Proper 21
17th Sunday after Pentecost
Ordinary Time 26
Year C
September 26, 2004
RELEASE THE PRISONER
Intro
·
In our series, “Blessed Are the Merciful,” we
have:
·
Defined mercy as lovingkindness, compassion, or
forbearance shown to one who offends. Remember that when you are
offended. We also learned about two works of mercy—corporal and
spiritual.
·
So far in our series, we have learned what it means to
feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and clothe the naked.
·
Today, we hear that the mercy calls us to
visit the imprisoned.
19
"The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he
viewed the earth, 20 to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death." Ps. 102
34"Then
the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed
by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and
you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after
me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we
see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you
in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see
you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever
you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for
me.' Matt. 25
I.
JESUS CHRIST IS OUR GREAT EXAMPLE OF THE VISITOR WHO
RELEASES PEOPLE FROM PRISON
·
At the very heart of the Gospel is the message that
the human race had been taken captive by an enemy and put in a
spiritual prison called sin that has corrupted every part of our
human existence. There IS NOT One part of your life that has not
been enslaves to one degree or another in the prison of the Devil.
·
Jesus Christ came as the Liberator, the one who came
to visit those held in the prison and captivity of sin, living under
the condemnation of eternal death IN ORDER TO BREAKS THE BONDS OF
OUR PRISON AND RELEASE US FROM HELL ON EARTH.
·
How many of you can praise our Great Liberator today?
·
Fallen human beings living out of sin and selfishness
began prisons in the physical world as a means of punishing
lawbreakers. Many times in the history of
redemption recorded in the Bible, we see God’s people being put into
prison falsely, and how God visits them to release them!
·
How many of you remember Joseph?
Throne into the pit of a prison by his brother, imprisoned by the
lie of an adulteress wife of an Egyptian official Potiphar?
Oh yes, he suffered in jail, but in God’s wondrous
providence, His release from prison made him the man we remember him
to be—a picture of Jesus the Savior who saves his people from death.
·
How many of you remember the holy Jewish statesman to
the throne in
Babylon
, that great prophet Daniel, who was thrown into prison for not
bowing the knee to idols, but only to the one true God in prayer?
·
How many of you remember that holy one John the
Baptizer, thrown into jail and beheaded for telling the truth that
could set a King and his family free from sin?
·
How many remember Peter, imprisoned in Herod’s jail
after James the brother of John had been put to death for preaching
in the name of Jesus? Remember his great visit
in prison:
7Suddenly
an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He
struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said,
and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Acts 12
·
Hear Oh
Israel
, Holy Church of God and Bride of Jesus Christ—remember your
husband’s great courage when he was taken prisoner in Pilate’s jail.
Our beloved Jesus became a prisoner in chain, was tortured
and put to death for crimes we committed.
·
Pilate’s custom of releasing a prisoner at the
Passover and Jesus the Innocent dying the place of the guilty
Barabbas is the picture of your life and mine—crucify Jesus for our
sins and release us from prison and the death sentence we all
deserve.
·
Now can you understand why he made this announcement
at the beginning of his ministry?
18"The
Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the
blind, to release the oppressed, 19to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."[5]
·
The history of man is that we were all prisoners in
jail and God over and over comes to visit us to free us from our
prison! Praise God.
·
It is no surprise then that Jesus, the Great Prisoner
of all prisoners, charges his followers to remember to visit the
imprisoned.
II.
HOW WE CAN VISIT THE IMPRISONED
·
Sacred Scripture and tradition tell us that Jesus
visited us in the prison of our human life of sin and became a
prisoner in our place to we, like St. Peter in Herod’s prison, would
have our chains of captivity fall off and walk of jail as free men!
·
Many since those days have followed in the steps of
Jesus—going to prison for the sake of telling others how they can be
free, and other Christians going into the jails to visit our
imprisoned fellow believers.
·
Being a Christian in the early days of the Apsotles
and Church Fathers a good way to end up in jail and even worse
predicaments in
Rome
.
·
The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ sent many
Christians into the jails to bring comfort, encouragement, and faith
to those who were in chains for the sake of the Gospel.
1.
Christian mercy calls us first to show mercy to our
Christian brethren imprisoned for their faith
http://www.christianfreedom.org
http://www.csw.org.uk/index.asp
·
Going to prison for living out the Christian faith is
happening today. We live in an era when faith
is leading people into conflict with secular institutions and
laws.
·
Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a ministry of visiting
and working for the release of Christians jailed for their faith
tells us that in America, in Africa, in China, in Saudi Arabia, in
Islamic and middle eastern countries, in Vietam, Laos, Burma,
Mexico, Egypt, Columbia, Peru, and Cuba and many many more places
around the globe Christians are going to jail for doing what we are
doing right now! God says to go and visit the
imprisoned.
·
The imprisonment of Christians was a hallmark of 20th
century Christianity that witnessed more martyrs in one century than
in the whole history of the Church.
·
Today, and in the days ahead, the be a Christian is
leading people to choose jail in order to live and express their
Christian faith in a world where Statism is increasing in power.
·
The work of the Gospel may lead us or people we know
to the place of being imprisoned. If and when
that time comes, we are called by God to show the works of mercy
first and foremost to our Christian brethren who are imprisoned for
the Gospel and the sake of Jesus.
2.
Christian mercy calls us to visit those convicted by
the justice system for breaking the law
·
People end up behind bars in
America
for anything and everything as our legal system has moved further
away from the Laws of God as the basis for law.
Today, laws are capricious and contradictory.
·
Regardless, remember Jesus visited us who were justly
living as prisoners to sin. Every person sitting
in jail today ought to evoke in us the response, “But for the grace
of God, there go I.”
·
Visiting the justly and unjustly imprisoned today is
further complicated social and economic injustices that contribute
to certain segments of our population going to jail more than
others. To begin to take s eriosu look at our prison system and
population makes your head spin! Listen to this:
The
number of people in prison, in jail, on parole, and on probation in
the
USA
increased threefold between
1980 and 2000, to more than 6 million, and the number of people in
prison increased from 319,598 to almost 2 million in the same
period. This buildup has targeted the poor, and
especially blacks. In 1999, though blacks are
only 13% of the population, they were half of all prison inmates.
In 2000, one out of three young Black men was either locked
up, on probation, or on parole.
·
Visiting people in jail is no easy mission of mercy.
Just try phoning the nearest jail or prison and telling them
you want to visit the imprisoned! Special
training, special security clearances, and coping with all kinds of
issues you have never imagined from the prisoners is a complex
mission of mercy. Once inmates are released,
they often continue to go to their visitor for help who are not
equipped to help them.
·
Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship International is the
leading mercy ministry to the those imprisoned in American jails for
crimes against the law and the people.
3.
Lastly, mercy calls us to visit those imprisoned in
spiritual and emotional prisons
·
There are many people right in our own community
imprisoned by addictions of all kinds that have taken control of
their lives and led them into spiritual, emotion, financial, and
mental torment.
·
Everywhere you look young people bear the tattoos of
gangs they imprisoned in; people are imprisoned in captivity to the
pressures of life in their own minds as our nation becomes more and
more of a hell to live in as we move further and further away from
God.
CONCLUSION
3Remember
those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who
are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Heb. 13
1.
Jesus calls us to show mercy like he has shown mercy
to all people who live in prison.
2.
Those imprisoned for their faith needs us to come to
them. Those who have broken laws and are being
punished need to hear about Jesus who can set them free even while
they are behind bars. People in bondage and
captivity to addictions and other forms of torment need the same
visitors or mercy to love, accept, and forgive them.
3.
Today, Jesus says when you visited the least in their
prisons, you have visited me.
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