In Jesus Christ, God Sets Us Free

Acts 16:16-34 (NRSV): One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

This past Monday was Memorial Day, a day when we remember those who gave their lives for the cause of freedom. We sometimes take our freedom for granted, and sometimes we are more bound than we realize.

Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives some insight into freedom, and we can all learn from it. We hear about slavery and torture, and most of all we hear about fear. But this experience of Paul and Silas is more than prisons and darkest midnight. In this passage, we hear how God sets us free.

Paul and Silas and their companions traveled around the empire bringing the good news of Jesus. Here we find them in Macedonia, near Greece, in the Roman military colony of Philippi. As they went around preaching, a slave-girl followed them. This slave-girl was oppressed by an evil spirit, and she was a fortune teller. She kept saying to the crowd “these men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” Now you would think that this was a helpful message for the apostles, but apparently Paul became very annoyed at her, so he turned toward her and commanded the spirit to come out of her. And so she was set free from this spirit.

Some might ask why Paul didn’t free her from her slavery. But I wonder if she was of any use to her masters without this skill of fortune telling. Perhaps this was the key to her freedom from slavery. Her masters were very angry

More than the Golden Rule: to love as Jesus loves us

John 13:31-35 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Once upon a time there were two little boys playing on the playground. They began to argue over some marbles that they had found. One boy claimed they were his marbles, the other boy claimed them as well. Their teacher come over to them and reminded them of the Golden Rule: “Do to others what you would have them do to you,” She said.

A few minutes later, the teacher heard screams and loud crying from one of the boys. When she went to see what had happened, one boy said that the other boy had pushed him to the ground. When the teacher reminded the second boy about the Golden Rule, he replied “Well, he took my marbles, and if I took someone else’s marbles, I would want them to push me down!”

Of course, neither taking marbles nor pushing someone down is good behavior. Clearly, this is an abuse of the Golden Rule. Somehow that old proverb is not enough for these boys truly to understand what it means to be in right relationship. We need something more than the Golden Rule. Christianity teaches something similar, we have the commandment to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” Some think that this is enough for us, but what about those whose lives are bound by depression and bitterness and anger? What about those whose lives are torn apart by abuse or addiction? What about those who don’t know how to love themselves or how to love rightly? That could be any of us, really.

When Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment, he replies by giving two commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments,” Jesus says, “hang all the law and the prophets.” To love our neighbor truly, we must love God—with all our heart and soul and strength. Through our relationship with God, we learn how to love.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus again takes up the subject of love with his disciples. The scene is the last supper. Judas has just left to betray Jesus. Jesus urges his disciples to love one another—to love as he has loved them. His disciples were a diverse bunch of people. Among the Apostles themselves, were Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. Just so you understand, Tax collectors were collaborators with the Roman occupation—agents of a foreign power. Zealots, on the other hand, were Jewish insurgents who fought against Roman power with violence. How could these two disciples get along? This is worse conflict than Republicans vs. Democrats. How could they learn to love each other? They loved God, and they were learning to love each other, but Jesus wanted them to live more deeply into the love of God.

On our own, we are a little like those boys playing with marbles on the playground. On our own, we can define love in warped ways that serve our own interest. God’s love does not mean ‘do whatever pleases people’ or ‘do whatever pleases me.’ So how do we know how to love?

God does not leave us on our own in answering this question. God gives us Holy Scriptures and God comes to us in Jesus Christ, and teaches us what God’s lo

In Community, Jesus comes to strengthen us

Luke 24:1-12 (NRSV): When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Happy Easter! When I was growing up, it always seemed that it would rain on Good Friday, and then turn to bright sunshine on Easter Day, complete with a beautiful rainbow. It is so wonderful to see all the flowers in the church and all the flowering plants and trees all around us, joining in the joy of the resurrection, a flourish of color and joy and celebration.

Soon, however, those flowering plants will need to strengthen their roots. Without a deep root system, those flowers and plants will wither and die. With deep roots, however, they will be strong in the summer, and prepared for winter. And when the spring comes again, they will have even more buds that will flower and flourish.

Jesus knows that this is true for his disciples as well. We all need deep roots so that we can thrive and flourish in all the seasons of our lives. This was true for his first disciples, and is true for us, Jesus’ disciples of today. Jesus comes to us with joy and peace to overcome our fears. Then Jesus sends us on our mission and empowers us for that mission with the Holy Spirit. Jesus comes to us to strengthen us.

Jesus starts this sending and strengthening with his first disciples. He appears to them on the evening of the first Easter Sunday when most of them were together. Almost immediately, he sends them on their mission. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Then he equips them for this ministry—he breathes on them and empowers them with his Holy Spirit. But that is not the end of Jesus’ relationship with the apostles. A week later, Jesus also came to Thomas and strengthened Thomas as well.

I often wonder about Thomas. Why wasn’t he there with the other disciples on the first Sunday? Was he afraid? Where was he? And I wonder why he was still with them a week later. Can you imagine this group of people together along with Thomas for that whole week? All of the disciples are overjoyed with their experience of the r

To the curious, Jesus offers new life

Luke 24:1-12 (NRSV): On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Welcome to St. Peter & St. Paul on this feast of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Today we celebrate God stepping into human history to live and die for us and to rise again to new life, so that we might have new life. Jesus brings us God’s forgiveness, restoring us to God, restoring us to each other, and renewing in us the wholeness God wants for us. Before the resurrection, Jesus’ followers were afraid, defeated and scattered when Jesus was crucified. But then they changed and started sharing with the world the Good News that Christ is alive, and that he offers us new life.

In today’s reading from the Gospel According to Luke, we hear about Mary Magdalene and other women who were among Jesus’ disciples who go to Jesus’ tomb after the sabbath. They go to anoint his body that was buried quickly before the sabbath began. At the gravesite, they find the tomb open, and Jesus’s body gone. Angels appear to them and tell them “he is not here, but has risen.” The women run to the apostles and the rest of the disciples to tell them what had happened. But to apostles, it seemed like an idle tale.

However, at least one of the apostles did not seem to think it was an idle tale. Peter was still curious. Peter did not dismiss the women’s story. Surely, Peter was devastated by Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. Perhaps he still felt the burden of guilt since two days before when he had denied Jesus three times. Yet, Peter did not let go. Something about his experience of Jesus or something that rang true in the women’s story drove him to look further, to follow that curiosity to see what he might discover.

So, instead of wallowing in his grief and defeat, Peter followed his curiosity enough to run to the tomb where they had laid Jesus’ dead body. There, Peter found the tomb just as the women had told them. Jesus’ body was not there, and Peter was amazed. Peter followed that curiosity and discovered that there was more to the story. And what he discovered led him to be more curious and to follow that curiosity to more discovery.

Peter’s amazement at the empty tomb was not the end of the story. He followed his curiosity further. Over the course of the next seven weeks in church, we will hear more about how Peter and the rest of the disciples encountered Jesus risen from the dead. As Peter returned to the other disciples, he himself encountered Jesus, alive again. Peter then meets with the other disciples, including two