Looking for Freedom in all the Wrong Places?

Reformation Sunday October 30, 2011 (John 8:31-36)

Freedom – what a wonderful thing. Free as the breeze. Free to do whatever we want whenever we want. Free from school. Free from examinations. Free from responsibility. Free, free, thank God I am free at last. The last sentence, the epitaph on Martin Luther King Jr.'s tombstone.

 

Are you free? Am I free? Be honest now. Is the church free? Are Christians experiencing freedom? I mean today we mark Reformation day. And for years we gave thanks to God that Luther in some ways rediscovered the actual grace of God – the free love of God in Christ – that our ultimate standing and relationship with God does not depend on us. So true. But does that doctrine lead us to freedom? Are you free not to hate? Are you free not to worry? Are you free to actually care about others – others who think differently than us, look differently than we do, worship differently than we do.

 

Our track record hasn't been good – as Christians, as Canadians, even as men and women. From the crusades, to residential schools, to wars and disputes between Christians regarding certain understandings of "truth" we have hated, killed and slandered. Is that freedom?

 

As Canadians – from interring Japanese Canadians during the Second World War to erecting residential schools assuming that our language, our religion, our culture was vastly superior to "theirs" – is that freedom? And finally seeking to live together as people in love whether in the boundaries of marriage or in some other arrangement – why do we continue to need shelters for those who have been violently harassed, even abused by their partners? Is that freedom?

 

Often we think about freedom as an idea – of being able to do whatever we want. Even if that self centered individualistic concept were freedom, would we be free, here and now?

 

The Biblical witness holds up for us again and again a mirror reflection of our reality. As human beings however hard we may strive to be, we are not free. We are not free to love our brother or our sister as ourselves. There may be instances when we do. Wonderful, thanks be to God for that. A plane out of control suddenly veers and crashes meters from the runway. Smoke and flames engulf the plane. Passengers are obviously injured maybe even killed. And some people just driving by, perhaps even without stopping to seriously think about the personal danger they are assuming, race out of their cars to begin to attempt to pull people out of the wreckage. For a moment, there is wonderful freedom. But when they and we return home, back to "ordinary" life – does such selfless love, such concern for the other, still abide, even thrive?

 

There seems to be something within us, within the human mind and heart – that compels us to be suspicious, of others, of ourselves. If it seems too good to be true, well then it must be!

 

There is also something within us, that compels us to be anxious. We fret about our own wellbeing and  the well being of those closest to us. And so we work often feverishly attempting to explore options trying to secure a future, our future. At times we may even think or feel that we are making progress. But then the unknowns occur: the markets crash, we lose our job, an illness befalls us, someone betrays us. We may even do something we couldn't have imagined doing, something that hurts others and ultimately ourselves. We might not even know where the impetus for such a thing came from, but nevertheless we did it.

 

To these realities Jesus speaks this morning in John's Gospel. He addresses some people who had believed him. Even now they may be ascribing some worth to his teaching. But Jesus refuses to be an intellectual exercise for them or for us. He says to them even as we listen: "If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." They take umbrage with his declaration. They ARE NOT SLAVES! Oh, really? Their anger with him is growing, soon to be leaping out of control.

 

Jesus is more direct. Might they understand? Might we? "Very truly I tell you, (code words in John for THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT) – EVERYONE WHO COMMITS SIN IS A SLAVE TO SIN. "

 

Everyone who falls short of God's hope and dream individually and collectively by thought, word and deed is enslaved to sin. YES, SUCH STUFF COMES FROM SOMEWHERE, from deep within, from around. It is embedded in our very beings, individually and collectively: this suspicion, this tendency towards violence, hatred, jealousy, envy – unwillingness to be open, to be hardhearted, prideful.

 

History bears this out – not that there aren't instances of individuals and even collectives of people being enabled to break free for awhile –to care for and love others. Thanks be to God. But too often our enslavement is obvious. Driving our cars, having our mental monologues about others – enslavement!

 

What shall we do? What can we do?

 

More Than Words Or Rules

23^rd Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 22:34-46  (Oct. 23, 2011)

 

I am going to ask you to wrestle with three questions this morning.

 

Firstly, if I ask you to describe a person that you love deeply to someone else, how would you do that (turn to someone else and tell them now). I am giving you 2 minutes, 1 minute for each of you to speak and then 1 minute for you to listen)

Discuss that process. How did you do that - describe one person you love to another person? Did you list their physical attributes? If so, did you describe them now, or the way they looked 5 years ago, 10 years ago, or when you first met them? Did you list their emotional attributes, their spiritual attributes? Did you talk about what they do for you and for others?

 

Secondly, if I ask you to describe how you show love to that person whom you love, what kinds of things would you say?  (Do this in the larger group)

 

Thirdly, if I ask you to describe what it means FOR YOU TO LOVE GOD, what kinds of things would you say? (Do this in the larger group) (Pause)

 

At times we are a people who like to think that we have a handle on things – that realities in life can be reduced to formulas or ideas. Once we have THE FORMULA or THE IDEA, then we have it made.

 

So, some Pharisees, that group of Jewish people who at the time of Jesus devoted their lives to keeping God's law, had one of their members, one whom the text refers to as "a lawyer" approach Jesus. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Now we need to know there were 613 commandments in the law divided into 365 prohibitions, one for everyday of the year, and 248 positive commands, one for every bone in the body. So which one is the greatest?

 

Christ responds directly from what Christians refer to as the Old Testament. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind". Perhaps the lawyer Pharisee is nodding to himself. But Christ continues. "This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. "

 

Now the Pharisee would not likely be nodding to himself. Loving God: tithing, making sure that he was ritually clean, he had been working at that. But loving his neighbor? He couldn't do that and continue to be ritually clean. How could two such seemingly diverse things fit together?

 

Christ's commands apply not only for some Pharisees long ago and far away but also for us. These 2 commands – to love God and to love our neighbor are like a door and hinge. They belong to together.

 

Love God with our minds, our very beings – and in Mark's words our might – that is our economic and reputational resources. Yes, LOVE. It's a word that is much maligned and misunderstood. We often think about love as a feeling, an internal, personal experience. So we say, "I love my dog. I love football. I love my wife, my husband, my children. What does Christ mean when He commands us to love? Can love even be commanded?

 

Importantly the Greek has 3 different words for the English word "love". There is eros – physical, sexual attraction. There is filia – friendly, liking, hanging out, sometimes even a mutual caring. Finally there is agapay: unselfish caring and active commitment to the other person.

 

Guess which one of these 3 words Christ employs in responding to the Pharisaic lawyer? That's right – agapay – unselfish caring and active commitment to the other person. Such a command taken seriously is difficult, even impossible.   

 

For Christ is saying – one cannot separate love, unselfish and caring commitment to God, from unselfish and uncaring commitment to others. The two flow together. They are not identical – but love for God leads to, results in, is fleshed out by this unselfish care and commitment to and for others.

 

Where does this leave us? I suspect in at least 2 places. Firstly, Christ's command leaves us with a grand, a great vision, a dream. There is a call: ALL are worthwhile, ALL are to be loved in this way.   This is a call, a demand, a dream WORTHY OF OUR ALL. It is also a call that leads us far beyond liking someone, or even having warm fuzzy feelings about them. The best illustration I can use for this is the love my parents have had for me, all my life. They have often not liked me- but they have remained committed to caring for me, sacrificing for me, caring about me. Whether I liked them or not is beside the point. Sometimes even whether they liked me or not is beside the point. This love that Christ commands transcends feelings.

 

Secondly, in Christ's command we are also confronted with our short comings. As one of our daughters said to me when she was only 8 or 9 years old: "Dad, you don't always love others the way Jesus does – you don't always even love me."

 

It was like she had taken a knife and thrust it into my heart. Why? Because she was and is absolutely right. She speaks the truth. From the midst of my pain, I had to wonder at the honesty and insight of this little girl who knew and knows me so well.  Because I do not always so love even my own daughters, I need forgiveness. I need their forgiveness. I also need God's forgiveness. Not so that I can go on the way I always have but forgiveness so that I can begin again and again from God's love in my life to work at so loving each of them.

 

We need to be careful about formulas, ideas and certainty when it comes to God and even to others.  God can never be limited to descriptions, even wonder-filled words. Our lives as followers of the Christ must not be limited to or defined by following rules and regulations, even though there are rules and commands. Nor can our living faith ever be defined merely by feelings or experiences.

 

In becoming human in Jesus, in sending the Holy Spirit to us and among us, God gives us glimpses of God's self, of the wonderfully real mystery we refer to as "God".  God works to love us unselfishly, completely. God seeks the best for us, for all people, for creation. From God's active concern we are called to obey God, to work at loving others and therefore also ourselves. Sometimes, even when we are trying with all our might to so love, we still fail, even miserably.

 

But God does not stop loving us or others or creation. We see and experience this reality in Jesus' life, suffering, death and resurrection. We may even sense such love as the love of Christ is conveyed in the Sacraments and hopefully even in my thoughts and words here on Sunday mornings. In Christ we hope, dream, and attempt to love as we are being loved by Him. What a dream. What a vocation worthy of our lives. Amen.