Most of us here came to this church through some form of Christianity or we have a respect for the teachings of Jesus. Listening to these verses read, I can imagine him now in the synagogue in Nazareth reading this scripture which is from Isaiah 61. He was telling the people from his hometown that he was the one who came to liberate the oppressed. And as followers of Christ or those interested in the teachings of Christ, following Jesus’ example and claiming that example – we must conclude that it is I (us) that is here to release the oppressed from their trappings, from the society that oppresses them. We have to take a stand even if it makes us feel uncomfortable. We have to take action in our personal lives even when it feels political. We have to stand strong against oppressive systems regardless of where our friends stand. But we have to be more than a mouthpiece that talks about deconstructing oppressive systems. We have to be the architects of new systems of equity. We have to offer alternatives to the oppressive systems by empowering people who lack power to have voice in their own affairs, voice that is listened to with respect and resources to back up any new system that can be put in place. We have many people whose example we can follow. Today and tomorrow are set aside to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr’s life and legacy of work towards civil rights in this country, rights that are subject to be ignored if we don’t speak up. We have to remember that in the “I have a dream” speech in Washington he had a vision where oppression was no more and all people were friendly and supportive of one another. Like King we have to have a vision of a better world where all oppression ceases, where Jesus’ words become fulfilled. Where everyone’s humanity is celebrated.
We say that we see that of God in others, but do we treat them as if they are sacred? If they are sacred, would we leave them in oppressive systems? Do we tear down the institutions that hold down their talents and throw water on the fires in their souls? Matthew tells us that if we have done it to one person, we have done it to Christ. So aren’t they worthy of relief from oppression like Jesus promised? He may have said it, but it is up to us to carry out this prophecy.
Sojourner Truth had a very famous speech she recited as she sought to release the fellow Africans from slavery in the States and to give women a right to vote. It was called Ain’t I a Woman? It focused on the fact that all of us are a part of humanity, and all of us are sacred in our own identities.
She had been silenced while fighting for women’s rights because at that time as someone Black she was not given a voice. But she didn’t let them take her voice away but she yelled over the clatter that indeed she was a woman with courage and strength and self-efficacy. She was speaking at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio when she said.
“Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.”
Her voice was listened to, and her words have gone down in history books, yet women are still oppressed and black people are subject to the worst kind of prejudice in this nation where even their lives don’t matter to the ones that are supposed to be protecting them. Yes, there have been changes since George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, in the last five years, but the systems still are oppressive, a long way from equal, and it is a sin for us to remain silent or do nothing to give women and immigrants and people of color the same respect we would give a white man in a similar situation.
Because like with Sojourner Truth, if one person is oppressed all people suffer from the sin of oppression. And if we are followers of Christ or Jesus’ teachings, we are here to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, to recover sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
In the story of Jesus’ life, when Jesus went back up into heaven, the first person baptized was an Ethiopian Eunuch. And I have heard all my life that the Bible denigrates both parts of that person, their skin color and their lack of gender. That is not true that the Bible is silent – it is loud. The first converted soul, the first baptized by the disciple Phillip was this Ethiopian Eunuch, so the Bible speaks clearly. We are all equal. But we are also here to accept the responsibility of the power we possess just being a white person in the United States. We are here for a purpose and part of this purpose is to relieve oppression when we see it. And we have to wake up and see the oppression that is here and that is coming, and commit to being followers of the one who said that liberty had to go to the oppressed. Liberate the oppressed.
We sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, and it is not anthem as much as it is dirge that talks of the pain that people of color have endured. We sang of coming out of the dark gloom of the past and standing in the gleams of a bright star. We sang that as long as there is injustice, prejudice and oppressive systems an entire people cannot fully embrace the truth that God set out in their lives. Liberate the oppressed. Not just on Martin Luther Kings birthday but all days and nights of every day of the year — let us help that vision he had of coming to this hallowed spot (The Washington Mall) to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. He said in his dream speech, “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”
We have to hear the urgency of Now, and feel it, and be instruments of God’s love and peace, sharing goodness and freedom, equality and integrity everywhere we go.
Because an oppressed person cannot fulfill what his or her potential is – therefore one of the major stumbling blocks to living a life of integrity is the inability to get to the purpose God has in that person’s life. Oppressive systems stand between people and a world of love and liberty. And to be a good follower we must take on the task of liberating the oppressed.
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