Release

Sermon from August 22, 2010
(Pentecost 13 – Year C)
Luke 13: 10-17
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Waco, Texas

When I was in the first grade, a huge thunderstorm came over our house during the night, swaying the pine trees in our backyard back and forth all night long.
The next morning, after the storm, our backyard was littered with pine branches and needles.
And that next morning, strange sounds began coming from the backyard.
My dad discovered that those sounds were the cries of a baby squirrel, a squirrel who had fallen out of his nest during the storm.

Our family then took this tiny baby squirrel into our care.
My dad called the SPCA to find out how to care for this orphaned animal.
At their suggestion, my dad went to the toy store to buy a doll’s tiny baby bottle with which to feed the squirrel.
My dad built a cage for this squirrel out of lumber and chicken wire.
We used old cloth diapers to create a makeshift nest for our new little pet.
And my brother and I named our pet squirrel: Brownie.

However, as the months passed, Brownie grew quickly from a tiny baby into an adult squirrel.
We moved Brownie’s cage to a place just outside our den window, locating it much like a window box.
We fed our pet squirrel a steady diet of pecans.
My dad would go ahead and pre-crack the pecans because he did not want Brownie to work so hard to get to his dinner.

After several months, my parents decided that we should let Brownie go free.
My parents told my brother and I that it was just not right to keep a squirrel as a pet, cooped up in a cage outside our window.
However, my brother and I protested this decision mightily.
We wanted to keep our little squirrel safe and secure.

Yet on one Saturday morning, despite all our protests - and with all of us watching with tears in our eyes - my father went ahead and opened wide the door to Brownie’s cage.
With bated breath, we waited for Brownie to scamper out and to climb up the nearest pine tree.
However, even with the door wide open, Brownie stayed put in his cage, trembling with fear, not wanting to leave behind the comfortable and familiar.
It seems that Brownie desired comfort and security,
Instead of freedom and release.

On a different Saturday, many years ago, Jesus encounters a woman in a cage.
This woman is not in a cage made of lumber and chicken wire.
But this woman is caged by her physical disability, crippled and unable to stand up straight.
Jesus approaches this woman who has been bent over for 18 long years.
Jesus opens the door of her cage and he says to her:
‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’”
And immediately this woman is released from her bondage, she stands up straight and begins to praise God.

Yet the leaders of religion become angry that this woman has been released - and they protest mightily.
The leaders of religion become indignant because Jesus healed this crippled woman on the Sabbath, the holy day of rest.
The leaders of religion invoke an excuse - they use a religious loophole - to try to keep this woman in bondage and in her cage.

You see, it seems that religion often desires comfort and security.
Yet Jesus desires freedom and release.

You and I live in cages that are rather comfortable and secure.
Every day, we are not fed with pre-cracked pecans, but with daily bread.
Every day, we are not tucked away in cloth diaper nests, but in safe homes.
Yet even though we might feel comfortable and secure, we are caged and bent over, crippled by our sins and shortcomings.
And Jesus approaches us, unlocks the cage door and says to us:
“Man, woman, you are set free.”

Yet man-made rules and religious rhetoric constantly bombard us with excuses to keep us in bondage, excuses such as because it is the Sabbath or because it says so in the book of Leviticus or because we have always done it that way.
And in the midst of our desire to never change,
In the midst of our desire to live in gated communities where we will never meet anyone different than ourselves,
Jesus approaches us who are crippled and bent over and says:
“Stand up straight and scamper out of that cage.”
For human nature desires comfort and security.
But Jesus desires freedom and release.

I know people who are caged, caged by beer or wine or liquor.
The cage is actually quite comfortable and secure.
A simple glass of white wine is poured every night, in a comforting ritual.
Another glass with dinner, and then possibly another or maybe a night cap, until most every night is dulled by a nice buzz that makes the next day seem more bearable.
Yet, no matter what the excuses are, this is a life of bondage, crippled by alcohol that is a crutch.
And Jesus ignores these excuses.
He opens up the cage door and says:
“Woman, stand up straight and be set free from your crutches.”

I know people who are caged, caged by intolerance.
The cage is lined with scripture quotations and Christian bumper stickers that speak of love toward all of God’s people.
Yet when someone wants to heal on the Sabbath or when a Roman Catholic puts a big statue of the Virgin Mary in their front yard or when Muslims wish to build a small community center 3000 miles away, then the language of fear replaces the language of love.
For no matter what the excuses are, this is a life of bondage, crippled by a narrow-minded religion that is a poor substitute for a living faith that respects the dignity of every human being.
And Jesus ignores these excuses.
He opens up the cage door and says:
“Man, stand up straight and be set free from intolerance and bigotry.”

I know people who are caged, caged by their past.
The cage is secure and warm because it is familiar and the only place we know.
We use our past as excuses, excuses such as:
I am this way because my parent’s marriage ended in divorce.
Or I am this way because I was bullied in school or because I came from a life of poverty.
Yet even though we might have spent 18 years hunched over, living our lives in the past is a life of bondage.
And Jesus ignores these excuses.
He opens up the cage door and says:
“Woman, stand up straight and be set free from your past.”

Our alcohol, our intolerance, our past can become our crutches.
Our sins can become excuses to stay in our cages.
For we desire comfort and security.
Yet Jesus desires freedom and release.

When I was a boy, my father eventually coaxed our pet squirrel out of the door of his cage and into a life of freedom and release.
Eventually Brownie left his comfortable home filled with pre-cracked pecans and a warm bed of cloth diapers, set free to live high in the pine trees.
And our heavenly Father coaxed his Son out of the door of his tomb and into a life of release, set free to live high in the heavens.


And this morning, Jesus coaxes us out of the door of our cage of comfort and security.
This morning, Jesus approaches us who are crippled and bent over and says:
“You are released from your bondage.
You are truly – set free.”

AMEN.