Posts Tagged ‘Freedom’

If Friday is “Good” do we need the resurrection?

March 30, 2024

Easter Day – 2024

Matthew 28:1-18

Marian Free

In the name of God, who in Jesus shows us how to be truly free – of our fears, our anxieties and our insecurities. Amen.

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

If Friday is Good, if on the cross Jesus defeated evil and death and deprived them of their power why did he need to rise? What can the resurrection do that the cross has not done?  

If you have been a part of our liturgical celebrations over the past few days, you will know that they are of one piece. During the Last Supper, Jesus turned convention on its head and demonstrated that there was another way to do things. He showed that powerlessness was not weakness, that service was not enslavement and that death, and the powers of this world were not to be feared.

On the cross, Jesus exposed the ineffectiveness of worldly power and authority. By submitting to a wrongful arrest, false accusations and an unjust punishment, Jesus denied them their ability to coerce and deprived them of their ability to force him to their will. By refusing to fear death, Jesus rendered death incapable of exerting power over him.

But there was still more to do. If Jesus’ death on the cross signalled the defeat of evil and death, then the resurrection provided proof positive that the refusal to engage with the powers of this world renders them impotent, and that when we hold fast to the values of the kingdom, instead of being seduced by the false values of this world we open the doorway to a different ending to the story,  a story in which evil and death do not have the final say and do not determine our response to life’s circumstances. Jesus’ resurrection is evidence that in the final analysis love will triumph over hatred, that vulnerability freely chosen is stronger than force, that meeting violence with non-violence strips violence of its power and that true freedom is won when one seeks not one’s own well-being but the well-being of all people.

Conversely, the resurrection demonstrates the futility of using force to kill love, the foolishness of using the law to suppress goodness, and the uselessness of relying on oppression to quench the thirst for freedom or the desire for justice. The resurrection makes it clear that ultimately love cannot be extinguished, that freedom will not be denied and that in the end good will triumph over evil. 

Jesus’ resurrection is proof positive that we can choose not to be consumed by worldly values, a desire for wealth and power, the need for external recognition or the protection of our personal safety and comfort. Jesus’ resurrection informs that we, and therefore the world, will only be truly free when we, like Jesus, refuse to be bound and limited by hatred, greed, bitterness, resentment, anger and unhealthy relationships. Jesus’ resurrection is a reminder that if we resist the urge for external affirmation or gratification and if we rise above the pettiness of human existence then we, like Jesus, will be truly free and the powers of this world will have no power over us. We with him will be raised from the sordidness of competition, ambition and desire, freed to be truly ourselves – created in the image of God.

The resurrection means that we are:

free to truly live – unconstrained by all those things that bind and limit;

free to embrace our own divinity – unfettered by those things that threaten to overwhelm our true nature;

free to step into the future – released from all those things that would threaten to hold us to the past; and

free to love selflessly and unconditionally – unencumbered by all those things that separate us from each other.

Friday is Good, because death and sin are defeated and the resurrection is proof that the only power they have over us is the power that we give them. 

So let us claim the victory of the cross and live in the power of the resurrection.

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

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And who is a child of God?

August 20, 2022

Pentecost 11 – 2022
Luke 13:10-17
Marian Free

In the name of God who created us and who loves us as we are. Amen.

– ‘She was asking for it’, ‘What did she expect dressed like that?’ ‘Why was she walking alone at night?’ Victim blaming is endemic – especially in relation to women who are victims of crime. It is assumed that if certain conditions had been met (by the victim) they would not have been harmed, would not be living on the street, would not be a sex worker? Blaming the victim frees the perpetrator of abuse from any sense of culpability. The rapist excuses themselves: ‘I wouldn’t have done this – if you weren’t dressed like that, if you hadn’t wanted it, if you weren’t someone who slept around.’) The child abuser who says: ‘you must want this to let me do it’. Blaming the victim diminishes the likelihood that the victim will take things further and so the perpetrator is let off the hook, doesn’t have to face up to what they have done or to go before a court. Blaming the victim means that (at least until recent times) the burden of proof has been on the victim not the perpetrator.

As a society we have many ways of distancing ourselves from the sufferings of others; making their suffering/isolation/experience of abuse their fault – not ours, not the social structures, not the government of the day. If it is not our fault, we are free from any responsibility for their suffering and therefore from any need to take action. Victim-blaming reinforces the way things are and resists any attempt at change.

Today’s gospel is an unusual, apparently stand-alone story that occurs only in Luke’s gospel. It is a healing story that interrupts a series of sayings and parables and Jesus’ observations about the signs of the times. The setting, the time frame and therefore the audience changes. Whereas Jesus was outside, now he he is in a synagogue. Whereas he was addressing the crowds who had gathered in their thousands (12:21) now his audience is limited to only those who can fit in the synagogue. Previously we had no idea what day of the week it was, but now we are told that is a sabbath.

Despite that at first glance, the story of the bent over woman is deceptively simple – a woman who has been bent over for 18 years appears in the synagogue and Jesus heals her. A closer look though, reveals a number of important details. Jesus is teaching when the woman appears in the synagogue. He sees the woman, stops teaching, and calls her to him. He says: “Woman you are set free” and then he lays his hands on her. The woman responds by standing up straight and praising God.

Jesus sees the woman and sees her pain, her exclusion, and her diminished lifestyle. It doesn’t occur to him to wonder if she deserves to be healed. He doesn’t ask the causes of her condition – bad diet, accident, abuse. How she got here doesn’t matter to him. It is how she goes forward – healed, restored to her community, and freed to live a full and integrated life – that is of interest to him.

It is the reaction of the leader of the synagogue that is surprising – not that he is irritated (we are used to Jesus eliciting that sort of behaviour). As we might expect, the leader of the synagogue is outraged that Jesus should be ‘working’ on the Sabbath but, instead of directing his anger at Jesus, he engages in victim-blaming. It is the woman’s fault that Jesus has broken the law! Addressing everyone present the synagogue leader reminds them that there are six days on which work can be done, six other days on which they can seek out healing from Jesus. If they want to be healed, they should come on those days – not the Sabbath. In other words, he is saying don’t come to the synagogue on the Sabbath if you are seeking healing, comfort, or release. Don’t come to the synagogue if you want to be restored to the community, if you want to be declared a child of God!

Jesus sets the woman free, whereas the synagogue leader wants people to remain where they are – bound by their condition, bound by his interpretation of the law. Believing that he is upholding the law, the synagogue has lost sight of the law. Believing that he is confronting a challenge to God’s sovereignty, he is in fact denying God’s sovereignty.

So many things can weigh us down and there are so many ways in which culture and society can make us feel responsible for our situation, situations for which sometimes there really is no way out. Today, as in Jesus’ time, poor health, disability, race, poverty, gender diversity, same-sex attraction, childhood abuse, domestic violence, and much more, separate people from their peers, their communities and even from their churches.

Today’s gospel which “challenges all who have settled into narrow interpretations of Scripture or ungenerous theological positions – those who miss the heart of what it may mean to be a ‘new creation in Christ’ (2 Cor 5:17)” is timely. During the week, news broke that GAFCON has created a company which they have named the “Anglican Diocese of the Southern Cross.” There are many reasons for the action, but according to reports the decision is based primarily on their objection to the blessing of same-sex marriages . As the Rev’d Penny Jones wrote, this is another example of
“when queer Anglicans yet again being made to unjustly to feel shame and as though somehow this fracture is ‘their fault’” – a case of victim-blaming .

When we use scripture to enslave and weigh down any of God’s children, we have lost sight of the Jesus who came to set us free. When we oppress and exclude any of God’s children, we have lost sight of the Jesus who came to make us whole. When we hold fast to rules or tenets of faith in the belief that we are preserving the truth of the gospel, we align ourselves with the synagogue leader and demonstrate that we have lost sight of the Jesus who broke the rules and who came to turn everything upside down (healing on the Sabbath, re-interpreting scripture and challenging church practice).

I want to say to all my rainbow brothers and sisters, to all who feel bowed down and who feel that their wholeness is denied – Jesus sees you and if Jesus sees you it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Stand tall, children of God.

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“Yes” to God

August 17, 2013

Pentecost 13 (Mary, Mother of our Lord)

Luke 2:1-7

Marian Free

May our “yes” to God, be a source of transformation for ourselves and in turn, for the world. Amen.

It must be absolutely amazing to see the desert in bloom after the rain, or Lake Eyre teeming with bird and fish life when the waters from the north fill it to the brim. To watch the dry and barren earth respond to the rain, slowly turn green and then to blossom with flowers of all different shapes, sizes and colours must be truly magical. Our spring is not as spectacular as that of cooler climes, but it is still possible to discern the changes and to observe new shoots, on trees like the frangipani as the bare winter branches respond to warmth and light. In temperate climates of course, the change is more dramatic – trees that are bare and apparently lifeless, spring into leaf, then bud and flower and sometimes even fruit. Snow covered ground parts to allow the spear-like leaves of snowdrops, daffodils and jonquils to push through, dotting the white with green until the flowers of yellow and white provide carpets of colour on a background of green grass. Nature simply opens itself to the changes in light, water and warmth and wonders result.

A pervasive image associated with God’s (positive) relationship with Israel is that of fertility  (even fecundity). The nation without God is described as barren and desolate, but its return to God will be so life-giving, that it will be like the desert blooming. The message that the prophets proclaim in many and varied ways, is that existence without God is dry, bleak and empty, but that with God, life is rich, fruitful and full. God’s love is bountiful, extravagant and limitless, for with God there are no half measures, God gives everything that he has and God gives without restraint. The Old Testament prophets insist that in order to receive that love and the abundance that God offers, Israel needs only to give up its striving for independence and to accept God’s sovereignty instead of going its own way, serving other “gods” and resisting the God of their forebears.

God’s loving goodness, while a powerful force for change, simply cannot break through a wall of resistance and stubbornness. Love needs a welcome before it can make itself at home and effect the transformation promised by the prophets.

And so it is we come to Mary who, at the turn of the eras, opened herself – heart, mind and body – to the presence of God in her life.  Mary who, despite her youth, instinctively knew that no matter the risks and the potential costs, life with God would still be infinitely better and richer than life without God. Mary, whose “yes” to God two thousand years ago, is an exemplar for our own “yes” today. Mary, whose ready submission to God’s will is a model for the surrender of our own lives to God. Mary, whose acceptance of God’s life within her, succeeded in giving God a body in which to be physically present in the world and which in turn succeeded in bringing salvation to every nation.

Beginning with nothing but Mary’s welcoming heart, God burst forth into life, taking the world by surprise and opening up new possibilities for relationship with God. What Mary illustrates and Jesus demonstrates, is that a life completely given over to God is not a life of servitude that is limited and constrained, but rather a life of freedom, fulfillment and satisfaction. What they teach us is that surrendering our all, leads not to the loss of our selves, but rather to the discovery of our true selves, the self made in the image of God, free from the impurities of our frail human existence and enlivened by the Spirit. When we give our wholehearted “yes” to God, God makes a home with us. When we give ourselves fully to God we are not thereby condemned to a life of dry, dull compliance but to a life filled with abundant joy, extravagant love and endless possibility, a life in which we are liberated to reach our full potential.

If we have not yet experienced that fullness of life that results from God’s presence in us, it may be that, unlike Mary, we are still holding something back. If we have not experienced God’s profligate love, it is perhaps because we are insisting on holding on to our independence, resisting giving our all or unwilling just yet to allow God to fully inhabit us.

God asks to come in, but will not force himself on us. It remains our choice to welcome God or not, our choice to align our lives with God, our choice to participate in God’s future hopes for ourselves and for the world.

When Mary offered God a home and opened her heart to God, she risked everything – her relationship with Joseph, her reputation and even her life. At the time, she could have had no real idea of how her life would pan out, no concept of the joy and the pain that would ensue, no inkling of the significance of her action for the future of the entire world, but, confident of God’s goodness and grace, Mary said “yes” and as a result the possibilities for the whole of humanity were expanded and enhanced.

If Mary’s “yes” made such a difference to the history of the world, who knows what our “yes” to God – collective or individual – might mean. If we have the courage to wholeheartedly say “yes” to God, the desert might bloom, injustice cease, poverty come to an end and peace reign on earth. Just one word from us might make all the difference.

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Contradiction

March 2, 2013

Lent 3 – 2013

Luke 13:31-35 (Isaiah 55:1-9, 1 Cor 10:1-13)

Marian Free

In the name of God who turns our expectations upside down, who challenges and comforts us and who never, ever withdraws God’s love. Amen.

When you read the Bible, what are the passages that stand out for you? Are you more alert for the voice of judgement or the voice of love? Do you look out for the rules that you must not break and the specific directions that you must follow, or do you instead seek out the promises of growth and new creation? From start to finish, the Bible is full of contradiction.  In it we find both censure and approval, judgement and forgiveness, punishment and redemption, restraint and extravagance.

The Old Testament prophets threaten the Israelites with all kinds of penalties if they refuse to return to God then, almost without taking breath, they assure the people that God will never abandon them. Side by side in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Hosea and elsewhere we have evidence of God’s frustration and confirmation of God’s faithfulness. The Gospels express similar contradictions. Calls to repent are balanced by stories of the lost being restored. Jesus’ attacks on the righteous throw into relief Jesus’ acceptance of those outside the law.

This morning’s readings are a case in point. The generosity and free-spirited invitation of Isaiah 55 stands in stark contrast with the harsh, judgmental and condemnatory sentiments of 1 Corinthians 10.

How are we to make sense of the paradox – judgement and repeal, condemnation and forgiveness, law and freedom? It is my belief that both sides of the coin are necessary to sustain healthy individuals, healthy societies and healthy religions. Freedom is essential for creative energy to thrive, for people to love and be loved, for compassion and generosity. None of these things can be forced or legislated. On the other hand, lawlessness leads to disintegration, violence and repression. Without some sort of law no one can achieve their full potential.

There needs to be some sort of balance between law and freedom.  It is not healthy to be completely unrestrained, but neither is it good to be so restrained that we forget how to live. If we fence ourselves in with rules, we reduce our ability to be spontaneous and carefree. Somewhere in the middle is an equilibrium, an ability to self-regulate, to use the rules and the threats of judgement to control our baser instincts and to trust in God’s goodness and mercy to liberate our finer, more selfless characteristics.

Interestingly, in the Bible, it is not disobedience or even the breaking of the Ten Commandments which is the source of God’s anger and the pre-condition for punishment. What causes the prophets to proclaim God’s judgement and Jesus to condemn the people of Israel is a breakdown in the relationship between the people and God.

God doesn’t expect perfection. That much is clear in God’s choice of Jacob the deceiver, God’s selection of Moses the murderer and God’s continued love for David the adulterer. That God is not looking for flawless followers is demonstrated by Jesus’ choice of disciples, Jesus’ readiness to forgive and Jesus’ easy acceptance of tax collectors and sinners.

It appears that the primary safeguard against condemnation is not so much to be law-abiding (though that is good), but to accept God’s invitation to be in relationship, to trust God’s offer of a covenant, to believe in God’s faithfulness to God’s promises.

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, not because its citizens have failed to keep the law _ if nothing else, the Pharisees were assiduous keepers of the law.  Jesus weeps because the people of Jerusalem, the leaders of the Jews, have demonstrated their inability to put their trust in God. The Pharisees, Chief Priests and Scribes have put all their trust in the law and their ability to keep the law. They are so sure that they can achieve perfection by their own effort that they have effectively locked God out of their lives. They have so little confidence in God’s love and faithfulness that they are using the law to paper over their imperfections. They are so afraid that scrutiny will find them wanting that they kill the prophets who hold a mirror to them and to their lives. They cannot have a real relationship with God because they cannot have a real relationship with themselves.

No wonder Jesus weeps, he understands that the Jerusalemites are so sure that God cannot love them as they are, that they not only try to become what they are not, but worse, they shrink from God, they refuse God’s invitation and will not be drawn into God’s loving embrace.

How different they are from Zacchaeus who has the courage to respond to Jesus’ invitation and who finds that his life is transformed as a result. How different from the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, who could take such a risk because instinctively she knew that she was loved and accepted. “Law-breakers” and outsiders who already knew and accepted their imperfections welcomed Jesus’ love and invitation, entered into a relationship and allowed themselves to be gathered under his wings.

Law and freedom together create a necessary life-giving tension in our relationship with God. An over-reliance on law can have the effect of locking God out of our lives whereas an over-emphasis on freedom can lead us to believe that we don’t need God. It is important to relish our freedom, but to understand its bounds, to trust in God’s unconditional love, but not to use that love as an excuse to be unloveable, to recognise that law has its place, but not to use it as a replacement for relationship.

God invites us into a relationship that is based on mutual trust and respect. God offers us an unconditional love that sets us free to be ourselves. To say “yes” to God, is to say “yes” to ourselves and to know ourselves welcome in the shadow of God’s wings.

 

 

 

 

 

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