Remember now the sending of the messengers ahead of Jesus to prepare a place for him in the village of Samaria - as he would send before him people to prepare the place for the last supper. Every time we eat bread and drink wine together we remember that meal and his death - as we are to remember them until he comes again, in glory - when he calls us again to his table - the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) - when he calls us to the banquet table for the great feast of the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is sending out preparers - people to make ready the place for him - and that is what we are called to do. We are called to announce his coming - and the coming of a time of celebration.
That time is far off - that time is near. It is the time of the coming to fruition of the message he is proclaiming - the reign of God in our midst. What is that kingdom he wants to stir things up about? It is the place where we are free. It is the place where we have put behind us the things that bind us - where he has got us unbound from our chains.
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing grace
(John Newton, Chris Tomlin)
The chains that bind us are the ones that show themselves in the first list Paul gives in the letter to the Galatians. It is the list he calls the works of the flesh (5:19-20):
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
These are things that manifest our lack of freedom. But we are not mean to be enslaved by the flesh, to do the works of the flesh. We are called to freedom, in Christ.
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters...
That freedom is the freedom found in obedience to the call of the gospel, the work of the Spirit. We are called out of the oppression of the empire of sin, what Paul calls the flesh.
We are called to be like workers that make something enduring, wholesome, lasting.
Like branches of a vine that bears fruit, we are to show in ourselves the work of God.
By contrast to the products of selfishness and sin, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
We are called to live by the Spirit and be guided by the Spirit. We are called to serve the God whom Jesus serves, to be at work for his kingdom.
And in that service, where we find our perfect freedom, we are called to love.
The love that God has first shown us, in the work of Christ.
That is the news that it is so urgent for us to proclaim, the news that we are free.
Go spread the news. Go share it. Begin by celebrating it, together, at the holy table.
When we eat the bread and drink from the cup together, we proclaim his death - and his glory - until he comes again. We have a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, and we remember - we do not forget - what he has done for us, in the work he accomplishes, the work he began in us and is bringing to completion.
Once things are put in the right order - God first, the kingdom above all - then peace will come into our lives, completion, wholeness, and fulfillment. Peace will come, as we invite Christ to come.
Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.
May we live by faith, walk in hope and be renewed in love,
until the world reflects your glory
and you are all in all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
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Closing prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, Church of Ireland, 2004.
http://ireland.anglican.org/index.php?do=worship&id=12
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