Juneteenth and the Gospel of the Kingdom

Glory to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is a holiday many of us may not be familiar with. Juneteenth commemorates the arrival of the US Army in Galveston, Texas. In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation freed all the slaves in the Confederacy – but Texas and the other Confederate states didn’t consider themselves subject to that proclamation so the men and women who were legally free remained in chains. Finally, in 1865 the Confederacy surrendered. But when the US Army arrived in Galveston to assert the authority of the rightful government, they found that nobody had told the slaves they were free. The slavemasters had been defeated for months – but in Texas, humans were still living in chains, as property.

The US authority, taking over the State House in Galveston, had to enforce a victory that had been won months earlier. And for the Black men and women of Texas, what a beginning of freedom! “The truth shall set you free” was literally true for them. Now they had to learn: How do free men and women live?

“From the beginning until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). Another translation: “the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and with force people lay hold of it.” Like the US army in Texas: We struggle to enforce a victory that has already been won. The enemy, already defeated, has no authority and rules only by lies.

The Israelites, those former slaves, when they arrived in the land they’d been promised, were told: “You will cross over the Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.” Israel was given ownership of the promised land, and ordered to go in and take possession of it. As for the giants in the land: “Be strong and courageous.”

We abide. Persevere. Occupy. And take by force the territory Christ has already won for us. This is what it means to pray and act in the name of Jesus Christ. 

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: Old things have passed away, and all things are made new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). We speak in the name of Christ. In a land held captive by lying slavemasters, we advance in the authority of Christ the King.

“No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house” (Mark 3:27).  This is spiritual warfare. We humble the flesh through fasting, standing in prayer, denying ourselves and taking up the cross. But the body is not your enemy. The body – its actions, words, the thoughts permitted to live in your brain – are the territory we fight to own and bring into submission to the King.

Francis of Assisi is not a saint on our calendar. But I appreciate something he said: Francis called his body Brother Donkey. Brother Donkey is stubborn. He doesn’t want to work. Brother Donkey needs to be persuaded, sometimes by force: You’ve got to show Brother Donkey who’s the boss.

So we fast, we stand and pray, we stay up late or rise early, we discipline ourselves to read scripture. Not just because these things are hard, but because we have become accustomed to a lie. We’ve lived like slaves so long we don’t remember how free men and women of God live. We are unaccustomed to living like citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Kingdom of God is meant to be extended to the realm of our body, our thoughts, words, and actions.

I know some of us came to church today wearing chains. Chains of anger, wrath that hurts your family. The Internet tugs your chain with outrage that eats your soul, or with images that compel you. Or there’s a bottle you slink back to every day because that hateful chain is familiar. You’ve been chained by a liar who says you will always be a slave.

But I’m here to tell you you have already been freed. Your victory has been won, the price has been paid, the chastisement of your peace was laid upon him and by his stripes you have been healed (Isaiah 53:5). That’s a beginning! Now what will the completion look like?

“As the rain comes down from heaven, and does not return there until it has watered the earth, and made it bring forth fruit, even so My word that goes forth from My mouth shall not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I will, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:8-11). Our God has committed himself to complete in you the work he has begun (Philippians 1:6). To form in you the likeness of Christ (Galatians 4:19). God “predestined you to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Romans 8:29). “Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2-3)

A fellow priest and I were laughing about how, if we’re left to ourselves, we’ll write and preach about Aramaic and archeology and typology and all sorts of fascinating things that are not action. But what we need both to do and to teach is: Practice patience and peace and mercy. Keep the fast and your rule of prayer. Love your wife and your enemy. Give alms. And keep your eyes on the goal: your attention on eternity.

My godson is learning to play the piano properly: He’s practicing playing scales. He hates it! But, you know, concert pianists and master musicians play scales. They practice the first and foundational skills. Olympic athletes warm up with the same stretches as anyone else. The Orthodoxy 101 course on the spiritual life is also the master class. Saints and prophets and holy men and women of God read their Bible, say their prayers, fast on Wednesdays, and guard their words, eyes, and thoughts.

And now we are citizens and joint heirs together with these saints in the kingdom of God (Ephesians 2:19), and we’ve been given the same tools and weapons they carry. The weapons of our warfare are not new, not dramatic. But they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds and fortresses; casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:4-5).

For this reason, together with the Apostle Paul, “ I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Amen” (Ephesians 3:16-21).