SERMON Prisoners

Epiphany 3 C (Lectionary 3) (2010):

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

You don't have to be a supporter of either Dan Hynes or Pat Quinn or someone following the current gubernatorial primary to know one of the main issues is prisoners. The Dan Hynes TV ads have been incessant. I am sure you know the ones I mean.

Last fall, the early release of 1,700 prisoners under a cost cutting program aimed at non-violent criminals resulted in the release of violent criminals who, through plea bargains, had pled guilty to non-violent crimes for reduced sentences. This happened under Governor Quinn's watch. And, because it did, the Hynes' ads charge, Pat Quinn is ultimately responsible for release of the violent criminals and unfit to be governor. Like the H.W. Bush ads featuring Willie Horton in the 1988 presidential campaign, the Hynes ads prominently feature Derrick King, one of the violent prisoners released last fall who spared no time in assaulting a new victim and returning to prison the next day.

(In the governor's defense, when the program came to light last month, the governor called it "a big mistake." And in response to the Hynes ads, Pat Quinn unequivocally affirms that violent prisoners should be in prison and not released early.)

The mistaken release of violent criminals last fall is an issue. That the governor did not know about it at the time is an issue. What is not in issue is the early release of prisoners. No one advocates it. Not even to save money. To quote an editorial in the Tribune three weeks ago: "An early release policy based on assumed good behavior from demonstrably bad guys is one of the worst ideas we've heard in a long time."

Which makes the hymn we sang as a gathering song this morning something that gives pause. Remember the opening line?

Praise the One who breaks the darkness

with a liberating light;

praise the One who frees the pris'ners,

turning blindness into sight.

Listen to the words of the hymn we will sing as we are sent this morning:

Arise, your light has come!

Fling wide the prison door;

proclaim the captive's liberty,

good tidings to the poor.

I think it's safe to say that freeing prisoners and flinging open prison doors are not actions that would get votes from any one in Illinois. Yet both hymns claim to paraphrase what Jesus is saying this morning when he not only reads but endorses the prophet Isaiah in his home town synagogue.

Are they right? Is this what Jesus is saying? Does it matter?

It does matter. In Luke's gospel this is not just an interlude. A break between anointing and calling disciples. A Sabbath spent relaxing and catching up with old friends and relatives. No, Jesus' reading this morning is the launching of his ministry. It is his inaugural address, the "good news" platform that will direct and shape his ministry. In Mark as well as in Matthew, Jesus announces, "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe the good news." (Mark 1:15) Here, in Luke, he spells out what the good news of the Kingdom of God will be.

And he spells it out in the words of the prophet Isaiah. Words read in the course of a worship service that began with the singing of a psalm, the recitation of the Sh'ma ("Hear O Israel") and Shemoneh Esrei (or Eighteen Blessings), a reading from the Torah, a reading from the prophets, a sermon on the readings, and a blessing. Jesus has been asked to read from the prophets and is handed a scroll containing the writing of the prophet Isaiah. Even though synagogue worship was a relatively new practice, the reading from the Torah was probably already appointed for the day. The prophetic reading was not, however, assigned. When handed the Isaiah scroll, Jesus looks for and finds the passage that he reads.

And what does it say about prisoners and prisons? Nothing, at least as translated here. Instead of hearing (in the words of one translation) about Jesus' being sent "to proclaim the release for prisoners" (Fitzmyer 325), we hear Jesus say he is being sent "to proclaim release to the captives" (NRSV). Now the author of the passage from Isaiah that is being quoted (he's actually the last of three authors), was writing after the Babylonian captivity, so the idea of freedom for captives from captivity might logically make sense. Trouble is, the author in the verses quoted by Jesus is not looking back but envisioning a prophetic leader arising who will rebuild Jerusalem. A leader who will bring all of God's people back to Jerusalem, including those in prison. Real people in real prisons who will be brought back as part of the total salvation of Israel, "bodily and spiritually, individually and socially," (The New Jerome Biblical Commentary 346)

So is this what Jesus is about? What he is envisioning? Freeing the Willie Hortons and Derrick Kings? If it is, we might be tempted to dismiss Jesus' good news program as overreaching and hyperbole. A bracketed category in the midst of the poor, blind, and oppressed. Certainly something we are not tempted to advocate or undertake.

A closer look, however, suggests that Jesus might very well be talking about a different kind of prisoner, not the political prisoner in captivity or the violent prisoner in jail. The release Jesus is speaking of is a very specific kind of release. The Greek word (aphesis) is the same used when Jesus first says (in this morning's translation), "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives" and when he then says "to let the oppressed go free." It is a word used by Luke to mean forgiveness in forgiveness of sins (1:77) and forgiveness of debts (11:4). It is also the word used in the Greek Bible in Deuteronomy (15:2) to mean release from debt and slavery every seventh year in Israel and in Leviticus for the 50^th year of Jubilee. In first century Palestine, most prisoners were defaulting debtors, "constrained to forced labor until their debt was paid. . . . Oftentimes, it was not the debtor himself but his wife and children who were taken by the creditor." (Anchor Bible, V, 469).

Given that reality and the language used, there can be little doubt that the prisoners to be freed that Jesus has in mind are not the Willie Hortons or Derrick Kings but are, first and foremost, the defaulting debtors and their families. Prisoners that are poor and oppressed; poor and oppressed because they are prisoners.

This is not a bracketed category, then or now. The debt imprisonment and slavery of the first century is alive and rampant. Bonded labor exists in Southern Asia. Children are born into slavery and spend their lives working under unimaginable conditions to pay off their parents' debt. Check out the International Justice Mission website (www.ijm.org). The cases are appalling. Appalling and happening on a massive scale. The International Labor Organization released a comprehensive report in 2005 in which, for the first time, it estimated the number of women, men, and children working involuntarily under the threat of penalty. Globally, 12.3 million people are in such forced labor, 9.5 million in the private sector.

There is another kind of contemporary debt imprisonment, particularly in this country. One triggered by the near-collapse of our economy a year ago. The evangelical Christian writer and activist Jim Wallis was a guest on The Daily Show last Wednesday. Some of you may know him or know of him. He is the editor of Sojourner magazine and has just written a new book, Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street. In it, he writes,

Of course markets are not inherently bad and can be an effective mechanism for economic growth, which can help people out of poverty. But markets must be tempered by values and judged by fairness. (Walis 24)

In his interview with Jon Stewart on Wednesday, Jim Wallis pointed out that the $1.5 billion that six banks are giving as bonuses could wipe out the budget gaps in all 50 states. It could prevent or forestall foreclosures through 2012. Imagine if were sent to Haiti. Bank of America is a bank that received $97 billion in bailout money. In the year since receiving those funds, Bank of America has modified only 100 loans. The grace conferred by the American people in Bank of America's bailout has not been offered or extended to others.

And what does this have to do with Jesus' vision and plan?

Nothing. It is precisely this kind of greed that Jesus is preaching against. Remember what Mary says in the Magnificat? She says,

[You have] scattered the proud in their conceit,

casting down the mighty from their thrones

and lifting up the lowly.

You have filled the hungry with good things

and sent the rich away empty.

Individual and corporate greed have no place in God's Kingdom. In teaching his students, Ghandi identified seven social sins -- in Wallis' words, the "Seven Deadly Social Sins" and an accurate diagnostic of our current economic crisis. They are:

1. Politics without principle

2. Wealth without work

3. Commerce without morality

4. Pleasure without conscience

5. Education without character

6. Science without humanity

7. Worship without sacrifice.

When commission of these sins dominate a society, poverty, debt, and oppression in one form or another are inevitable -- exactly what Jesus proclaims release and freedom from in the Kingdom of God.

And what does this have do with us? Everything! As Paul's letter to the Corinthians underscores, we are as individuals members of the Body of Christ and, as a community, are Christ's presence in the world. This means his vision is ours, his mission, our mission. The Spirit that empowered him, empowers us. By the grace given us, the poor and the oppressed -- Haitians abroad, the dispossessed at home -- must always be before us in prayer and concrete action. So, too, must the captives and prisoners -- violent, non-violent, terrorist, political, religious -- all captives and prisoners. Does that mean we fling wide prison doors for the Willie Hortons and Derrick Kings to leave? No. But it does mean we open those doors to let ourselves enter in. To strengthen and preserve family bonds. To aid and rectify when we can.

We pray "thy kingdom come." Until then, we are, in the words of one of my professors, guinea pigs in the laboratory of the Kingdom of God. (Stendahl) What an awesome responsibility, what joyous task! For both responsibility and task, we give God thanks and praise. Amen.

January 24, 2010

Ruth VanDemark, pastor

Wicker Park Lutheran Church

Chicago