Freedom ?

A man trying to understand the nature of God asked him: “God, how long is a million years to you?” God answered, “A million years is like a minute.” Then the man asked, “God, how much is a million pounds to you?” And God replied, “A million pounds is like a penny.” Finally the man asked, “God, could you give me a penny?” And God said, “In a minute!”

Many of us sometimes try and take an easy route if we can – whether it be in driving a car or going around a supermarket or taking a walk. And many of us try and find an easy way of having a relationship with God, convincing ourselves that we’re at least doing our best to be nice people… Our readings this morning have something to say about something that we all enjoy but something that we don’t always value as much as perhaps we should – that is ‘freedom’…

In the Old Testament reading from Isaiah (65:1-9) we have this incredible picture of God trying to play a spiritual game of hide and seek whilst recognising that he’s sometimes the only one playing. He says how he was ready to be found by everyone but some of those people didn’t ask where he was and didn’t seek him. 

We have that picture of God being ready to meet people, but people not bothering – maybe they’re not interested, maybe they’re too busy, maybe they want to try something else first, maybe they’re worrying about what commitment might be needed if they find him… 

God is waiting to be found but too many people don’t want to find him and yet, still in that reading, there is the overwhelming feeling that God is still there and still promising great things… Too often we find that God has not abandoned us, but we have abandoned him… 

And then in the psalm (22:19-28) we are encouraged by this call to praise – yes, we’ve looked for God and yes, we’ve found him, and now we praise him as we recognise all that he is and all that he has done and is doing and will do… God is the source of our protection… God, who loves us and wants a relationship with us… 

From Paul’s letter to the Galatians (3:23-29) we begin to move more clearly to the theme of ‘freedom’ that I mentioned – we are children of God through faith, not through incredible ability or good looks or bible knowledge or time spent in church or good behaviour, but faith… Through our faith, through our baptism, God welcomes us into his family with no preferential treatment for male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free – we are one, all equal, all valued, all loved through Jesus, who lived and died and rose again for us… 

Paul writes about the law which was something that was incredibly important to the people to whom he was writing, but there was some confusion because, Paul wrote, it is Jesus that is now our benchmark – Jesus who is our guide, Jesus, who provides us with freedom… 

The law gave an instruction on how to behave and we don’t ignore that law but faith has given a new dimension because faith has freed us to be the people that God calls us to be and wants us to be… 

In Genesis, the opening book of the bible, God promises Abram (before his name was changed to Abraham) (12:1-3) that he would make of him a great nation and bless him and this was taken as a great promise to the people of Israel, but in this letter to the Galatians Paul has made it clear that now, if we know Jesus, we are all Abraham’s offspring, all heirs to the promises God has made – there are no distinctions, no favourites, no special rewards – God welcomes all into his family, a family bound together by his love for each of us… 

And so, we are made free through Jesus. We are called to seek God, to recognise him and praise him and to live our lives transformed by his power and love and these are not just words. The gospel message is not one to make us come to church on a Sunday and not one to make us nice people, although those things are great to do, but the gospel message is that our lives can be transformed through a relationship with Jesus. 

In a relationship with him we are called to be new people, people who are trying to live as Jesus to others, people who are trying to be good news to others and we don’t do it in our own strength, we do it in God’s strength… 

These things can all sound wonderful and the love of God is something that we should rightly celebrate, shout about and share but there’s something more. 

In a twitter or facebook post this week somebody talked about a procession for Corpus Christi which was on Thursday – often processions are held outside to commemorate that day where thanks are given for the Holy Eucharist… One person had commented that perhaps in the procession it would be a good idea in the future to actually offer food parcels to those struggling to make ends meet, going on to say that passing them with the bread of heaven is good but more is possible… 

And Jesus doesn’t offer empty promises – this was clear in our gospel reading this morning (Luke 8:26-39). Jesus came ashore from the Sea of Galilee and was met by a man who had demons. We don’t know what the demons were but this man was troubled and one thing we know about him was that he immediately recognised Jesus and fell down before him and Jesus cast out the demons into this herd of pigs… 

Those who saw it recognised the incredible healing and went and told others… People didn’t understand what had happened and were frightened by this incredible show of power from Jesus and so they asked him to leave and he did… The man who had been healed wanted to go with him but Jesus told him to stay where he was and say to people and show people how much God had done for him… He was freed from demons, from misery, torment and isolation, freed to be the person God wanted him to be… 

We don’t know what exactly happened there but we know it was something miraculous, something that showed God’s power, something that changed the life of that man forever… 

The promises Jesus makes to each one of us are not promises of an easy life, not promises of a nice house and car, nice holidays and comfort every day – they are bigger than that because those things will end, those things will mean nothing… 

In our lives what is left when everything material is stripped away is often what is most important – people and relationships, love… Through the power of Jesus God has freed each of us to be the people he wants us to be, the people he calls us to be – people transformed by the love and example of Jesus, people wanting to be good news to others, even when those people are not particularly good to us… 

Someone once said that ‘Faith is trusting that God will catch us even if we fall’ – trust that God has welcomed us into his kingdom, into his family, that he loves us as much as he loves anyone else who has ever lived and trust that in every situation he is there with us and for us… May we praise him through our words and our actions, praise him with our lives. AMEN