‘Yes’ and ‘no’ are two of the first few words we learn from our mother’s lap, and as these are as familiar as breathing in and breathing out we do not give sufficient attention to the consequences of saying ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ We use these words innumerable times throughout the day and potentially millions of times in an average lifetime. The consequences of saying these two words shape our lives. There is a time to say yes and a time to say no. Do we know whom to respond to? Do we know how? Do we know when? Do we know where?

In our daily lives we often do not even say these words, but express them through a smile, a frown, a gesture, or a combination of nod and facial expression. Whatever way we use them, they are the most important currency of our communication and verbal contract. It is because of God’s infinite generosity that we have the freedom to opt for a yes or no response, and honour that option with all that we are endowed with. As we reflect on this very simple truth we realise that life is a litany of opportunities to say either yes or no to the right person at the right time and place. Mary, mother of Jesus, was faced with such an opportunity when she met angel Gabriel (Luke 1: 26-38). Her response to Gabriel was simply, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” Mary’s yes response to a unique divine command made her highly favoured in God’s sight and made her the most blessed person above others. She is the role model of absolute obedience.

At the heart of biblical narration there is the story of a ‘no’ centred on Adam and Eve and a story of ‘yes’ based on Mary’s supreme response. Eve’s no to God’s instruction to abstain from the tree of knowledge of good an evil is met with a yes response from Mary. By her yes, she restores God’s grace and favour, which Adam and Eve rejected through their emphatic ‘no’ in the Genesis story (3: 9-20). A note of caution, this reflection is not part of a discussion on the merits of creationism, intelligent design or natural selection. These two responses took human destiny in two different directions: Eve’s ‘no’ created a chasm between Creator and the created, which banished them from the Garden of Eden, but Mary’s ‘yes’ opened the door and re-established a new covenant relationship between humanity and God, a new Garden of Eden is planted in our hearts. Mary was chosen for a special role, she had God’s blessings, and she was set apart from the beginning for the mission she had to carry out. Mary’s facilitation of the incarnation event opened a channel for God’s infinite love and it can only be reciprocated in our responding with a free an voluntary ‘yes’ to God’s demand on our lives. God initiates, but we must freely accept just as Mary accepted. By our ‘yes’ response, we allow God to enter and reside in our hearts and our whole being. We say ‘yes’ to develop our potential to be totally what God wants us to be.

Jesus always said ‘yes’ to the Father's prompting, and so should we. Our attitude must be one of eternal gratitude for the chance to choose what is right. When we reflect on Jesus' way, we feel his power at work in the world; we strive for spiritual values; we seek to become one with him in his body the Church. Our openness enhances a positive environment in which we can say ‘yes’ to God. God creates opportunities and invites us into the creative act, but this can not be achieved with a negativity that includes wrong doing and lack of faith. We like Mary, need to be open to grace, a grace wherein we can freely say ‘yes.’ Today the dark clouds of uncertainty seem to overwhelm us on every side, and they seem to overwhelm others who are our neighbours. Can these folks gain courage to move in freedom to say "yes" to God or are they panicked by peer pressure and allurements to the point at which their freedom erodes. A positive atmosphere must prevail for us and for others as well, we can do something about it, we can encourage others to say ‘yes’ freely when it is called for through our witness and lifestyles. In any way, we should not become a reason for others to say no to God’s initiatives for establishing good will and peace on earth.

It is equally important to appreciate that a negative response of saying ‘no’ may be necessary to avoid evil and follow the right way, to flee from false allurements and grow in love. Jesus tells that entrapment is subtle and all too often over looked (Luke 21:34). We have rationality, through the grace of God, to make the right decision to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a call. For many people entrapment is recklessly seeking satisfaction from building transitory comfort zones. Comforts in life need not be evil or wrong, but the desire for more and newer experiences fools us into spending our energies for getting more and more at the exclusion of everything else that is noble and valuable. In this relentless pursuit we forget the brevity of time, and before we know it, life is over and we have very little to show, but a pitiful collection of artefacts we cannot take with us.

One clue might be the all prevailing ‘competitive culture,’ which blocks our vision and interrupts our silent space for communion with God. We are immersed in a sea of ‘competitive culture’ from cradle to grave, the likes of which the world has never experienced before; there is competition even for a five star burial. Could it be that the multitude of creature comforts on offer out there has some sort of hidden power to hypnotise us? We get addicted to a variety of things and it has become almost impossible to live without a regular fix of these artificially-created needs. Certainly none of these normal needs of life are wrong in themselves, so how can they trap? Does each convenience that we create to make life more comfortable make us restless for a bigger, better or a new designer label? This entrapment involves the addictive power of such momentary happiness. When we use them day after day and the use is reinforced by our friends and peers doing the same, the saying of ‘no’ becomes all the more difficult. The desire is also for showing to others of our ability to enjoy these things and this presumed public acclamation arising from such display seem to be is singularly more important than any other consideration for some.

The current health issues facing the affluent societies is a testimony to the fact that infatuation for beer, butter and bread, an imbalanced attitude towards food, and other addictions cause epidemics of diabetes and heart disease. Do we dare to stare them in the face and say that these do not give ultimate satisfaction? If we always bow into the desire for more of the same, we need to work harder and devote more and more time to the acquisition and maintenance of creature comforts. In this process we may even mortgage the inheritance of our children and grandchildren. Our insensitivity grows along with our insecurity and we turn more and more into ourselves. The trap is closing in on us and we are entrapped before we could blink.

We live in a society that highly values convenience, comfort, and publicity, but many of the allurements of comfort zones around us could be a sham of little worth. We often hear the soothing allurement from churches and evangelical organisation as well with their host of sweet enticements, sermons offering a better life and insurance policies for a life in heaven. Do we have the courage to turn off the television channels selling such comfort zones of life? Religion is meant to be comforting for it is evolved to help to bring justice, peace and harmony to the society, and to establish His kingdom here on earth. However, a religion that furnishes maximum comfort to its inner circle of power and influence in times of massive suffering, hunger, and lack of other basic needs in this world is ill placed for its mission. To exclude oneself, through wearing religious masks, from suffering is to indulge in escape; this is the opiate to which the communists were fond of referring to in the past. In fact, maximising comfort for the affluent people, at any cost, is a troubled world is giving into the allurements of evil desires. We must learn to distinguish because Jesus speaks a message of personal peace on many occasions and particularly after the resurrection when the disciples are fearful and afraid. At the mount of transformation Peter wanted to put up three tents to live there happily, but Jesus went down with them to the valley of problems (Matt 17: 4). A peaceful surrounding with all its tranquillity is a good thing and we each need it, for living with Christ in isolated enclosures may be a comforting thought. However, having said this, Jesus does not want us to withdraw from this world. Therefore, saying ‘yes’ to God’s initiatives is to carry a burden of responsibilities about the world around us.

Our own happiness ought not to be our ultimate objective in life, nor indeed will it ever be secured if selfishly sought. Therefore, we must endeavour to contribute to the notion “the greatest good of the greatest number.” The common good of the community is as important as the common good of the family. We just cannot have an island of happiness in the midst of a chaotic world; this is what Mother Teresa taught us. We cannot just buy happiness from secular or religious supermarkets either. How right is Epictetus: “If a man is unhappy, this must be his own fault; for God made all men to be happy?” God has given us opportunities to make either a paradise or prison.” I have been reading Sri Aurobindo1 and his thoughts on personal salvation; this is something I also have been concerned for a long time and discussed with others in the past. He felt it distasteful to think about solitary salvation leaving the world to its fate. He says very emphatically the following: 1) Nothing can be saved unless everything is saved; 2) There can be no paradise so long as a single man is in hell; 3) If evolution is to triumph, the whole of life must therefore be transformed, not just one fragment of life, not one privileged beam or blessed island. We cannot transform anything unless we transform everything. Otherwise we remain alone in our little hole of light. What good is one man’s transformation, if rest of the humanity goes on dying? Therefore, we should use the option of saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ with this burden in our mind too.

“Heaven in its rapture dreams of perfect earth,
Earth in its sorrow dreams of perfect heaven….
They are kept from their oneness by enchanted fears.”

Discomfort of any kind is looked upon by many as a work of the evil spirit or a divine punishment, since they know their consciences bother them when doing the wrong thing. But God could also be the source of the discomfort, for God shakes us up a little to bring us back to the straight and narrow path because of his loving concern for us. In the Mahabarata, Kunti, the mother of five Pandava princes, prays, “If it takes obstacles to make me think of you God, then let my life be full of difficulties that I may never forget you.” In the Old Testament story of Job, the innocent and virtuous Job could not understand the purpose of his suffering, but he had the grace of God to admit that he had been a foolish man, and submitted to God and humbled himself. The Lord's concerns are for those who do wrong and for the lost sheep of the fold. He also challenges us by saying he does not come to bring peace, but to divide some from even their loved ones (Matt10:34). Discipleship demands accepting responsibility and concern. We are in the world and not of the world and this takes a lifetime to discern. A holy restlessness about a troubled world is entirely compatible with Christianity. In Christ we experience interior peace and exterior concern. What we do in saying ‘yes’ is to agree with the call of God and the circumstances in which we find ourselves along with the privilege to say "yes" or "no" to questions confronting us. Merely saying ‘yes or no’ is not enough as we learn from the parable of the two sons. The one who said no changed his mind and worked in his father’s vineyard, but the one who spontaneously said yes did not do anything to please his father (Matt 21: 28-31). So the saying of ‘yes or no’ should not be in automatic, but authentic; it should be followed up with total commitment. This parable also teaches us that with the grace of God we may be able to change these responses to regain inner peace because ‘His love endures for ever.’

We see how a stubborn ‘no’ from Arjuna became a very emphatic ‘yes’ after the intervention of Lord Krishna in the epic story of the Mahabratha. At Kurukshetra where the two armies met for the mother of all wars, and the battle about to begin, and when Arjuna, the greatest archer of all times, inspects the opposing army, he sees his teachers, cousins, father-in-law and other relatives and close childhood friends, he suddenly puts down his famous bow and arrows and decides not to fight and kill. Arjuna’s mind is so affected with grief that he completely forgets who he is and what his duties are. He is so confused and he cannot discriminate and judge what is right and wrong, what is lawful and unlawful. Arjuna was very fortunate to have a Lord Krishna as a guide at this crucial moment to teach him about the principle of a just war and change his no into a yes. The long dialogue between Arjuna and Lord Krishna which resulted in Arjuna’s change of mind is the basis of Bhagavad-Gita, which describes ways and means to organise one’s life so that human beings can attain a state of tranquillity and thus becomes useful to them and to society. Consideration for others, neighbours, is a primary requisite for finding happiness and building a just society. Prophet Muhammad said, “If your neighbour is starving you may not feast.” Even with all these examples before us, there are examples of religious leaders and televangelists who became overwhelmed by power, influence and popularity during which they lost touch with God’s grace. This again is a good illustration of the need of divine guidance in making these crucial decisions in our lives.

As we reflect on Chrsitmas, away from its festive lights, signs, and sounds, we begin to understand the significance of Mary’s song, the Magnificat (Luke1: 46-56). Drawn from Old Testament scriptures, Magnificat speaks of a great change, a magnificent transformation, following a great response from Mary. Stanley Jones once described Magnificat as ‘the most revolutionary document on earth.’ To people denied hope, Magnificat brings hope . From our comfort zones of life we struggle to appreciate just how much this song means to communities of faith in the poverty stricken pockets of our neighbourhoods and the country. Nor do we appreciate, the fear Magnificat can bring to people in the corridors of power that degrade and exploit vulnearble people. For Magnificat challenges our perspectives and those that are considerd often as unchallengeable. It has the power to transport us from the corridors of power to avenues of God’s amazing grace; it shows us how to respond to God’s intiatives with total commitment. May God’s grace be upon us to make the right responses for glorifying His name.

Reference:
1. Satperm: Sri Aurobindo. ISBN 81-85137-60-9, The Mother’s Insitute of Research , Delhi, 2003.