Share a Story of Freedom

Keep your hand at the plow! Don’t look back! Freedom comes after you take steps. It was January 27, 1956, a twenty-seven-year-old Martin Luther King Junior, sat in his kitchen in Montgomery, Alabama nursing a cup of coffee, unable to sleep. His life was threatened, and the bus boycott was failing. Earlier in the evening, a caller had warned, “If you aren’t out of this town in three days, we’re going to blow your brains out and blow up your house.” Martin Luther King, Jr. later recounted:
“. . . I bowed down over that cup of coffee . . . I prayed a prayer and I prayed out loud that night. I said, “Lord, I’m down here trying to do what’s right. I think I’m right. I think the cause we represent is right. But Lord I must confess that I’m weak now. I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage. And I can’t let the people see me like this because if they see me weak and losing my courage, they will begin to get weak.” He needed the word of this proverb. “Keep your hand on the plow…” (1)
King prayed to God for the gift of perseverance and felt another hand steadying his grasp on the plow.
“And it seemed at that moment that I could hear an inner voice saying to me, “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world.” I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me alone.” (2)
King knew that night and many times since the freedom and intimate presence of Holy Spirit as a real, palpable presence. Jesus the Christ comes to bring freedom for each and every one of us! Incredible! Life transforming! Freedom from all that hold us back. Freedom from the yoke of life and drudge of pain.
Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Free, indeed, are we, who know Jesus. Jesus taught tenderly those who follow closest as well as all those who followed. In Luke, we hear Jesus teaching this countercultural message that followers of Christ, consider the body of Christ family, not their family of origin.
The great preacher Fred Craddock once delivered a sermon entitled, “the Gospel as Hyperbole.” He observed that Jesus never hesitated to use larger than life images to catch the attention of those around him. The gospel is loaded with statements that are, on the face of them, ridiculous. Remove the log-pole from our own eyes before criticizing others. If you have a smidge of faith, you can move mountains into the sea. A shepherd would abandon 99 sheep in favor of searching for just one that wandered off. If everything Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. However, it is less over the top, when you realize that the Kingdom of God Jesus came to announce in all of its cosmic power, is salvific freedom for all of creation. In which case, you and I cannot overstate or overshare! (3)
Will WIllimon, Bishop of the United Methodist Church and former Dean of Duke Chapel was known to share complaints from parents that boiled into a single complaint. As his phone would ring, a parent at the other end would ask, “What are you doing there at Duke? Our daughter went to Duke to be a research scientist, and now she is planning to be a medical missionary to Haiti. You have ruined her life! How could you do that!”
Indeed! There are times that you and I are called to incredible commitments, even those involve sacrifices of family and ultimate freedom for ourselves and others. It might not be surprising that we take the opportunity to listen for God’s call that God will call each of us uniquely and specifically according our gifts and circumstances.
For anyone who has loved and seen loved ones enter the church triumphant, we might hear the words of Jesus with hesitation. In the gospel lesson, we hear Jesus say, “let the dead bury their own dead, as for you, go and proclaim the gospel of kingdom of God.” “Let me go say goodbye to those at home.” Certainly, there is nothing wrong with those kindhearted gestures. We may find ourselves uncomfortable with this – I certainly am. Let me invite you to hear that priorities are immediate, and time is short. Instead of giving Jesus, the answer, yes, I will do it, but I have to do something else first. Freedom allows us to say – I will follow you now. No delay, no turning back. The reign and kingdom of God calls us to choose now!
When Francis Asbury was 11, he began to work to support his family. Unfortunately, this was not unusual in 1756, in Hampstead, England. What was unusual, was how quickly, the Holy Spirit took a hold of Francis. Shortly after he began working, Francis began to attend church and hear revivalists on the street corners. He couldn’t get enough of hearing about Jesus. Just a few short years later at the age of 17, he was licensed to preach by John Wesley as a local preacher. His life was forever changed! At 21, he had given up his saddler’s work altogether, and had taken on preaching exclusively. He was ordained and sent to America as one of the two first Methodist bishops. During his 45-year ministry in America, he traveled on horseback or in carriage an estimated 300,000 miles, delivering some 16,500 sermons. His preaching was foundational to many freedom-fighters and revolutionaries. His own freedom lead to the freedom of others. We never have freedom just for ourselves.
Our freedom as followers of Jesus is not left as a long-ago possibility or something we can put off to when other items are completed. We are called to freedom in Christ, today and now! It is freedom that we come to know as embrace a Jesus first life. We know freedom only in Jesus. Our freedom as followers of Jesus is not amplified in phrases such as “nation first,” “ I do it my way” “it’s my property and my money,” or “it’s my life and I can do what I want with it” – these are the ways of death, according to Paul, because they destroy relationships and communities. In the same ways, that dividing families from one another and placing children in cages seeks to erase the image of God in each of those beloved children.
“Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?” We asked of our confirmands and our new members earlier in the month. This question comes out of baptismal vows. And it shapes me daily. As we listen to Jesus this morning urges us to follow him, we also hear the call to be accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.
And this morning God calls us to act. To act as though this was already fully God’s full kingdom. That’s what is means when we pray God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We praise God for where we see glimpses of that already happening. We tell that story over and over again until it becomes as familiar as a security blanket that we can hang onto.
We give thanks to God for the witnesses of those who share the stories of own freedom in Christ. We too are called to share our stories. When we follow the way of Jesus, we turn towards love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These fruits of the Spirit are gifts of our freedom in Christ, if we but put our trust in Jesus. Share your witness so that others, too may know the hope of Jesus and break out of their chains of oppression and sin to see and know wholeness and healing in Christ!

Freedman, Samuel, Upon this Rock: The Miracles of the Black Church. 1993.
Ibid, 1993.
Craddock, Fred. Overhearing the Gospel., 2002

Galatians 5:1, 22-25
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

  • Gospel Lesson: Luke 9:51-62
    When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, June 30 ~ Saturday, July 6

Sunday: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1. With whom have you shared the good news of freedom in Christ? Let today be the day you share the good news!
Monday: “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.” Galatians 5: 22-23. Where can you praise someone in your life for the presence of the fruits of the Spirit? It is easy to critique and offer strategies for growth. Today, consider only offering praise.
Tuesday: “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5: 24. Pray today for those who are giving their lives to Jesus in new ways today. May their commitments be holistic.
Wednesday: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” Galatians 5: 25. Consider today that the Holy Spirit will guide you if you allow yourself to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. Find a quiet place in your Spirit to hear God today.
Thursday: “As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’” Luke 9: 57. Consider how you follow Jesus. Do you follow Jesus on your terms negotiating each day your own terms? Or do you follow as Jesus calls?
Friday: “And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ “Luke 9:58. Consider that Jesus gives up even the comfort of home for the gospel. What will you be willing to give, if asked for the sharing of your story?
Saturday: “Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” Luke 9: 62. Pray for all those who seek to live out ushering in God’s kingdom. May the kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven.