Jesus the Liberator - a Reflection for 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time


One of the names given to Jesus at time is Jesus our Liberator. This is a sermon/reflection based on the gospel reading (Matthew 16:21-28 ) for this Sunday - 22nd in Ordinary Time where I put that reading back in the whole gospel.  What we are liberated from and what we might be liberated into

The Sermon

    1.    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?

     2.    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.

     3.    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 do 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?

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