Easter Sunday - 20 April 2025 - Luke 24:1-12

Three men were about to be executed by the firing squad. The first man was brought forward and before they could shoot him, he yelled "avalanche"! The firing squad panicked, and in the confusion, the man jumped over the wall and into freedom before the firing squad could regroup.The second man thought what the first man did was clever and when he was brought forward for his execution, he yelled "earthquake"! Again, the firing squad panicked, and the second man took advantage of it to jump over the wall and into freedom.The third man thought he saw the pattern: yell a disaster and jump over the wall. When he was finally brought forward, with a smirk on his face he yelled "fire"!

We talk a lot about freedom these days. Protecting our freedom, securing our freedom, and lots of people believing they have the freedom to say whatever they want. I wonder how many of these folk would agree with Kierkegaard’s quip: “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”

Today I want to talk about a word like freedom: liberation. Specifically, I’d like to talk to you a little about Liberation Theology and how it provides what I think is a helpful and necessary lens through which to view our socio-political situation on this Easter Sunday.

Back in the 60’s and 70’s there was a lot of talk about Women’s Liberation, Black Liberation, Native American Liberation, and so on. During this time, many South and Central American theologians within the Catholic Church began to express ideas that came to be known as Liberation Theology. This movement interprets Scripture through the plight of the poor and oppressed. True followers of Jesus, according to liberation theology, must work toward a just society, bring about social and political change, and align themselves with poor rather than wealthy people. To quote Liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, “The liberation theologian goes to the scriptures bearing the whole weight of the problems, sorrows, and hopes of the poor, seeking light and inspiration from the divine word.”

Jesus was not born into privilege – He was born into family of peasants who became refugees in Egypt before returning home. These details about his early life place him within the ancient Hebrew tradition. The Old Testament is full of stories and prophetic teaching that express God’s championing of the poor and the beaten down. These are those struggling for human dignity, freedom, and economic justice.

The most famous of these stories involved the Hebrew slaves in Egypt who suffered terribly under the Egyptian Empire. God heard their cries and joined them in their fight for freedom. Later, whenever Israel became prosperous, prophets would call them back to remember their troubled past and to be sure to make special provision for the vulnerable in their society, most often represented by ‘widows and orphans.’

Centuries later, Mary responds to the promise of her son’s birth by proclaiming that he will put down the mighty from their seats…filling the hungry with good things.” In his initial sermon, Jesus declared that he came to bring “good news for the poor” and to “preach deliverance to the captives.”

As one writer puts it, “The Jesus story is the poor person’s story, because God in Christ becomes poor and weak in order that the oppressed might become liberated from poverty and powerlessness. The Resurrection of Jesus is THE ultimate recognition.” This theology recognizes that the Biblical notions of Sin and Death aren’t so much about an individual’s bad habits or eventual physical death, but they represent the forces, ideology, systems, and anything else that contributes to oppressing and exploiting the vulnerable.

Liberation theologians may point to how governments cut funding for food stamps and medical care for the poor so it can cut taxes for the wealthy. People die because of their government’s ‘sinful’ practice of upward redistribution of wealth. But they point to the fact that it’s not just the policy that’s the problem, it’s also the decision-making process itself, characterized by callousness towards the very humanity of others. We see this in politics of every time and age, where specific segments of the population are centered out or scapegoated to calcify a party’s voters. Immigrants, Muslims, LGTBQ+ and trans people, drug addicts, and the incarcerated are recent easy targets.

Liberation theology claims that we can see the suffering of all people, especially the poor and marginalized, in the suffering of Christ. In the Incarnation, and then in the Passion of Christ, we may see God’s ultimate act of solidarity with humanity. God becomes vulnerable in the form of a baby born into a peasant family and experienced the full force of violence and hate, as he is scapegoated, unjustly convicted, tortured, and executed by the powerful of his day.

The social implications of the biblical theme of liberation have inspired gay Christians and Christian feminists, to name just a few, who have made Jesus their liberator as they have fought for dignity and acceptance. As followers of Christ living in an unjust and oppressive world, we are called work out the gospel of liberation. This is the gospel of love that puts others before self and works towards policy and programs that lift up rather than oppress.

We’re all very concerned about our upcoming election. I share your concerns. It may be most polarizing election in Canada’s history. On this Easter Sunday, I invite you to consider not only your vote, but also your attitude in casting it in this election. I believe the gospel of liberation calls us to consider the plight of the vulnerable in our society over our own preferences, beliefs, and financial well-being. It calls us to fight attitudes that blames the poor for their situation or seeks to punish those we despise. Many Christians use religion to justify gender stereotypes and to oppress and subjugate women, this also cannot stand.

It's a heavy calling, but isn’t it the way of Jesus? Didn’t Jesus warn us about putting personal property above people? Didn’t he confront systems and ideologies that blamed victims for their circumstances? Wasn’t he provocative in breaking social taboos – especially including women amongst his followers?

The resurrection stories reveal women as the first witnesses to his resurrection. Women – whose testimony was not deemed legitimate in court – were lifted up to be the apostles to the apostles. God used women to point men towards the resurrected, liberating Christ. In the Easter story, we may see God siding with the oppressed in order to bring about a better world for all.

“The Resurrection of Jesus is God’s gift to us, given to us to liberate us, so that we might liberate others. We called to participate with God in building up God’s Kingdom. Salvation can and should be here and now, by setting those who are captive free, replacing retribution with reconciliation, replacing punishment with forgiveness, and above all, replacing hate with love. AMEN.” (Rev. David Justin Lynch)