womb. What a wonderful affirmation! Even the unborn leaped for joy in the presence of Christ. Joy to the world, the Lord has come! Mary is no longer lonely here. Elizabeth continued,
“And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:43-45).
It looked like a mutual affirmation. Just as Elizabeth recognized Mary as the mother of her Lord, Mary’s presence affirmed Elizabeth’s child to be a holy child who would become a great prophet to prepare the way for Christ. Then Mary began singing.
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;” (Luke 1:46b-48).
The song is known as the Magnificat. It’s a beautiful mosaic of Old Testament citations. Mary might have memorized many Old Testament scriptures and picked a few to weave them into a song. Mary praised God for choosing a humble peasant girl instead of a proud princess elsewhere to fulfill his greater purpose. This peasant girl will be remembered by all generations to come, and we know she is.
“for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.” (Luke 1:49-50).
The word “fear” does not have the same meaning as we use it today. It means “revere.” Mary recognized generations of her family’s reverence for God had paid off. It reminds us to hang in there with God through thicks and thins, no matter how long it takes, and it will pay off. Don’t succumb to the world and become of the world.
“He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;” (Luke 1:51-52)
These conditions could take place in your heart when God’s presence comes to you. Allegorically speaking, when you have Jesus in your life, you are like Mary, pregnant with Jesus, and these changes happen in you. You see the strength of God’s arm. Your proud thoughts are gone, and your arrogance is down. You feel humbled to be lifted up by God.
“He has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:53).
Most people interpret this passage literally, thinking that God will make the poor rich and the rich poor. Making the poor rich is good, but making the rich poor does not sound justice. Tolstoy’s Resurrection depicts this situation. When you have the resurrection, you find your wealth meaningless and empty because you have a greater and more meaningful purpose to fulfill. For example, Dmitri gave away his wealth to the poor.
“He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1:54-55).
The coming of Christ fulfills God’s promise to Abraham that God will bless this world through his descendants. Abraham represents what people might call “Spiritual Anarchism.” He left the civilization of monarchy and formed a new civilization reigned by an unnamed and invisible king.
Other civilizations might look down on him as an anarchist or barbarian, but it is the most advanced form of civilization—ruled only by God and God alone. Unfortunately, his descendants later asked for a human king. King Saul became their first king.
They might have thought that having a king was progressing their civilization, but they were actually regressing. Since then, the Israelites have become “in the world and of the world.”
Through the fruit of Mary’s womb, we are back on track to building Civilization Next, and Jesus called us to pray for “Thy Kingdom come.” As society becomes more powerful with incredible technological advancement, space travel, and cryptocurrencies, we are called to be the prophetic voice in this corruptive world.
We are not in conflict with human governments. We are just in the world but not of the world. I still pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America because it gives me the freedom to worship God and gather with fellow citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. The passage ends by saying,
“And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.” (Luke 1:56).
We can imagine why Mary would stay there so long because that was the only church she had at that time. Out of the entire world, only Elizabeth and Zachariah could appreciate this new reality. It was a small world but a different world.
Just imagine how lonely and discouraging Mary would be without this gathering. It was a harsh world where she could be stoned to death for her pregnancy, and even after the birth of her child, King Herod tried to murder him by slaughtering all boys under two years old.
On the other hand, Mary was joyful to magnify the Lord with those who knew what she knew. We are blessed because we have the freedom to gather physically every week or more often to share our life of resurrection and avoid succumbing to the temptations of the corruptive world.
Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves why we gather to worship and fellowship. The church of Jesus Christ is the congregation of Civilization Next. Without this type of gathering, we can regress to the dog-eat-dog or rat-race civilization.
Tolstoy criticized the religious institutions for being hypocritical because they were supposed to be advancing Jesus’ Civilization Next instead of becoming “of the world.”
Our gathering should be like that of Mary and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, joy, and praise for the new thing God is doing. As the Lord said to Isaiah,
“Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19).
Our society may not be as dangerous as Mary’s, but it is still like a wilderness, depending on the divine secret you carry. Metaphorically, in your womb dwells the king of the next civilization. You must nurture him until he rules the world with justice, freedom, and righteousness. Thy Kingdom come!
That’s it for today. Until we meet again, keep your light shining brighter and broader, and harvest the fruit of profound felicity, freedom, and fulfillment.
Amen! And Merry Christmas!
Bye now!
