Isaiah 61:1-3a

William F. Schnell

December 14, 2008

    ‘Tis the season for pardons.  In keeping with holiday tradition, President Bush pardoned two turkeys previously consigned to the slaughterhouse.  After their names were announced by President Bush, he added, "Pumpkin and Pecan are certainly better than the names the Vice President suggested, which was ‘Lunch and Dinner.’"  Or "Scooter and Libby,” which a press member of the more liberal persuasion was overheard suggesting. 

   The practice of issuing pardons by presidents, governors and other chief executives goes back a long way.  You will recall in the story of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion that it was the custom for the Roman Governor, Pilate in this case, to release a prisoner.  He tried to release Jesus, but the crowd clamored for Barabbas instead.  In our country, it is customary for the President (and state governors) to exercise the constitutional power to pardon during the month before Christmas.  Hence you will hear the media refer to Christmas pardons, which happens to be the title of our message for this morning.

   As the third candle was lit on our Advent Wreath a reader proclaimed: “We light this candle to remember that Christ brings the promise of a new life - a life in which the blind receive sight, the lame walk, and the prisoners are set free.”  One of our readers was fine with all of that except the last line about prisoners being set free.  It probably would not be wise to set all the prisoners free in our land.  I just watched a rerun of Hannibal-the-Cannibal Lector and would just as soon see the likes of him remain behind bars for the sake of the public good.

   But not everybody in prison is like Hannibal Lector.  Just about every time I visit a prison or jail I am struck by some of the inmates I meet.  Many of them seem to be regular guys like my pals in college, except that they cannot leave their “dorm.”  I look at them and wonder what they did, or were convicted of doing.  Was it bad enough to deserve this?  Was this really serving their best interests, or that of society’s?  These are the troubling questions such a visit can leave with you.

   Not everybody in prison is like Hannibal Lector.  Nelson Mandela was in prison 27 years before he was elected President of South Africa in their first fully representative democratic election.  Martin Luther King did time in the slammer, as did one of his inspiring models Mahatma Gandhi.  Jesus was arrested and sentenced for a capital offense.  Most all the apostles were imprisoned including Peter and Paul.  Indeed, being a follower of Jesus was originally a violation of the law punishable by imprisonment.

   So when the biblical writers speak of setting the prisoners free, they are not thinking in terms of Hannibal Lector.  They are not thinking in terms of murderers.  They are not thinking in terms of sinners, right?  Right?  I just read in the Advocate that the former Ravenna Police Chief is in jail for, among other things, allegedly shooting his gun at his son.  There is a fine line between upright citizen and lowdown jailbird.  There is also a little of both in all of us.

   As the saying goes, “There but for the grace of God go I”—or you.  Had you or I not had the breaks we had—growing up in stable and loving families; benefiting from the privileges accorded our race, gender or social class; being just plain lucky—we might have made the kind of mistakes for which others have done time.  And if we had done time, we would understand the need for mercy and pardon as God wants us to understand that need.

   Maybe we have done time after all.  Not all time is done in jails or prisons.  The Exiles did their time as captives in a foreign land.  Let us return to the Prophet Isaiah to hear God’s Word to them and us.  The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord I on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… (Verse 1). 

   The Lord anointed Isaiah to preach good news to the poor—to the poor exiles in Babylon.  You will recall from last Sunday’s sermon that the Jews had been defeated by their enemies, their lands had been laid waste and their cities burned—including the capital city of Jerusalem with its palace and temple.  And to add insult to injury the survivors had been rounded up and relocated to the land of their captors as slaves.  What did they do to deserve this?

   Well, they did a lot to deserve it.  They had been warned time and again by the prophets God had sent to them, but they continued in their sinful ways.  The rich preyed on the poor, the false god of materialism was worshiped and the people of Judah had it coming.  So now that they found themselves exiled from the land of promise and stuck in the land of bondage you might have expected God to say: “I told you so.”  But that is not the Word he spoke through the prophets.  

   God anointed the prophet Isaiah to preach good news to them, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners….  God is not a cosmic child abuser.  God only wants the best for his children.  Sometimes he just has to get a little firm to get their attention.  Now he had their attention, and he told them that he was going to free them from their captivity and return them to the Land of Promise.

   In our New Testament lesson Jesus applied this prophesy to himself.  As he was beginning his ministry he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, read our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah and said: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).  As God had anointed Isaiah in days gone by, so he was now anointing Jesus to accomplish the same purposes—to preach the good news, to bind up the brokenhearted and to free the captives.

   But who were the captives in his day?  His people were no longer exiled from the Land of Promise (although their land was occupied by Rome).  Jesus was speaking of another kind of captivity—another kind of prison.  To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say that we shall be set free?”  Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin (John 8:31-34).

   People with addictions to pharmaceuticals like OxyContin, or street drugs like methamphetamine or alcohol are not free.  They are not free to stop their self-destructive behaviors.  That is obvious.  But what is less obvious are the many ways our other sins can take control of our lives in self-destructive ways.  Some relationships can become as toxic as drugs.  We can be imprisoned by excessive greed until virtually every aspect of our lives is controlled by the desire to get more.  We can be held captive for years by a single grudge.

   I got an interesting blast from the past a few weeks ago, from a fellow who came with his fiancé to the first church I served about 25 years ago.  They were not members of the church or associated with it, but they wanted to be married and so I officiated at their service.  That was the last I saw of them.  Recently this fellow wanted to look me up and, after a little research on the internet, tracked my email address down and sent me a message.  He said that in a few days I would be getting a CD in the mail with his Christian testimony on it, which I did.

   I did not get around to listening to it until two days ago, but it is a compelling story and I would be happy to share the CD with anyone who cares to hear its message.  This fellow’s father had been a police officer who loved his children.  He took them camping, gave them rides on his motorcycle and provided great vacations and holidays.  The son wanted to be like his dad and so he went through training to become a police officer himself. 

   One night he called his dad after training classes to say that he had met a young woman in the program who he had asked out on a date.  This woman would eventually become his fiancé, but we get ahead of ourselves.  After the phone call his dad went out on patrol and stopped a driver for something.  The driver did not have a license, so a call was put in to run a computer check on his name.  It seems there was a warrant out for his arrest and, when this was discovered, a scuffle ensued.  The driver got the officer’s gun and shot him three times in the head and neck, which killed him.

   The perpetrator was soon caught and tried.  The son wanted the death penalty, but the prosecutor said that you could never predict with certainty what a jury would do without a confession.  A plea bargain could be made whereby the defendant would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.  With the prosecutor’s encouragement, the son and his family chose to offer the plea bargain, which was accepted, and the man was sent to prison to serve out his term. 

   But the results were far from satisfying for the son.  He was angry that his father had missed meeting his future bride by one day, he was bitter that his father would never know his grandchildren and he was tormented that his father had been violently murdered.  The son directed his anger toward God.  How could God let this happen?  To get back at God the son sought to disprove him with the arguments of philosophers.  He defied God by living in ways that violated good and godly principles.  But nothing he did would ease the torment inside.

   In the meantime his father-in-law, a Christian man, made the case for faith in God.  Through this persistent witness and the son’s attendance at a spiritual retreat similar to our Emmaus Walk, our spiritually tormented brother began to read the Bible.  In its pages he found a measure of peace return to his life, but he also found challenging passages like the following: For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if your do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:14-15).

    In his heart he felt prompted to forgive the man who murdered his father.  He wrote a letter to the inmate detailing his struggles, conversion and decision to forgive in keeping with God’s Word to him.  He did not tell anybody about his letter, including his wife or mother or father-in-law—certainly not his fellow police officers.  He did not know what to expect from the inmate in return.  It might have been denial of guilt or derision or silence.  It did not matter.  What mattered was offering the pardon of forgiveness.

   Three months later he received a letter from the inmate.  With both dread and anticipation he opened the letter.  It was a letter filled with remorse.  The inmate said that he had cried over it for three months.  He said that he had never talked with anyone about that terrible night until now.  He spoke of his own tormented childhood without benefit of what he called “Father Love” in his life.  Up until this time the inmate had only known Christianity from a distance, but his experience of the amazing grace extended to him by the murdered man’s son made him want to know more.

   Thus began a continuing correspondence where the grown son, now a member of a SWAT Team, led the imprisoned murderer of his father to the Lord.  And our forgiving brother said that this is only half the story.  While he offered his forgiveness for the sake of the inmate, he found that the act of forgiveness healed his own soul as well.  His wife had always felt that he bottled up his anger inside and that some day it would explode out of him in a destructive way.  Now she sensed that peace and joy had replaced the torment within.

   One day she encouraged him to share his testimony with a friend who harbored hatred toward his mother.  This latter fellow was inspired by the testimony to offer forgiveness to his mother, who now feels welcomed to visit her grandchildren.  Maybe there is someone here who feels inspired by this story to offer pardon to someone else and to find liberation for themselves.  You see, we can all become imprisoned by our anger, bitterness and hatred.  And we can all find release by following the Lord who was anointed to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

   I am so glad that this brother sought me out after all these years to share his testimony with me and now with you.  Maybe we can translate it into a Christmas Pardon of our own, and find the peace and joy of Christmas for ourselves.