[Propertalk] FW: Part 1 of 2: Sermon for Proper 3A: “Jubilee” or “Claim Your Freedom!”

[joeparrish]

Part 1 of 2 - ForwardedSent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
This Sunday’s sermon is
entitled “Jubilee” or “Claim Your Freedom!” and is based on the gospel (Matthew
11:2-11).  Here it is:  

 

Did
you hear the story of the teen-age boy who had just gotten his driving permit?
He asked his father, who was a minister, if they could discuss the use of the
car. His father took him to his study and said to him, “I'll make a deal with
you. You bring your grades up, study your Bible a little and get your hair cut
and we'll talk about it.”  After about a
month the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss use of
the car. They again went to the father's study where his father said, “Son,
I've been real proud of you. You have brought your grades up, you've studied
your Bible diligently, but you didn't get your hair cut!”  The young man waited a moment and replied,
“You know Dad, I've been thinking about that. John the Baptist had long hair;
Moses had long hair; Noah had long hair; and even Jesus had long hair....”  To which his father replied, “Yes, and they
walked everywhere they went!”  Well, when
we meet John the Baptist this morning, he’s not walking anywhere.  He’s in prison fighting his doubts and
fears.  While he languished in his cage
of a prison, he wondered and worried more and more about if his second cousin
Jesus really was the Messiah.  He
wondered because Jesus wasn’t behaving the way John (and most other people)
expected the Messiah to act.  John was
watching for a gathering army, led by Jesus, to wipe out evil and evildoers,
specifically the Roman army and unrepentant Jews.  John was expecting the apocalypse- maybe even
fire from heaven, terror.  God only knows
what he expected.  Whatever it was, what
he heard about his cousin wasn’t cutting it. 
So John sent his own disciples to check out the situation.  You heard it- when John’s disciples asked
Jesus if he really was the Messiah, did you notice- Jesus didn’t give a direct
answer.  Instead, he quoted the prophet
Isaiah’s description of what the Messiah would do.  He said to go back and tell John- not what he
said, but what he was doing: the blind can see, the lame can walk, the deaf can
hear, the dead are raised to life, and the poor have the good news preached to
them.  I have to believe that John died a
happy man, because Jesus basically said, “Actions speak louder than words.  My actions are Jubilee actions.  The Kingdom of God,
the Jubilee, is here!”

 

Jubilee- what is Jubilee?  You know how the fourth commandment says
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” 
Well, the Jubilee- as explained in Leviticus 25 among other places, was
a very special Sabbath YEAR of Sabbath YEARS. 
Every seventh year was a special Sabbath year- the ground was to lie
fallow to get a rest the way humans were to rest every Sabbath day.  Every seven Sabbath years (remember their way
of counting time meant the beginning year was “one”, not “zero”), which would
have been every fifty years (1 year + 7 times 7 years) was the Jubilee
year.  At that time, a ram’s horn would
be blown and a fresh start was declared. 
Property reverted back to its original owner and slaves were freed.  This meant that if you or your family had
suffered severe misfortune and had lost your house or land because you couldn’t
pay your bills, you got it all back.  If
you had been forced to sell yourself or your children into slavery as the only
way to avoid starvation, when that ram’s horn sounded to proclaim the start of
the Jubilee year, you were free.  It was
God’s way of giving every generation a fresh start.  So when Jesus told what he was doing,
especially the part about “the poor are hearing the Good News,” he was
basically saying, “God’s Kingdom is here; the Jubilee is here.”  

 

As we just heard when
we lit out Advent candles, the theme for the third Sunday of Advent is
JOY.  Jesus coming brings joy because
Jesus’ birth inaugurates Jubilee.  My
question to you (and to myself) is, since Jesus has already been born in your
heart, and since he is present in an even more powerful way every Sunday after
you receive Holy Communion, are you living Jubilee?  Are you claiming your freedom in Christ
through the power of the Spirit, or are you letting our society brainwash you
and lull you into just plodding along day after day wasting your life?  When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth,
and the life,” he meant it!  I am so
tired of watching Christian people get enslaved to devil traps that start out
looking so exciting and end up sucking the lifeblood out of them!

 

What am I talking
about?  What percentage of church people
do you think are addicted to something? 
What early experiences threaten to diminish (or even ruin) your present
life?  When times are hard for you, what
do you do to escape?  How do you avoid
life?

1.  Chemical substances (alcohol, cigarettes,
hard drugs, prescription drugs misused)- often start out with great pleasure,
but before you know it, you’re using them to avoid the unpleasant effects of
withdrawal.  And look at the cost- heart
disease; lung cancer, liver damage, diminished mental capacity, estrangement
from those you love- in other words, the devil gets just what he wants, which
is you out of commission to work for the Lord. 
Claim your freedom!

2.  Maybe you wouldn’t touch any of those
substances, but maybe you are secretly gambling your family into the poorhouse
with numbers or the lottery or the cassino. 
Maybe you find yourself gambling to pay off old gambling debts.  What started out as a rush of excitement is
quickly deteriorating into frantic worry and fear.  Claim your freedom.

3.  Maybe you don’t do any of these things, but
what about video games, computer chat rooms, or simply your television
set?  How many hours a day do you watch
TV?  How many movies or soap operas have
you glued to the TV, watching others live instead of living yourself?  How many hours of football or basketball or
boxing or wrestling do you watch?  Claim
your freedom!

4.  What about promiscuous sex?  “No one will go out with me if I don’t make
myself sexually available.”  You’re
better off with no one than with someone who only wants to use you.  You’re a child of God.  Don’t sell yourself for friendship.  Claim your freedom!

5.  How long do you sleep?  When the going gets hard, do you simply sleep
your life away?  That’s a great way to
escape- the trouble is, when you wake up- nothing has changed, except maybe you
now have a headache on top of it.  Claim
your freedom!

6.  Maybe you really look down on people who do
these things- wouldn’t think of doing them yourself, but what about
eating?  When your life gets difficult-
do you head for the carbohydrates to make yourself feel better?  Much of this and you’ll find yourself heading
for the refrigerator and away from the scale. 
Claim your freedom!

7.  What about shopping- “I have to have it; or-
worse yet- I deserve it!”  If I don’t
have the money, I can always use my credit card.  Where your money goes, your life will follow.
Your cards are maxed, your monthly payments barely pay the interest, and it’s
like you’ll never get them paid off. Claim your freedom!

8.  What about negative friends, gossiping
friends, friends who are not on your level? 
I can hear it now- “If I break with these friends, I won’t have
anyone.”  Yes you will.  Pray about it, get out of the house into
positive environments, reach out and help others, and God will provide you with
more friends than you can imagine.  Claim
your freedom!

9.      
I’m running out of things- help me......(maybe
shoplifting- is that addictive?)  Claim
your freedom!

 (Continued in Part 2 of 2)

The Rev. Judy Boli, St. Paul's Church, Saginaw, MI
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