Last Sunday, as you know, President Obama took the oath of office. On Monday he delivered his second inaugural address. This Sunday we hear another inaugural address, but not from any politician. This one is from Jesus himself, in which for the first time he states his mission to the world:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.
If there’s any doubt about Jesus’ purpose, with these words he sets that to rest! The point of Jesus’ mission on earth was—and is…freedom! The point of our work in the world is…freedom!
What is Christian freedom? According to Jesus, it’s economic!…to bring good news to the poor. What is Christian freedom? It’s political!…to proclaim release to the captives, to let the oppressed go free. What is Christian freedom? It’s physical!…recovery of sight to the blind.
Now, you might say, but what about spiritual freedom? Isn’t that what Christian freedom is about? Yes, of course! That’s included in Jesus’ inaugural address! When he spoke of proclaiming good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom from oppression he was also speaking of spiritual poverty, spiritual captivity, spiritual blindness and spiritual oppression.
For God, Christian freedom is for the whole person and includes every aspect of human life, including economic, political, physical, and spiritual.
In last week’s second reading, St. Paul wrote that there are varieties of spiritual gifts. Paul takes that subject up again this week when he teaches that the body does not consist of one member but of many. He goes on to begin a list of gifts, all of which serve the goal of human freedom.
There was a book published in 1992 called Generations. In this book the authors describe what they see as a pattern in American history over the past 500 years. There are four different types of generations. Each generation serves a different purpose but all purposes serve the goal of human freedom. No one purpose is more important than the others. No one generation can do all the work. All are necessary!
So, for example, some generations in American history have fought wars for human freedom–a tragic but sometimes necessary response. Other generations have worked toward equality for women. Others have worked for civil and human rights, to free millions of people who have been treated as second-class citizens because of the color of their skin. And today we honor the work of courageous generations that have worked for freedom in behalf of those who have suffered bigotry and persecution because of sexual identity and orientation. All these different generations are parts of the body. All are equally important! And all are called to the good work of human freedom—in mind, body and spirit.
The work is never done! For five hundred years in our land it has been the duty and privilege of every generation to look at their world and see what challenges and opportunities exist. Always there is risk involved. Always there is a price to be paid. Each generation considers what gifts it brings to address those challenges and opportunities. And by the grace of God each generation is called to exercise those gifts, in order to set people free. We do this work for others because God has done this work for us.
It is also the duty and privilege of every generation to honor and support the freedom work of every other generation for, as St. Paul writes, if one member [of the body] suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Last evening some of us were at Fairwood Community United Methodist Church in Renton for a worship service that brought to a close the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Michael Kinnamon, the preacher for the day, reminded us of what the Bible teaches loud and clear: Our goal as Christians is not to become one body…because God has already created us as one body! Our goal as Christians is to live lives of service to the world that show how we are one. In other words, God says, I created you one body; now, act like it!
Not one of us can change who God created us to be. As St. Paul writes, If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. All of us were created by God through baptism as parts of one body. We are not free to choose whether we belong or not. The freedom we have is to live like we are one body…or not.
Another way to say it: We can live as the free people God created us to be…or not. When each part of Christ’s body is doing its part the whole body experiences the freedom we were created for. As Paul said it in his letter to the Galatians, For freedom Christ has set you free!
In his inaugural address Jesus said,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.
And then he said, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
God had anointed Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit to bring freedom to the world, in mind, body and spirit. The scripture had been fulfilled not because he’d already done it but because he understood the work of freedom God had prepared him for and was now setting out to do it.
Nothing has changed, for we are the Body of Christ and parts of it. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us! We have been anointed, and appointed! Because God has sent us into the world to do the work of freedom and we know our work, the scripture has been fulfilled in our hearing! Each generation, each individual, and each faith community has been uniquely blessed to do our part in liberating all God’s children from whatever it is that weighs them down in mind, body or spirit; economically, politically, socially.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has just come to a close. Today we celebrate Reconciling-in-Christ Sunday, when we affirm the dignity and worth of all people, regardless of race, color or sexual orientation. And, it’s been one week since we honored the life of a man who clearly understood his God-given work of freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Here are his words from his 1963 speech that remind us of who we are, parts of one body, all generations dedicated to the work of freedom.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
AMEN
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