Later this week on June 19, we are celebrating Juneteenth in the United States. Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans on June 19, 1865.
Though President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier in 1863, the news didn’t reach thousands of slaves in states that were still under Confederate control. Places (like Texas) refused to acknowledge it.
But, freedom for all finally came on June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Texas (the last state in the Confederacy that still had slaves) and announced that all people were now emancipated….set free!
Juneteenth has been celebrated every year since then, and five years ago it became a federal holiday in the United States.
You’ll often hear Juneteenth referred to as FREEDOM Day, and it’s that theme of freedom that we also hear about in today’s gospel message, as Jesus instructs us to apostles to go out and to “set the captives free.”
In today’s reading, Jesus is beginning and building his ministry by calling together his first apostles.
And as we just heard, he’s stating very clearly what their mission will be and what they’re going to be standing for.
He says to them, “I am anointing you to bring good news to the poor and to let the oppressed go free.”
Jesus is letting the apostles know that the liberation of the poor and the oppressed would be the central focus of their ministry together.
As we just heard, he instructs them to go into the cities and villages to proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is near. It’s on its way!
But, Jesus knew that this message was dangerous and could get the apostles in trouble.
That’s why he tells them: “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
And, he also tells them: “If any town refuses to welcome you or to listen to what you have to say, shake the dust off your sandals and walk away.”
He worried about their safety.
So, my friends, my question for you this morning, “Why would Jesus’s mission of “liberating the poor” and “setting the captives free” not be well-received by everyone?
Why would people want to run his apostles out of town for wanting to “lift up the lowly” and “free the oppressed”?
Well, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth – which Jesus and his apostles were working to establish – was threatening to people, especially people in positions of power and prestige, who wanted to maintain the status quo.
They didn’t want a world where everyone was free and equal, because that would be a threat to their own privilege and status.
People 2,000 years ago weren’t very different from people today. There are still people today – as we know – who think that extending freedoms to others will somehow mean less freedoms for them.
At the Pride event yesterday in Norwalk, I saw a woman wearing a great t-shirt which read; “Equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you. It’s not pie.”
Equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you.
Many of you know that on the Statue of Liberty (a symbol of freedom and welcome), there is a poem by Emma Lazarus, which says, “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”
Jesus wanted the apostles (and he wants us) to go and build that world of freedom…a just world for all people.
And, that is what ‘salvation’ means.
We hear a lot about “salvation” in the Bible, and most of us growing up in the church were mistakenly taught that “salvation” was about the next life.
That if we were “saved” (by professing our life to Jesus) then we would experience salvation after we die.
But, that’s not what “salvation” in the Bible means.
It has nothing to do with the next life, and everything to do with this life.
When Jesus spoke of “salvation,” he meant “liberation”…FREEDOM!
That following his way of life would LIBERATE US…FREE US! Not in the next life, but in this one.
That following his teachings would set us free from the chains that bind us. Free from fear and anger, prejudice and greed.
Jesus sent his disciples out (far and wide) to share these teachings, because was trying to establish a new Kingdom…one in which all people would live lives of FREEDOM and ONENESS.
He didn’t get to finish the work (they killed him for it), but he’s calling us to continue this work of bringing about the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.
So, what does Kingdom of Heaven look like?
Well, heaven is a place where all people are One. Where there’s no separation, no division. Where everyone’s afforded the same rights and privileges.
In the Progressive church, we call it the “Kin-dom,” because it’s a world where we recognize that we are all kin. One family.
For people like Jesus and Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., building this family (this beloved community) wasn’t some unattainable, impossible dream. They believed we could achieve it…and so do I.
I know that some of you are so dejected and so discouraged with all the division in our world right now (and things may appear hopeless), but look at all that’s been accomplished just in our lifetimes alone.
Just in the past 60 years, more people have been afforded freedoms than any other time in human history. That is the truth.
Despite what you may see on the evening news or read on Facebook, more and more people are awakening, and the arc of the moral universe is bending towards justice, just as Dr. King said it would.
And, as long as we’ve living and breathing, God is calling us to continue to awaken and to continue this work of building the Kin-dom together.
No matter who you are or how old you are, God is calling you to continue to birth Love & Light into this world…to help create a new world…and to boldly proclaim the Good News that Kin-dom of Heaven is on its way!
And, so, my friends, in this Season of Pentecost (and in celebration of Juneteenth) may we recommit ourselves to being people of freedom and justice, so that (together) we may continue to build the Kin-dom of Heaven here on Earth, a just world for all.
May it be so. Amen.
Here are 3 follow-up questions for reflection and/or journal writing:
- What are some of the “chains” that Jesus wants to free us from today—both personally and as a society—and how might we participate in that work of liberation?
- The sermon suggests that extending freedom and equality to others does not diminish our own freedom. Why do you think people sometimes resist movements for justice, and how does Jesus call us to respond?
- If building the “Kin-dom of Heaven” means creating a world where all people are treated as one family, what is one concrete action you can take this week to help bring more freedom, inclusion, or justice into your community?