Jesus the Liberator

This sermon can be listened to here

 Gate Pa – Year A  - 22nd  Sunday of Ordinary Time - 2020

Readings:

Psalm                          Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26,44                                            

First Reading:              Exodus 3:1-15                     

Second Reading:        Romans 12:9-21                 

Gospel:                        Matthew 16:21-28 

What I want to say:

Us our passages to explore what we are liberated from and what we might be liberated into

What I want to happen:

People to reflect on

What we mean by naming Jesus our liberator?

What are we being liberated from?

How are we liberated?

What are we being liberated into?

The Sermon

       1.     Introduction:

For most of this year we have ended the prayer for the day

“Through Jesus Christ our Liberator”

What we mean by naming Jesus our liberator?

What are we being liberated from?

How are we liberated?

What are we being liberated into?

Use those questions to look at this week’s readings.

         2.     Matt’s Jesus Story

Previously on Matt’s Jesus Story

Jesus is born in Bethlehem

-         City of David

-         Of the line of David

o   King and liberator

Family forced to flee to Egypt in face Herod the Great’s paranoia

-         Where God liberated the people from slavery through Moses

When they return at Herod the Great’s death

Take no chances and go to small village in Galilee -Nazareth

-         Jesus grows up

Much later

Baptised by John Baptiser

Hears voice that says, “This is my Son whom I dearly love!”

Then driven out into wilderness by Spirit to come to terms with what it means to be the Beloved son

after 40 days prayer and fasting

Sorely tested by tester – the Satan

-         Suggests that the beloved son should have all the wealth and power and comfort the world can offer

-         To which Jesus says – Be gone

-         The beloved Son has come to live the kingdom of heaven

-         And The kingdom of heaven is not of this way

Jesus calls some people who have been engaging with him

-         fisherman and others

inviting them to follow

-         to be liberated

-         To embrace a new identity

-         A new way of seeing the world

-         A new way of understanding themselves

To be his disciples

 

And after a short while he gathers them

Up a hill

Overlooking their world

All they had known of life

And gesturing at this world

he invites them

To imagine another world

a world where the most important people are:

the poor in spirit,

those who mourn,

the meek,

those who hunger and thirst for God’s justice,

the pure in heart,

the merciful,

the peacemakers,

those who are persecuted for the sake of God’s justice,

 

he invites them to be liberated from their known world

into the kingdom of heaven

-         Reign of God

 

This is a world where all flourish

Where the common good is held as paramount

A world where the needs of the poor are placed first

Where ALL are treated with honour and respect

And given what they need to thrive

 

Then Jesus lives this out

Living abundance

Teaching the abundance of God

Feeding vast crowds

Eating with the despised

-         Honouring and blessing as he does

Healing

Defeating the powers that possess people

-         and churn the seas into violent storms

Then he gathers his disciples again at Caesarea Philippi

-         Symbol of Rome’s power and authority

-         Built to honour Augustus – prince of peace, son of god

-         A city to glorify and protect the wealth and power of the lords

-         Icon of all that oppresses and dehumanises the poor followers of Jesus

In this place Jesus asks, “What do people say about me?”

“And what do you say?”

“You are the Anointed one, the messiah, the liberator” says Peter

You are the son of the living God”

You are the one we hope for every time we gather for Passover

Reciting the story of Moses,

the one The Lord God of our ancestors first liberated through

We long for this liberation

We long for Moses to return

We long for the God of our ancestors to hear our groans

We trust that you are the one to bring it.

And Jesus embraces him and says

I tell you that you are Peter the rock.

And I’ll build my church on this rock of hope and trust.

Nothing will be able to stand against this hope and trust

The Kingdom of Heaven

The reign of God’s abundant love

That liberates all that brings death

Is built on hope and trust such as yours.

 

Let’s pause at that moment

Pause in the hope and longing in those words

The anticipation of what might be next

The excitement that they will live to see and be part of God’s work of liberation

How does that echo our own longing and anticipation in these times?

        3.     Cross

Into that hope and anticipation Jesus then began to show his disciples that

-         he had to go to Jerusalem

-         suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts,

-         and that he had to be killed

-         and raised on the third day.

And Peter is having none of that

There is no liberation in Jesus’ death

“Jesus, Liberation comes from you leading like Moses

Continuing to show us the way

And leading us to overwhelm Rome and her lackies.”

Jesus quickly replies

Quote Fred Dagg

-         “Get in behind”

“Get back behind me, tester.

I lead

You follow

Otherwise you are a stone that could make me stumble.

I have already been offered all of that in the wilderness

But that is not the way of liberation.

It is not the way of the kingdom of heaven.

Then Jesus said to all his disciples,

“All who want to come after me must say no to themselves,

-         take up their cross, and follow me.”

You are being invited into reign of God

where all flourish

Where the common good is held as paramount

A world where the needs of the poor are placed first

Where ALL are treated with honour and respect

And given what they need to thrive

This world cannot come through violence

It can only be lived out

And it will be costly

There is no wealth and power for you in this way

You will be mocked and called losers

Let go

Be liberated from all the ways you benefit in how things are today

Let go of those old dreams of security and safety

Let go of those dreams - power and wealth

Be liberated into God’s abundance.

         4.     So what do we do with that?

This is my version of what went down

Based on the commentaries I have read about this passage

What we mean by naming Jesus our liberator?

What are we being liberated from?

How are we liberated?

What are we being liberated into?

What does this look like?

         5.     Gate Pa

Offer 2 quick thoughts about what this looks like

 

First is the story what happened here at Gate Pa.

In our reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans

Heard passage etched on our stain glass window

And lived out at the battle fought here

Part letter written to divided church in Rome

-         Still clung to many of old ways being gentile and Jew

Not come together for common good

-         Needed liberation

Paul describes what this liberation

This living for common good looks.

When Maori defenders risked their lives to give water

-         to wounded and dying British soldiers

-         To those they had fought

As they stood to protect their land,

-         their whanau,

-         their way of life and place in Aotearoa

An act that comes out of God’s abundant generosity for all

As they sought to find a way that all could thrive

In the hope they could liberated again from the way of violence

Into way abundant peace

       6.     Maori Ward

The last few months has seen big news stories about black lives matter

Which is not to say other lives don’t mater

Simply to say that in too many situations,

-         black lives do not matter

-         as we saw in America this week

We live in a society that privileges whiteness

Many of us don’t want to hear that

Don’t want to think about how we benefit from that

That is true here in New Zealand

Especially true in places like Australia or USA

Called institutional racism

Means that not all are treated with honour and respect

Too many in our society not offered what they need to thrive

We can see that in decision this week to create a Maori Ward

Ensure that a Maori voice is elected on our council

A voice that has been absent for 28 years

During that time nearly 90% councillors have been white middle aged men.

What is it we fear about this decision?

What is it we worry we will lose?

“All who want to come after me must say no to themselves,

-         take up their cross, and follow me.”

When we pray through Jesus our liberator

What is it we need to be liberated from?

What are we being liberated into?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Get those PSA Blood Tests Done Boys!

What a Ride! - Thankyou and Goodbye!

"Just Enjoy The Coffee"