Freeeedom!

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on August 25th. It was my first Sunday back after my paternity leave. The sermon borrows heavily from one I gave in Oldham three years earlier, but I think that's ok! The gospel this morning was Luke 13:10-17.

Hope you enjoy...

It’s lovely to be back up here in the pulpit this morning. It’s been quite a long time since I last preached, and I’m really thankful that Huw, Alex, Cath, Fi and Vaughan have picked up the extra services and sermons whilst I’ve been off on paternity leave. Thank you all!

The ministry team here are fortunate to have the freedom of being in a large team that allows one of us time off when needed. Even with that, however, the time has still gone pretty quickly, though! My last sermon before Miriam was born was right at the beginning of June, and I wasn’t on the rota to do anything then until after she was born. She was 6-weeks-old on Friday, and this is my first time back in the pulpit since. Although it’s almost been 3 months (can you believe this is the last Sunday in August, by the way?) it feels like it’s gone much more quickly. I guess that’s because I’ve also been fortunate to have the freedom to take paternity leave and holiday that I’ve saved up throughout the year during that time. In that three-month period, I’ve only been into work for 7 weeks of it! It’s been pretty nice!

Given all of that time off work (well, time off paid work – time with a newborn is certainly work, as I’m sure many of you know!), given that time away, you’d think I’d have managed to prepare myself better for today, perhaps writing this sermon well in advance and planning tonight’s Evensong service too. But, no. That’s not how it worked out at all!

I guess, then, I’m lucky that I’ve actually preached on today’s gospel before – not here at St Michael’s mind you, but at another church where I was invited to preach almost exactly three years ago. Remembering I’ve already spoken about this passage gave me more freedom this week too – I didn’t need to stress too much about the message I was going to bring today, as it’s a good one (I think), and it still stands. As you might spot over the course of this sermon, it really fits in with a theme we may not have known we’ve been following over the past month too. I did, however, still need to update what I’m saying today; a sermon about the 2016 Paralympics probably isn’t the most relevant to us here today in 2019.

So… let’s get onto it. What does God want to say to us here this morning using today’s gospel story about the healing of a woman on the Sabbath?

This woman, it seems, had something like osteoporosis. Luke tells us that she’s been bent over, unable to stand up straight for 18 years, unable to look her fellow men and women in the eye. We are then told that Christ sees her, and asks her to walk over to him, and then Christ cures her. Luke then tells us that the synagogue leader became angry because Jesus had not obeyed the religious rule that says you shouldn’t do any work on the Sabbath.  

Except… that’s not quite what happened. If we look closely at this passage, we can see that Luke doesn’t mention ‘healing’ at all. The language used here is of loosening, untying and freeing. The woman is talked of as having been ‘bound’, and Jesus unties her (the word used for ‘set free’ here implies ‘untying’). Her bones were knotted and locked, preventing her from standing up straight, preventing her from looking upwards, and Christ loosens them, allowing her to move freely, and look up for the first time in eighteen years. The only person who talks about a ‘cure’ is the leader of the synagogue.

When the synagogue leader complains, Christ points out that those who thought he’d done wrong would untie their donkey to allow it to go free to get some water on the Sabbath, so why shouldn’t the woman also be untied and set free? Again, he’s using the language of freedom, rather than healing.

This is what our Gospel today is about; not about a healing, but about freedom. And that’s an important distinction. Yes, this woman, who Luke never gives a name to, was cured, but more importantly, she was freed. And freedom is what Christ was all about.

He sets it out, at the start of his ministry – earlier in Luke’s gospel, we hear of a prior trip to the synagogue, when he’d just started to teach there. Christ reads out the following piece from Isaiah:

    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,

    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

And then he sits down, and says what he’s just read out has been fulfilled at that moment. Release to the captives, and letting the oppressed go free – fulfilled at that moment. Freedom is the purpose.

Freeeedom!

Paul confirms it in his letter to the Galatians too – why has Christ set us free, he asks? For freedom itself.

Freedom is not just the means, it’s the purpose.

But so what? Why am I making this distinction here? What difference does it make whether the woman was healed or freed? What impact does that have on our lives here today?

The difference is this; if we want to follow Christ and imitate him, we must try to do what he did. But, realistically, we do not all work in the health service. We can’t all heal the sick with the tools and skills we have available to us, and we know that some people, barring miraculous acts of God will not be healed of their ailments this side of Heaven.

But that’s actually ok, because we can all play our part in bringing freedom. Freedom from oppression and captivity. Whether that’s physical, emotional or metaphorical.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard Fi, Alex and Huw all touch on a similar theme in their sermons, and I really think it’s worth calling out. They’ve all talked about money, and how we use it; from Fi’s sermon on the choices we make in what we buy, to Alex talking about the ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor in our world, and to Huw referencing the downright cruel and evil practices of some modern corporations that effectively keep their workers in a form of modern-day slavery and questioning whether we should continue buying from them. Despite what you might think, the ministry team has not colluded behind the scenes here. For this message to have come out week after week, I can only think God is speaking to us here at St Michael’s. And I think he’s asking us a question: “How are you spending your money?”. And this question is as much to me as it is to you. I am preaching from a position of guilt here; despite me being in a pulpit, I’m on no pedestal. How are you spending your money? How am I spending my money?

Are you donating to charities that aim to improve people’s lives? Are you buying fair trade and ethical products from ethical sellers and producers? In what you buy, is your money helping to free people, or to keep them indentured? We don’t need to be rich with vast wads of money left at the end of the month; we don’t even really need to go without. It can be done with little things – can you swap your coffee or tea at home for a fair-trade version? Can you forgo one pint or glass or wine a week and give that small amount to a charity that helps to ensure people are free? As the famous supermarket advert says, ‘every little helps’. It doesn’t need one person doing a lot to make a difference; only a lot of people doing a little. How are you spending your money?

But, even if you are someone who has more month left at the end of the money rather than the other way around, with nothing to spare, then don’t feel guilty! Don’t feel ignored; you still can bring freedom. This sermon is for you, too.

We can all work towards freedom. We can work towards ensuring greater accessibility for all in our workplaces and our churches – if Christ has freely opened the door to us, let us ensure it stays open for others. We can free people from the debts they owe to us, and if that’s not actually money, it certainly includes grudges we are holding against others; for haven’t we been freed from our own greater debts with God? We can free people from the labels and the judgements we have placed upon them – the illegal immigrant, the greedy banker, the workshy unemployed, the brexitier and the remoaner – and see them instead as fellow people, brothers and sisters in our human family; for hasn’t Christ done the same for us, given us a new name and a new start in his Kingdom? All these things bring freedom.

Now, I don’t want to be guilt-inducing; it’s really not that kind of sermon. This is an encouragement, a rally-cry. So, if you’re sitting there, with hunched shoulders, and a tightening feeling in your stomach, look to our gospel, and remember Christ laying his hands on the bound-woman, and feel that pressure loosening now and those bonds being untied. Christ brings freedom, not guilt. Yes, God is asking what we are currently doing, but that is in order for us to think about what we can do, rather than get stuck feeling guilty about what we’re doing now. Remember, freedom for others and for us is the end goal. That includes freedom from guilt.

Can you imagine it? A world where all are free? Can you help bring it?

Amen