Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 20th April 2008 by Rev. Kwok Nai Wang. The scripture readings that day were Zechariah 4:1-10 and Galatians 5:1, 13-15, 22-26.


Human beings are not free to-day. Tens of Millions are not free from Poverty. They do not have enough food, clean water, a safe-shelter, adequate health care… Tens of millions are not free from war and armed conflicts. All of us are in bondage, not free from the world values of wealth, status, fame and power. We are not free from the seeking of our own interests. We are not free from our unlimited ambitions despite our limited capabilities.

In Hong Kong, 97% of the citizens are Chinese. Many are still bound by the traditional Chinese values – the so-called five basic relationships. But many of these relationships are rather authoritarian and oppressive. For example, if the King wants you to die, you refuse to die, you are disloyal to the King. If your father wants you to perish and you don’t, you are disrespectful to your father.

Furthermore citizens in Hong Kong, especially the older generations were raised in a colonial setting (Hong Kong was a British Crown Colony from 1942-1997). In such a setting, citizens were taught to be obedient to the rulers. Youngsters were taught to work hard, follow strictly the rules and regulations, and cautiously climb the social ladder. By that I mean right or wrong you do not question your superior. You do not criticize. You follow the mainstream opinion. In a word you dare not hold a dissenting view.

Then if you follow any religion, Christianity included, you would only be concerned with your own interests and well being. Salvation for the self, not for the whole world, would be your primarily concern.

But Christ has set us free, declared apostle Paul. We no longer need to be bound by all these bondages. Each and every one of us is a free person. That is the good news.

Dr. Hannah (a pseudonym) was a well-respected senior medical doctor at a Hospice Hospital in Hong Kong. She devoted practically all day long to care for the terminally ill patients. In 2003, the endemic SARS in Hong Kong really shook her up. She felt very helpless. Worse still, soon she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy. The treatment was hard enough for her. It was even more difficult for a change in her role – from a doctor to a patient. In the process, she almost became “insane”. It was hard for her to discover that being a doctor means she was only trained in technical medicine. She was not equipped to deal with issues such as death, suffering and the way to establish connections or rapport with her patients.

Dr. Hannah finally recognized that life is more than her work and her profession. After all this, she decided to work only half-time; and spend more time with her husband and their teenager daughter. For Hannah, cancer was the awakening call. But it was her faith in Christ finally which has set her free.

Christ has set all of us free – free from doubt and fear. Remember the disciples of Jesus Christ were dispersed and perhaps went on hiding after their teacher was arrested and crucified. His closest disciple Peter even denied he had anything to do with Jesus when confronted by a servant-girl of the High Priest, not once, but three times. (Mk 14:66-72// Mt 26:69-75// Lk 22:56-62// Jn 18:15-18, 25-27). But after he encountered the Risen Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter was brave enough to stand up and with a loud voice proclaimed openly that Christ had risen (Acts 2:14ff).

Thomas, another disciple of Jesus (called the Twin), doubted whether Jesus had really been raised from the dead. But after Jesus had showed him his body and invited Thomas to touch his body, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:24-29). Reportedly Thomas went all the way to India to establish the Mar Thoma Church. Christ had set free Peter and Thomas, from doubt and fear to faith and courage. Likewise Christ will also set us free!

Christ has set us free from Dogmatism. The biggest problem to-day is not whether people believe in or not believe in God. Rather it is the fact people who follow a living faith, Christianity included, think that their faith is the only true religion in the world and that they have all the answers to problems of the world. When they finally discovered that their belief did not hold the water, they resorted to self destruction.

In September 1981, when I co-led the first church delegation from Hong Kong to visit the mainland in three decades, I was asked twice about why a youth jumped to his death in Hong Kong holding a Bible. Earlier on in the same year, in Jones Town, Guyana, a group of Christians committed suicide. In 1993, in Waco, Texas, more than 30 people from the Sect of David were killed by the F.B.I. when they held out in the compound with large quantities of arms and ammunition. In 1996, in a French town bordering Switzerland, 30 devoted Christians committed suicide. We would say that these were extreme cases caused by Christian fundamentalism. But to a certain extent, many other Christians, perhaps ourselves included, are just as rigid, isolated and dominant.

Oftentimes we are bound by our “tunnel vision”. This is mainly due to the fact that we are being trained to memorize and follow from kindergarten or primary school on rather than to be trained to think independently. Last month, four sex workers working in a one-woman brothel in Hong Kong were robbed and murdered. They made front-page sensational stories. But still little attention was given to the plight of the 2,000 to 3,000 women working under the same conditions. Reportedly there are more than 20,000 sex workers in the territory. So the clientele must be enormous. However, bound by traditional moralistic view on prostitution, few people dare to speak up about the protection of the basic human rights of sex workers. Alas, hypocrisy abound!

But Christ has set us free. We no longer have to hide, to made excuses and be trapped by the “I can’t” mindset.

Yes, Christ has set us free – free from our pride and promised us the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what this morning’s Old Testament lesson reminded us.

Zerubbabel was the governor of Palestine in the Post-exilic period around 530 B.C.E. He was given the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, the Holy City and the Temple. God’s angel had this advice for him, “Not by your might nor your power, but by God’s Spirit”. (4:6).

Christians are often trapped by the traditional dualistic view of this world and God’s kingdom. Many Christians believe that this world is transient and evil. So despite the fact that they all live in this world, they do not take it seriously enough to try to make this world a better place not only for us, but especially for the future generations.

In the 1964 New York World’s Fair, outside the Roman Catholic Pavilion, these words by Pope Paul VI were inscribed: “Let the world know that the Church looks at the world with profound understanding, with sincere admiration and with a sincere intention, not of conquering it, but of serving it; not of despising it, but of appreciating it; not of condemning it, but of strengthening and saving it”.

How enlightening!
Christ has set us free.

Oftentimes, we are bounded by the world’s powers and principalities. We are excessively obedient to the power structures and the people in authority. We follow their views and decisions however unjust and unreasonable simply because we are very afraid to offend them. Our mindset of self protection is actually detrimental to the overall well being and human development.

Some twenty-five years ago, when it became evident that Hong Kong was to go back to China in 1997, the elites in Hong Kong suddenly became “patriotic”. Their sudden change of loyalty from pro-London to pro-Beijing shocked not only the British rulers but also the local people who were concerned about Hong Kong’s future as well. Since the changeover of sovereignty, the academic community and the press corps have adopted self-censorship. They have become more interested to save their own skin or even to enhance their personal interests much more than to search for the truth. As Christians we should realize that we are set free by Christ and therefore must not be afraid to tell the truth at all times and in all places.

Christ has set us free. But Christ has not made us libertines, that is, to do whatever our desires and wants dictate. A decade ago, one of the most damaging cigarette advertisement to our young people was about: just do whatever you wanted to.

Yes, Christ has set us free: free from blind obedience, but never free from responsibility. True, we are no longer responsible to other people for the sake of our selves. But instead we are responsible to God for the welfare of other people. This is what Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Everything is permissible, maybe so, but not everything does good. True everything is permissible, but not everything builds up people. Nobody should be looking for self-advantage, but everybody for someone else’s… Since to the Lord belong the earth and all it contains.” (I Cor 10:24-25, N.J.B.).

Christ has set us free. Christ set us free always for a purpose, namely to serve God and God’s entire creation. This is the meaning and the power of the Exodus Event.

About 1,250 BCE the Israelites who lived in Egypt “were fruitful and prolific; they became so numerous and powerful that eventually the whole land was full of them” (Ex. 1:11) So the Egyptians decided to force them to labour for them as slaves and all the Israelite male babies were killed instantly when they were born. Consequently God decided to set the Israelites free, delivered them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. After 40 years in the Sinai wilderness, the Israelites finally were made aware that God had set them free for a purpose, namely as God’s Chosen, they had the responsibility to proclaim to the whole world the fact that God is the Only God of all humanity as well as the meaning and implication of such a simple yet profound faith statement.

Throughout our life, we face struggles everyday between freedom and obedience as well as freedom and responsibility. But Christ has set us free. We are free to respond, respond not so much for self-gain, but to God and the needs of God’s creation. Apostle Paul is a living example to Christians all over the world. Paul was a free person, yet for the sake of others, he was willing to be a slave – serving people who are in dire needs. This is what he said, “Though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people, to win as many as I could” (I Cor 9:19).

Christ has set us free. “Sin no more”. This was what Jesus said to the adulterous woman as recorded in John 8. In context, what Jesus really meant was not so much to demand the woman not to commit adultery again, but rather to remind the woman that she was reconnected with other people, with society and with herself because ultimately she was reunited with God. So the woman should treasure these relationships.

Finally, Christ has set us free with His sacrificial love. Let us therefore treasure this new relationship with God and with God’s entire creation. Furthermore, let us reset our minds and our hearts so that others may live in this kind of new relationship too!

Hear these words from Paul: “If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation: the old has passed away, behold the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of Reconciliation”. (II Cor 5:17-18).