Sermon for June 18th, 2023
Readings:
Exodus 19:2-8a
Psalm 100
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)
God doesn’t want slaves. That is not how God’s grace works. That is not how God’s love works. God gives us life, God gives us freedom, but God doesn’t force us to follow him. God doesn’t force us to obey him. God does not force us into a relationship with him. God does not force us to serve him. That is not the kind of relationship that God wants with his children. God wants us to be able to choose him, because that is when the relationship becomes really powerful and real. True love is a choice. That is where real love happens, when both sides freely choose the other. It’s true that God loves us before we know how to love him, but God still wants us to love him, and to love him freely. We already belong to God, but God wants us to choose him.
Last Fathers’ Day was my first experience as an actual father and of course it is a joyous and wonderful thing to hold your newborn baby in your arms, but you know what I think might even be better than that? When your toddler chooses you over a bowl of cheerios. Seriously, when you have a child that is starting to really get around on his own and explore this mysterious and wonderful world, and that child is starting to make choices, and in a moment decides that he wants to come to you not because he is hungry or frightened or wants something, but just because he wants to play or give you a hug, well that is a whole ‘nother level of joy. It is one thing to feel love, but to feel that love returned to you is even more powerful. To rank over cheerios, even if it is just for a moment, that is winning. It’s a win because you know in those moments that the love IS love; it is sacrificial and self-giving and not just an instinct of survival. It is a little glimmer, a reflection of the love of God.
Because the love of God is a sacrificial and self-giving love. It is a love that God gives us freely, without any merit on our part, and really the only way that we can respond to that love is by giving and showing the same love in return. We can choose to love God and to love others the way that God chooses to love us. God doesn’t want slaves. God wants our relationship with him and our relationships with each other to be based on true love, not coercion, not brute force, and not manipulation. God does not HAVE to love us, or save us, or even live in relationship with us, he chooses to. And God gives us the choice to love him in return. We are free to embrace God and we are free to walk away. We have a choice.
In the Book of Exodus, after the Israelites have been freed from slavery in Egypt, they travel for about three months and then come to the base of Mount Sinai. It is there that God gives them a choice. Now mind you, he has already saved them. God has already set these people free, but now God gives the Israelites a choice: you have seen my love for you, now you can follow me, live in a special relationship with me, follow my commandments and treasure me the way I treasure you, or you can go on your way. God gave the Israelites a choice. And they chose God. With one voice they proclaim: “everything that the Lord has spoken, we will do.” Now you may think, of course they chose God, they are in the middle of the desert, what else are they going to do? But there are actually several times in this whole story where the people are seriously tempted to turn back and go back to the Egyptian way of life, even slavery, and there are several times when the people reaffirm their commitment to following God, even when they are living comfortably in the promised land. But each and every time, they are free to choose. They are free to choose, because God doesn’t want slaves.
When Jesus sent out his disciples he told them to proclaim, cure, raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons, give freely without expecting anything in return. Jesus told them to love and bless people, and if that love was returned to them, then well and good, but if that love wasn’t returned, if the disciples weren’t received, then Jesus said, just move on. He didn’t say drag them kicking and screaming to church; he didn’t say pound them over the head and badger them; Jesus invites people to follow him, he doesn’t put them in chains. God invites people to his banquet, but he doesn’t force them to come, because God doesn’t want slaves.
God gives us the choice to follow him or not. God gives us the choice to love him or not. And God gives us the choice to love LIKE him or not. Sadly, because we humans are sinful, broken creatures, loving like God is very often NOT the choice that we make. God doesn’t want slaves, but we often do. Because loving like God is hard. It’s risky. Giving people freedom and letting them make choices is hard because they might make the wrong choices. It is so much easier just to force people to do what you want, and it’s much more profitable. The Egyptians knew that. Humans throughout history have known that. My ancestors knew that. Picking cotton is hard. If you’ve got the power and the money, let someone else do the hard work.
Tomorrow is Juneteenth, the celebration of the end of American institutional slavery. Needless to say, it is a good thing to celebrate, but we need to remember that American slavery was not a one-off or a unique episode in world history. It was yet another example of what human beings will do to one another in the name of money and power. It is another reminder of just how unlike God we can be. God sets people free, and we keep putting them back in chains. God sets US free, and still we keep turning back to Egypt. We turn back to the very things that enslave us. God gives us the choice to follow him, but very often, we don’t.
Juneteenth and the freedom of American slaves is something to celebrate and remember, just like the freedom of the Israelites is something to celebrate and remember, but if we think that slavery is only to be found in history books then we are deluding ourselves. It changes its name, it changes its shape, but it’s still around throughout the world in subtle and insidious ways. The root of it lies within our own hearts. If you have the power to make someone do your will, it is so tempting to use it. That is how humans behave, but we are reminded throughout the scriptures that that is NOT how our God behaves. Men give you chains, but God gives you choices. Humans want slaves, but God doesn’t want slaves. God wants love. Love that is freely given. Love that is sacrificial and self-giving. Love that is a choice that we make. Love that says you matter to me more than cheerios. That is real love. God has already shown that love to us, but how we respond to that love is our choice. If we want a world with less slavery and less suffering we must make the choice to follow God, love God and love like God each and every day. It is a choice. God doesn’t force us to love him, because that love wouldn’t be real. God wants real love. God doesn’t want slaves. Our Father wants us to choose him.
Inwardly Digest 