For freedom Christ has set you free.
Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 26, 2022
Galatians 5:1,13-25 • Luke 9:51-62
To begin, I want to acknowledge the deep sadness and anger that many of us are feeling at this moment when the freedom of a woman to control her own body has been declared as a right not guaranteed by our Constitution. It is but cold comfort that we, who live in California, might be safe from the reach of such a misguided, politically- motivated power play, but our daughters, sisters, nieces, and friends living in other places are in our prayers and in our actions against this injustice. The freedom of all of us are diminished today, and human rights, if taken from some, are in peril for us all. We are called to demonstrate, advocate, vote, and fight this injustice, and if you are feeling injured, at risk, abandoned, or hopeless today, we, I, all of us will stand with you.
Paul’s assurance that we are made free in Christ is also a cold comfort in times like these. His zeal to put everything else aside in order to grow the New Church, while admirable in the First Century, does not resonate as clearly twenty centuries later. Or does it? I think to understand what Paul is trying to say to us today, we might look at from what, exactly, Paul declared us free.
Freedom from Sin is a place to start. Jesus’ life taught us that we are shackled by a darkness that often feels unchecked. Call this Sin, or Hell, or whatever, before Jesus dared to stand up to the oppression and injustices of his time, the people of God were doomed by covenant and practice to stay in a permanent state of loss. Lacking a clear theology of afterlife and a fuzzy understanding of what will happen to the Righteous who die before the Messiah comes, the Jews lived and died for generations without true forgiveness.
By his living and by his dying Jesus shows us the path to freedom from Sin. Confront the evil that surrounds us, question authority, seek partnerships with the outcast and the unexpected, love compassionately, never tire of teaching.
Law is another freedom that Paul has in mind. The Torah, as beautiful and life-giving as it could be, also prescribed daily life down to its most minute detail. Many would-be righteous people lived what they thought of as good lives because they knew and followed the 613 Mitzvot to excruciating detail - folks mentioned as foils in the Gospels like the Pharisees or the Scribes.
In Jesus, the law is simplified: Love God, Love Self, Love Neighbor. All the rituals, the dos and dont’s of the Torah, were confining rather than freeing. When released from such orders, we are free to break Sabbath law to heal, free from dress codes and hierarchy to invite all to the banquet, free from allowing the things that get in the way of doing what we know is right to stop us from following our conscience.
If indeed we are free from the things that keep us from doing the right thing, the purity and morality codes of the Temple, and we are already saved through the justice and freedom given to us by Jesus, then we should be an unstoppable force in bringing about the Reign of God in a world enshrouded in darkness. In conclusion of this point: there’s nothing holding us back from seeking and serving God and using our bodies, minds, and resources to bring about change. Freedom.
But lest we get too comfortable with the idea of freedom, Paul has a warning for us in the form of a list of dangerous activities, most of which stem from the overindulgence of pleasure. When Christians, or a nation of cultural Christians, narrowly interpret the flesh as any bodily desire or craving, when we oversimplify those desires and cravings as inherently sinful, the only recourse is to deny any pleasure for pleasure's sake. For Christians, we have especially applied this to sexual desire or craving, which makes procreative sex the only acceptable way to act on those desires and cravings.
This makes any heterosexual sex that is not procreative sinful, which then makes abortion unthinkable. This makes any homosexual sex sinful.
God made this material world and called it good. God didn't have to give us beautiful sunsets or majestic mountains or infinite oceans. But God did because God wanted us to experience the sheer pleasure that beauty gives us.
God made our bodies and called them good. God didn't have to make our bodies feel pleasure—through the taste of delicious food or the scent of rain or the feeling of another person's skin against ours. But God did because God wanted us to experience the sheer pleasure that having a body gives us.
Pleasure is not inherently sinful. Just as power is not inherently sinful. Yes, when we overindulge either, that's when we miss the mark. But right now, people who call themselves and identify as Christians are pushing for legislation to deny the pleasure that God created in the world and in our bodies.
Paul makes two lists in his letter to the Church in Galatia: the works of the flesh - a list I secretly enjoy watching upright Episcopalians have to read out loud from the lectionary; and the fruit of the spirit. Let’s look at those fruits: love, joy, peace - so far, so good; patience, kindness, generosity- ok, I can get with those; faithfulness, gentleness - also fine. Self control. Wait up. What is it about Paul, and others who preach freedom and then tell us to reign it in?
From one fruit to a whole bunch of nuts, I say, back down, Paul. You can make all the lists you like, but it was Jesus who taught us that taking risks, pushing forward, breaking rules, is the way to bring God’s justice into the world.
When Jesus set his face to something, nothing stopped him, nothing stood in his way. Today’s narrative from Luke is intentionally shocking. “Let the dead bury the dead,” and “no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” seem like uncharacteristically cold words from the Prince of Peace and the Light of the World. But coming from Jesus who also taught us to overturn social norms, challenge conventions, and question unjust rules and rulers, these are statements of urgency and fortitude.
The work, Jesus is saying, is so important, that we need to press forward through adversity. In this passage from Luke, Jesus knows that the final showdown is coming, and he is willing to see it through no matter the cost. This is a concept that 20th century prophet and activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls “Costly Grace.” We should not just accept Grace as freely given, he would say, it’s a gift that we do not deserve, and in following what is right, we must do so regardless of the cost to self.
And so it is Pride in San Francisco. This year, the celebrations will be particularly joyous, and Paul’s list of works of the flesh will get a real workout as San Francisco celebrates the freedom to be after two years of Covid cancellations. Pride celebrates so many things, and they are particularly poignant this year in light of the Supreme Court’s predicted but still disappointing reversal of freedom of choice.
Pride celebrates freedom from convention and social norms. Whether it’s eating with a tax collector or loving whomever you are called to love, Pride is about breaking rules. Lest we play into the hands of the Evangelicals who see our rule breaking as straying from God; I call on Jesus who taught us to overturn convention in the seeking of truth. Pride says, to those who would legislate against us, we’ve lived in your darkness for millennia. No more.
Pride celebrates love. Love. Loving who our bodies and hearts tell us to love. Feeling the emotion and the connection to other people that is the most basic of human instincts. And it celebrates our choice to love and to be loved in the ways we want to, and have discovered. Not conforming to hetero-normative sanctioned ritual, we are free to make choices with our bodies and our hearts to love and to be loved.
Pride celebrates decision and choice. We, each of us, no matter how we identify, are called to proudly be the person we were created to be, and we are called to express that however we want to express it. There is no one way for someone who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, or any other identity to behave - each of us has that freedom. Forget Paul and his lists, Jesus gives us all we need to know how to behave in polite society. Don’t. Don’t behave. Keep them guessing. Break rules. Question authority. Seek justice, even when it costs you your family, your job, your life. There is nothing wrong with you, if who you are is who you were made to be.
I will close with a piece by the poet, Jay Hulme. It’s called “Jesus at the Gay Bar.”
He’s right here in the midst of it –
right at the centre of the dance floor,
robes hitched up to His knees
to make it easy to spin.
At some point in the evening
a boy will touch the hem of His robe
and beg to be healed, beg to be
anything other than this;
and He will reach His arms out,
sweat-damp and weary from dance.
He’ll cup this boy’s face in His hand
and say,
my beautiful child
there is nothing in this heart of yours
that ever needs to be healed.
Amen.