Captivity

I decided to post my sermon for the 24th of Jan (which is something I have never ever ever done before):

A long time ago, in a land far away, lived a people who were chosen by the Creator to be blessed and to be a blessing. But time and again they strayed from the Torah, from the law and the way of life that their God had given them.


They would break commandments. They would not love their neighbor. They would not love their God.

And so they would suffer.

But they would eventually remember and turn back to the right path.

And this happened many times.

But then one day that changed.

One day the people were taken from their homes. They were sent to far-off lands while their captors destroyed the sacred places of worship. Their lives changed.

But God was still their God and they were still God’s people. All of them: the thieves, cheats, liars, adulterers, idolaters. All of them still belonged to God.

Because God had created them and chosen them to be blessed and to be a blessing. Because God remembered that these fallen people have a history of straying but are capable of returning.

The people of God may have been exiled and taken into captivity, but God did not forget them. God freed them and brought them back to where they belonged. Because God loved the chosen people of God.

The story of Israel is our story.

We may read the Bible and think that we are not like those people of old, but the story of captivity is our story.

We may think that we are not captive. That we are not living in a state of exile.

But we are.

Captivity and exile are far from ideal situations. Today we hear the word “captivity” and think of chains. We think of prisons. We think of being held against your will.

But captivity is more than that.

Captivity suggests that we are not where we should be. That we are separated from someone or something. That we are not on the right path.

In our society, we may not have the same forms of captivity. We may not be under the control of Egypt, of Assyria, of Babylon, of Rome, of any number of other dominating rulers. We may say that we are free since we live in the USA, but we are captive to other things or people.

We may be captive to our emotions. Despair, uncertainty, anxiety, fear, hatred, guilt.

We may be captive to our actions, captive to sin.

We can be held captive by the past or by the unknown future.

And we are unable to free ourselves from whatever it is that holds us captive.

Let’s explore some of these variations of captivity.

For example, sin. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are not perfect. We all slip up and make mistakes from time to time. We make bad decisions. We have hurtful thoughts. We act inappropriately.

It is not easy to walk that straight and narrow path that God set before us in the law. This is a fallen world and we are a sinful people.

What about guilt as a form of captivity? I’m sure we are familiar with the saying that guilt can consume us. Guilt holds us captive to the past. Guilt prevents us from moving forward. Guilt keeps us from living freely in God’s promise when we are stuck.

What about fear? We may have fear of animals, of public speaking, of being embarrassed, of being hurt, of being alone, of being forgotten, of getting lost, of not having enough, of being rejected, of dying. Each of those fears prevents us from living freely. We are captive to the fears that drive our daily actions.

But today we hear some good news.

Jesus reads from the book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.”

I have no idea exactly how this good news will affect each of you. I am not all-knowing. But I do hope and pray that each one of you hears the good news.

Jesus came to this world to free us. Jesus didn’t come to chain us up. To put us into a new captivity.

Jesus came to release us from that which is holding us captive. To free us from our sin, our guilt, our anxiety, our fear, our reliance upon false idols.

We receive God’s grace and mercy. We are pardoned and forgiven. We are freed from our past, but we still have a future to live. We are given hope.

Our captivity is over. Now is the time for us to turn back to the way of the LORD. We return to praise God. To obey God’s commands. To recognize that God has truly blessed us with this freedom. To see that we are to live out our faith. To go back into our daily lives and follow God to the best of our abilities. To love God and our neighbor.

So let us go today knowing that we are forgiven, that we are new creations in Christ, that we are both blessed and a blessing.

Thanks and praise to the one who set us free to be the chosen people of God. Amen.