Liberation
Based on Acts 9:1-9, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:4-17
The word “liberation” is defined as “the act of freeing someone or something from control, domination, or confinement. It can involve physical freedom (like the liberation of a city from occupation), or it can relate to broader concepts political, social or personal freedom.” In addition to that definition, I have a wonderful book in my library entitled, “Health as Liberation”, which posits that health provides freedom from illness. There is even a robust branch of Christian theology which is dedicated to liberation of the poor and oppressed that grew out of Central and South America. Finally, the defining work by Howard Thurman entitled, “Jesus and the Disinherited” which addressed the need for a liberating spirituality which brought together the lived experience of African-American bondage with a deep and abiding engagement with the gospel of Jesus.
The act of liberation was a cornerstone of Jesus’ ministry. In Luke 4, Jesus announced his ministry on earth by quoting the first three verses of Isaiah 61 stating, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” In other words, Jesus proclaimed that the time of God’s grace, redemption, and deliverance is now at hand, and all are invited to come to Christ in repentance and, by grace, receive the gift of eternal life.
The Resurrection happened 2000 years ago – but many believers still do not feel free. What is it that keeps us from fully living into the liberation that Jesus promised? Is it the opinions of other people? A sin that we can’t believe has been forgiven? The pursuit of some utopian understanding of Christian perfection? The living-death of performative Christianity instead of living out of a real experience of Jesus in our lives? Rules, dogma and legalism imposed on us by Church teachings, by misinformed others - or by our own misunderstanding? Ponder those questions while I unpack our scripture readings for today.
In the Book of Acts, we encounter Saul who has been persecuting the followers of Jesus. He is headed toward Damascus to imprison the followers of “The Way” and return them to Jerusalem for trial or murder. Suddenly, a bright light surrounded him, and a force knocked him down. The Risen and Ascended Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting Jesus’ followers? Saul made no reply, but when he opened his eyes, he was blind. His companions led him into Damascus where he fasted for three days all the while remaining blind.
John’s Revelation reports on him witnessing the “Lamb who was slain”. The One whose sacrifice made possible the opening of the sacred scroll. The One whose death had liberated “persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” Worthy is this Lamb who was slain so that we might be liberated from our sins and be justified before God Almighty!
My favorite post-Resurrection Gospel scripture has been read today. It is my favorite because it tells us about how Jesus liberated Peter from his three-fold denial and set him free to lead the disciples into God’s preferred future. Peter had decided that he would rather fish like he did in the time before he met Jesus, rather than continue to fish for people. But God had plans to free him – just like God had liberating plans for Saul. After breakfast, Peter and Jesus walked along the beach and Jesus forgave him three times and gave Peter and new mission. Jesus’ mission for Peter, which grew out of Peter’s confessed love for Jesus, was to feed His lambs, tend his sheep and feed his sheep. In other words, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was formally passing his ministry to God’s children on to Peter and the rest of the disciples who would become apostles of Jesus’ liberation to the world.
With all that having been said, I ask you once again, what keeps us from living fully into the liberation that Jesus promises? What is holding us back from living fully into the liberation that comes from knowing we are beloved and forgiven children of God? To explore that a bit, I turn to Howard Thurman, a great theologian of the last century, who also happened to be Black. Thurman wrote the following in his book “Jesus and the Disinherited” about how Jesus liberates those who don’t understand their freedom as children of God, stating, “…The core of the analysis of Jesus is that humans are [man is a] children of God…Jesus suggests that it is quite unreasonable to assume that God, whose creative activity is expressed even in such details as the hairs of a person’s [man’s] head, would exclude from his concern the life, the vital spirit, of the person [man himself]. This idea - that God is mindful of the individual - is of tremendous import…In this world the socially disadvantaged person [man] is constantly given a negative answer to the most important personal questions upon which mental health depends: “Who am I? What am I?”
The first question has to do with a basic self-estimate, a profound sense of belonging, of counting. If a person feels that they do [man feels that he does] not belong in the way in which it is perfectly normal for other people to belong, then he develops a deep sense of insecurity. When this happens to a person, it provides the basic material for what the psychologist calls an inferiority complex…The awareness of being a child of God tends to stabilize the ego and results in a new courage, fearlessness, and power…When I was a youngster, this was drilled into me by my grandmother. The idea was given to her by a certain slave minister who, on occasion, held secret religious meetings with his fellow slaves. How everything in me quivered with the pulsing tremor of raw energy when, in her recital, she would come to the triumphant climax of the minister: “You - you are not slaves. You are God’s children….”
Likewise, I say to you this morning that you are not slaves to the worldly wisdom which seeks to control, oppress or confine you! Rather, you are people who have been liberated by the sacrifice of Jesus to a freedom beyond human understanding or control. Reverend William Sloane Coffin once noted that, “…Christ is risen to convert us, not from this life to some other life, but from something less than life to the possibility of full life….” The fact that the tomb was empty means that there is nothing standing in our way to live fully into the time of God’s grace, redemption, and deliverance which is now at hand. Because of Easter morning, all are invited to come to Christ in repentance and, by grace, receive the gift of eternal life. Christ rose so that we might know the freedom of true liberation and in that freedom, live our lives fully as apostles to everyone we meet. Thanks be to God for this gift of liberation, amen!