Psalm 146: Set the Captives Free (Now)!

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries by Major Michael Ramsay, 03 August 2025

 

We have a lot of scripture readings again because I want to chat some more about a truth that this is a common theme throughout the Bible: “Set the captives free!” Most of the time when we, in church, read about the captives being set free it is in the context of the Kingdom of God. The Gospels say that the Kingdom of God is at hand. In theology we use the term ‘prolepsis’ to refer to the time when the Kingdom of God begins, which is now, the time between the resurrection of Christ and His return at the eschaton. This is the time we are living in now and as Christians it is our responsibility to try to make this time as close to what the world will be like when Jesus comes back at the end of time – which is perfect.

 

The Bible repeatedly tells us what Christian nations look like, what we as Christians need to work toward in our country. Psalm 146 is example of how we can be a part of God’s Kingdom:

 

Psalm 146

1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul.

2 I will praise the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,

in human beings, who cannot save.

4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;

on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,

the sea, and everything in them—

he remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,

8     the Lord gives sight to the blind,

the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the foreigner

and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The Lord reigns forever,

your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

 

Verse 7 says, “The Lord sets the prisoners free”; you can also see this sentiment in Zechariah 9:11, Psalm 68:6, Psalm 102:20, Isaiah 42:7 and elsewhere. Jesus, as recorded in Luke, quotes Isaiah 42 letting people know that the time to set the prisoners free is now. I think this is important. I think we do need to do what the Bible tells us to do. I was reading one African Liberation Theologian’s essay (I believe it was Bongajalo Goba) this week in Hammering Swords into Plowshares, a book dedicated to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He said that one main difference between capitalist western churches and the Universal Christian Church is that western churches either spiritualize everything (for example: God doesn’t’ really want us to let people out of jail, that is just a metaphor for something else…maybe being free from our personal bad habits) or they try to say that the things that God tells us to do as a society are only in the future and God will do it; it is not our responsibility (we shouldn’t try to give sight to the blind now; we shouldn’t end hunger or homelessness now – even though we can!- God will do that when Jesus returns at the end of time). But the real Church including the churches in the third world realizes that when God tells us to make it so that no one is hungry; no one is lonely; no one is homeless; no one is thirsty, and no one is in prison; He is telling us to do it now! We are not supposed to go on propping up (western capitalist ‘democratic’) systems that are opposed to the expressed will of God and just say “oh well, when we all get to heaven we will all be okay” -both me who has so much and my neighbour who doesn’t. When we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be.

 

I have been really convicted and cut to the quick with the sentiment I shared at the Summer Rain festival: Jesus speaks about a salvation society as one where the sick are healed, the captives are freed, the hungry are fed, the lonely are visited, the perpetrator is forgiven, relationships are healed. In our world, in our country, in our province, in our city there is still conflict, abuse, addiction, poverty, homelessness, murder, mental illness, hate, violence, unforgiveness… What if we didn’t have to wait until we die to experience a world without all of this? What if Christ was right and he wasn’t lying to us? What if the Kingdom of God is actually at hand? What if the Church (and our churches) is actually the body of Christ and what if we actually do this?  

 

Recently I read Wrongfully Convicted by Canadian lawyer and Founder of Innocence Canada, Kent Roach and this week I have been reading Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, an American lawyer who has spent his career working with death row inmates. The horrors that people suffer behind bars in the USA are as bad as you imagine and even worse. Think of the TV shows you have seen and then place yourself or your loved ones in the place of the prisoners being abused by prisoners or guards, or judges, or whomever. When I studied Restorative Justice from Simon Fraser University a decade ago, we read stories of inmates who were actually lost in American prisons – it came time to release them and they had no idea where they were.

 

I have a story relating to that – when I was just a new Salvation Army Officer, I was appointed to the small town of Nipawin, Saskatchewan (Go Riders!). On Sunday a congregation member asked me if I could go see another congregation member, Zerah. “Sure” I said. “He is in cells” they said. Apparently, shortly before we had arrived to town Zerah had gone on an arson spree, lighting the town on fire. I spent the next weeks and months meeting Zerah whenever he was in town for the circuit court. In between court dates they would ship him off to prisons in Prince Albert or Regina – and I think his court cases were in Nipawin, Carrot River, or Tisdale. I would meet him in whatever small community courthouse the circuit court was meeting on that day of the week.

 

One time I was in the court room in Carrot River and they called Zerah’s name to stand before the judge. No answer. They called it again. No answer. The judge then said, “We will need to issue a warrant for his arrest for not showing up for court.” At this point I popped up from my seat and awkwardly raised my hand. I was in uniform so he knew I wasn’t Zerah; so he asked me “do you know where Zerah is?” “Yes. He is in prison in PA” I said. Everyone in the courtroom laughed. I didn’t. The judge didn’t. “Then we better not issue a warrant for his arrest – that would look pretty bad” the judge said as he instructed the bailiff to try to find Zerah and figure out how they lost him in the system. Eventually, they did find Zerah in prison; but can you imagine if I wasn’t there? This warrant issued from the bench would be on his record. They lost Zerah in prison.

 

I was reading some research this week. Did you know that quite a few people in U.S. jails, federal, and US state prisons have never even been convicted of a crime? What percentage of people in US jails do you think have never been convicted of a crime? 80%! 80% of people suffering all that they are suffering in prison have never been convicted of an offence and some of them never will be and some of them will have their convictions overturned on appeal. I didn’t find the stats for Canada but, from experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are similar.

 

A member of our church in Toronto when he immigrated to Canada from Dubai about 10 years ago, they held him and his sister in jail until they processed them – I am not sure how many months they were in jail. He was separated from his sister (she was put in a different jail) and quite concerned about her. I wound up having to go to the consulate with him to figure out a whole bunch of things – this is Canada.

 

I spoke to my friends in Stony Mountain Penitentiary when I was there for two years. They told me that the prison organized the wings by gangs: the Indian Posse had one wing, the Hells Angels another. They set the rules. They told me that you never make eye contact with anyone. It was hard not to be part of a gang. We put people who have never been convicted of a crime through this and more in Canada. And they can lose you in this system, like they did Zerah. Can you imagine if it was the day of your release and no one knew where you were to release you?

 

In 2023, in Canada, 61 people died in custody.  According to StatsCan, from 2017-2020 there were 169 deaths in our prisons: there were 20 suicides, 11 confirmed homicides, 19 drug overdoses and many other natural and suspicious deaths. In 2019 alone in the USA 143 were murdered while in the care of the State.

 

We, the Church, are called to free the prisoners; we, the Church, are supposed to be good stewards of the money God entrusts us with too. The estimated total court spending in Canada for 2014 was $1,614,017,311. That is not even including the incarceration and other costs! We could provide everyone the mental health and addiction support they need in this country for that amount of money. The average hotel cost across this country is $211.00 per night. The daily average cost of keeping someone in prison here is $326.00 per night which works out to $9780.00 per month. We could afford to put everyone in a hotel and give them the mental health and addition help they need for less than putting them in prison – and there are lots of safer cheaper ways to contain someone still. The average rental cost in Canada is $2200 / month which works out to $74 a day (as opposed to the $326 /day that it costs to put someone in a cage!); the average mortgage in Canada (including Vancouver, etc.) is just $2100 a month which works out to just $70 a day. We can feed and house people at the Bread of Life, Tiny Homes, or a shelter here for a lot cheaper than that too – with all the supports to keep themselves and others safe! So why do we lock people in prisons? It doesn’t help them. It doesn’t help us! – oh and btw I read that over 70% of those in Canadian prisons have diagnosed mental health conditions.

 

Instead of locking someone up to be tortured in the cages we call prisons, we could send someone somewhere actually safe and secure for mental health and addiction support – we just choose not to! Derek, one of our regular friends at the Army and the Bread of Life, every time he gets out of jail he is healthy-ish, well fed and not visibly fighting his demons for a week or so – but when they toss him out of prison they toss him out on the street with no support; so his own mental health demons torment him so much until he hurts himself and others in unimaginable ways and then winds up back behind bars where he suffers everything that one suffers there. That doesn’t make society safe. That doesn’t make Derick safe.

 

That doesn’t need to be the case. My friend Zerah was eventually sentenced to mental health care and weekly injections for his schizophrenia instead of jail and he was able to contribute to society. Why don’t we help everyone who needs help like that? Why do we torture people like we do to Derrick instead? Why? Just because Zerah ‘lucked out’ and had a compassionate judge? Because he had a TSA Officer with him the whole time? We are called to set the captives free. There is no reason for anyone to be tortured in a cage, let alone the 80% of the people we are doing this to who have never been convicted of a crime. And how can we punish people with mental health and addiction issues for acting in manners consistent with their mental health and addiction issues?

 

And… why am I asking us this question? And to 25 people here who actually do a lot for people in our community? What do I want us to do? Are we able to go speak with Judge Wolf and ask that he never sentence someone to incarceration again? – maybe; I wouldn’t object to that. Do I want a volunteer to start a court worker program here like we had in Saskatchewan that helped keep people out of prison? - maybe; I wouldn’t object to that. Am I asking us to write letter or speak in person to Josie (our MLA) and Gord (our MP) and ask them to change the legislation so that we try to help heal our community heal rather than punish the sick and even innocent people this way; maybe. I wouldn’t object to that.

 

I guess the main thing I am asking us is to keep our eyes open; keep our ears open. Remember that Jesus and the Bible does command us set the captives free and we as members of the church are asked to do that, just as we are asked to forgive one another like we have spoken about the previous few weeks. So today, I ask that we please just leave here knowing and believing that our world can be changed and it can be changed now; there are other solutions, let us look for them; let us pray for them, and let us fight for them. Jesus tells us to set the captives free.

 

Let us pray

www.sheepspeak.com

Luke 4:16-21; Isaiah 2:4, (Isaiah 61:1-4; Matthew 25:31-46). Swords, Summer Rain, and Salvation.

Presented to the Summer Rain Christian Festival and TSA AVM on 19 and 20 July, 2025 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

Last year here I spoke about Human Trafficking and the workers at San Group. They said they paid between $20 000.00 and $30 000.00 to come here to work for a wage in excess of $30/hr. They said they never received that wage. They said they were subject to unsafe working conditions: working with toxic chemicals without proper protective gear, working long hours, many days in a row. They were afraid for themselves, and they were afraid for the safe transportation of their family. They showed us where they lived. They explained to us how they lived. They asked us to help them flee.

 

fifteen of the 16 workers were taken out of town to a secure Salvation Army facility in Victoria where they could have their physical, emotional and spiritual care needs met and where they could get the legal and other counsel that they needed.

 

The years prior I spoke here about our Emergency Disaster Services work and pointing people to salvation from natural disasters. This was really on my mind lately as all those children recently died in Texas. The first international deployment I was ever on was in Texas. Those children who died recently were at a Christian sleep away camp. We just sent 33 children from here to a sleep-away camp. It has been heavy on my heart. When I spoke about our EDS work here last, I spoke about a hurricane that struck Galveston where people didn’t necessarily need to perish; people who had the chance to choose to get on a bus to escape the impending disaster or to stay and perish: some chose salvation, some rejected it.

 

I often speak about how salvation is forever and how it begins right now and we can choose to take advantage of that salvation – whether it be a bus out of town to free us from human trafficking or a bus out of town to free us from impending flood or hurricane or a metaphorical bus out of sin and death into eternal life. But…

 

Salvation, of course, is more than that. Jesus, Luke, Isaiah, the Bible speaks about a salvation society as one where the sick are healed, the captives are freed, the hungry are fed, the lonely are visited, the perpetrator is forgiven, relationships are healed. Isaiah 2:4 speaks of Salvation as where the Lord:

He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

 

In our world, in our country, in our province, in our city there is still conflict, abuse, addiction, poverty, homelessness, murder, mental illness, hate, violence, unforgiveness…and we still pick up our swords. What if we didn’t have to wait until we die to experience a world without all of this? What if Christ was right and he wasn’t lying to us? What if the Kingdom of God is actually at hand? What if the Church (and our churches) is actually the body of Christ and what if we actually do this? It has been said that poverty isn’t a matter of scarcity: God has provided more than enough for the whole world; poverty is a matter of distribution. Countries, organizations, and people with resources simply do not share. I understand that the payroll of the NY Yankees alone could feed and clothe the world – how many sports teams are there in Canada and the US alone? Baseball? Hockey? Football? I plan to watch the game today … Is that what we choose instead of feeding a starving child? America is seemingly always at war and we are when they tell us. I read an article about their recent bombing of Iran. It was a very small American attack – nothing like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. etc. They only used four planes: each plane cost one billion dollars, the missiles they launched each cost 1 million dollars. How many American children could they feed, shelter and educate for that? They (we) would rather spend money killing other people’s children than providing the needed care and education to save their (our) own children. It seems that they (we) would rather their (our) own children die in poverty than pass up the opportunity to kill their (our) enemies’ children. Isaiah says God’s nations will beat swords into ploughshares. We are beating ploughshares into swords. I only pick on the US because I read the article about them and they are the world’s only superpower: Israel, Britain, France, China, Russia, India, Canada, etc., etc. etc.… it all applies. Our countries: if we are sheep nations rather than goat nations, if we are saved, we will beat our swords into ploughshares and we will put more effort into saving people than we do in killing them.

 

Of the over 35 million people in Canada today, 35 485 of us are locked in cages, prisons. There are homeless people right here on the streets of our town today. In BC addiction is more in your face than anywhere else in Canada. I did not see as many people on the streets in Regent Park, Toronto, Canada’s first ghetto, as I did in front of the OPS here when I first arrived.

 

Matthew 25:31ff says that the sheep nations, the ones that are saved are ones who feed the hungry, water the thirsty, visit the lonely, sick and imprisoned, house the unhoused stranger…. Are we a saved nation or do we have unhoused, hungry, lonely people in prison and on the streets? Do you care? Are we as the church doing our part? Are we members of the Kingdom of God fighting to overthrow the powers, principalities and systems of this world?

 

Who here professes Christ as our saviour? When we look at Matthew 25:31ff – even the goat nations that don’t go to spend eternity with our Lord do that! Matthew 7 says that not everyone who calls Jesus Lord is saved. Salvation is more than that. I recently read a poem that was shared at a ‘poor persons conference’ in Albergue years ago. Here is a modified excerpt:

I was hungry

and you formed a … club

and discussed my hunger.

Thank you.

 

I was imprisoned

And you crept off quietly

To your chapel in the cellar

And prayed for my release

[Thank you]

 

I was sick

And you knelt

and thanked God

for your health

[Thank you]

 

I was homeless

And you preached to me

Of the spiritual shelter of

The love of God

[Thank you]

 

I was lonely

and you left me alone

 to pray for me.

[Thank you]

 

You seem so holy;

So close to God

But I’m still very hungry

And lonely

And cold…

 

Liberation Theologian Albert Nolan asks, “How can one speak about the church as the body of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth when church people are so healthy, well-fed and have no broken bones?”  Are we complicit with the systems of this world or are we fighting to expand the Kingdom of God? What can we do? How can you and I at least, beat our swords into ploughshares? How can you and I, at least, act like sheep? First we must advocate for real change! (to de-commodify the world for starters) Then we must do it!

 

Now there is a glimmer of hope even here. This Thursday, as every Thursday, there was I prayer meeting at the Bread of Life Centre. Friends who eat with us there, friends who sleep there, friends who live and visit us there – they pray. You should see the tears. You should hear the testimonies. The Spirit is moving (preaching Good News through the poor); God is transforming lives.

 

When I was in the Cypress Heath region, people were dying in the hospital without the congregations or their pastors even knowing they were there. People were not getting any support. The Lord used His people to set up a hospital chaplaincy program where a pastor would do the rounds everyday and visit everyone in the hospital and reach out to the pastors of the other churches when their congregation members were in the hospital.

 

When I was in Southwest Saskatchewan it was put on hearts, the number of people who were going to prison over and over again – and the number of victims of crime who never had the opportunity to face their accuser and never had the opportunity to be free of unforgiveness. Before my time, God used TSA set up restorative justice in SW Saskatchewan where the victim and offender were able to see each other, the victim would be able to have their questions answered and the victim would be given the opportunity to be freed from unforgiveness which can kill us all.

 

During my time there, God used His people to set up a transition through incarceration program where we sat with the offender (and victim) in court, kept in touch with them in prison, set them up with a place to stay, a job, a social group that was different than the one they had when they went into prison. Of all the people we sat with only one person ever re-offended. Societies can be changed. God does transform lives and He will transform the world. (We do need to get rid of prisons altogether! In the Kingdom of God people aren’t locked in cages!)

 

Since I have been in town, I have seen God use His people to set up the shelter at the Bread of Life centre, and provide food and shelter 24 hours a day, seven days a week through staff, volunteers, soldiers, and community partners (including the ministerial association and various churches) past and present. (We do need to provide supportive housing; there is no homelessness in the Kingdom of God)

 

My friends, this is what the kingdom of God looks like; this is what Salvation looks like. It is people being transformed as they come to know our Lord and Saviour; it is societies being transformed as they come to follow our Lord and Saviour. Are you a part of God’s transformative church in our society? Do you want to be? Do you want to offer food and prayer to people on the food truck? You can. Do you want to serve people at the food bank or the soup kitchen? You can. Do you want to lead a Bible Study at the shelter or the Bread of Life? You can. If service, study, or hospitality are not your gifts… maybe you would like to organize a food drive? Maybe God has given you two coats and you can donate one to the Thrift Store - so that it can either be given to someone in need, or sold to someone in need so that they can have the dignity of selecting and purchasing it themselves, and/or sold to generate funds for services to those in need? Maybe you don’t think that you have anything to offer but maybe beyond your tithes to your local congregation, God is leading you to feed the hungry in your own community by writing a cheque. There are a million ways or more to serve and be used by God as part of transforming our whole society into a salvation society and everyone is welcome to participate!

 

I often think of Randall from my time in Toronto. He is blind. I think he grew up in quite an abusive home. He lived in 220 Oak, the worst building in one of the worst areas of Toronto. Randall is a soldier in our Salvation Army. Randall played music. He was a blind man carrying a tuba (or baritone) on his back, his white cane in his hand, finding his way on subways, busses, and through the roughest most crime ridden areas of Toronto by himself to play music at churches, funerals, Christmas kettles, anywhere he went he shared the gospel in music. And every Friday morning at 7am he would join me and others as we walked around regent park and prayed for people living in the neighbourhood that was once North America’s first ghetto. This is Salvation and it begins now and continues on forever. I have friends of mine from my time serving at Stoney Mountain Penitentiary in Winnipeg who, even though they were behind bars, led people to a saving relationship with our Lord who then brought that Salvation they found behind bars to the outside world. God can use each and everyone of us to change this world, to grow His Kingdom!

 

We posted a picture recently on social media of a child who donated his birthday money to the Bread of Life Centre – most of our employees at The Salvation Army are what in contemporary vernacular we call ‘piers’ or people with ‘lived experience’ – most of us come from backgrounds of addiction, abuse, homelessness. I can’t tell you the number of people we have working with us right now who have their first ever jobs and they are in their 30s 40s and 20s, parents, people who God is using to do wonderful, amazing things.

 

God will transform Our world – He promises whole new heavens and a whole new earth. The question for us is will we be a part of it? We can. He wants us to be.

 

So, let us ask to the Lord where and how He would like each of us to live out our salvation, to be a part of His Kingdom? Let us ask Him how He can use each of us to point our neighbour to salvation both now and forever? As the Lord is leading you to help out in your church, go talk to your pastor today while it is still on your heart. As the Lord is leading you to help at the soup kitchen, shelter, foodbank, food truck, or other ways, you are welcome to chat with me today. As we all share the Gospel of Christ in word and deed, then the Lord can and will save us all and He will use even us to transform our society into His Kingdom, to make our whole world anew.

 

Let us pray

www.sheepspeak.com

Luke 6:17-26: Jesus' Plain Sermon

Presented to The Salvation Army's Alberni Valley Ministries, 30 January 2022 by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most famous and most appreciated portions of scripture. We love to run through Matthew’s Beatitudes particularly. They are a blessing and they are counted as a blessing to many of us. Matthew 5:1-11: 

 

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 

 

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

 

These are words that we can always reflect on when we need encouragement. We have previously looked at Jesus’ Mountain Sermon.[1] Today, we are going to look a little bit at Jesus’ Plain Sermon as recorded in Luke Chapter Six. Some people say these are two different versions of the same sermon.[2] If this is true Luke has it in a different place and he recounts some very significant things that Matthew did not recall. [3] 

 

The Sermon on the Plain, other than its location, begins pretty much the same as the sermon on the mount with its blessings. Luke 6:20-23: 

20 Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

22 Blessed are you when people hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil,

because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

 

These are words that can give us strength to continue. If we are poor now – as are more and more people in our country every day and as are far more people in our world than need be - we can endure because in the end, we will be in the Kingdom of God where there is no poverty. This can encourage many people with whom we walk on a daily basis and is a real blessing for many more people in our world today.

 

If we are hungry now – as is so much of our world today – we will be satisfied, maybe not now but in God’s Kingdom because in the Kingdom of God there will be no more hunger. No more children, adults, or others will die of starvation in the Kingdom of God.

 

We feed hundreds of people, hundreds of times each week in the Valley here. In the Kingdom to Come there will be no need for food banks. There will be no need for soup kitchens. There will be no need for food trucks. All those who are hungry will be satisfied. 

 

If we weep now due to the inherent divides in our country today, Luke records, Jesus says, we will laugh in the future Kingdom. There are many sad things in life. There are many things that bring us to tears. There are things that happen in the news. There are things that happen in the world. There are things that happen in our community and there are sad things that happen in our part of our community. There are many really sad things that happen every day between just the block and a bit between here and the Bread of Life.  And there are sad things that cause each and every one of us, no matter who we are, to pause and to weep. 

 

At Ministerial meetings that we have attended across this country we have often had a blessed time joining in prayer with the pastors about the things that they weep and pray over. We listen to the troubles of the parishioners from the so-called ‘middle class’ or wealthy churches and we realize that -while their problems are very real, they are really very different than the troubles of the poor and the marginalized. We do pray with the pastors about the things that they weep and pray over. We listen to the troubles of the parishioners from the so-called ‘middle class’ or wealthy churches and we realize that -while their problems are very real, they are really very different than the troubles of the poor and the marginalized. This gulf is widened even more when we think of the churches in Africa, South America and elsewhere in the world![4] The poor and the marginalized suffer so much. There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth in pain, sorrow, grief, and distress.

 

I think of those who have cried long and hard in my office when I read this passage about laughing in the Kingdom of God and while I do offer prayer and the Lord’s comfort, it is a comfort to me to read here that indeed in the Kingdom to Come those who are weeping now will be laughing.

 

One thing that I have really noticed especially in BC – so much more than other places I have lived – but definitely more and more in our nation - is that people really are insulted, excluded, hated, and rejected as evil just because they serve the Lord. I used to read the publicly funded and administered CBC website religiously everyday to find out what was going on in our country. About 10 years ago or more now I stopped altogether. It was just too anti-Christian. It was noticeably anti-Catholic. It seemed to have no shame saying things about the Catholic church that you would never dare utter about any protected category of people in our country. The slant of many news stories seemed to paint the church as evil. I have spoken to many people who have regretted speaking to CBC reporters because their words were manipulated. I know I am certainly once bitten and twice shy regarding interviews with the CBC myself.

 

I do love BC; I love this Island; I love this community. But you know what I loved about Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and even Ontario? In none of those places did I feel looked down on for my faith; in none of those places did I feel excluded for my faith; in none of those places did I feel someone thought I was evil for being a Christian and for being a pastor. It is different here (It is possibly even worse in Quebec from what I read and probably coming more to the rest of our nation as well.)

 

But you know what? In the Kingdom to Come, In’s Christ’s Kingdom; when Christ, Our Lord comes back this will not happen anymore – all those who are excluded, insulted, and called evil for following the Lord will receive their reward.  

Don’t be intimidated by those who are calling you evil for doing good and don’t be tricked into hating them in equal measure. Also don’t hate those who are eating, hording, and wasting food while our hungry brothers and sisters die here and around the world. Don’t resent those who are laughing in excess as people are mourning in poverty. Don’t hate the people receiving the applause of the rich, well-fed, and happy. This is their time. This is their democracy where their voices matter. It is not ours. Our kingdom is coming and when it does, Luke 6:23-26:  

 

24 “But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

25 Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,

for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

 

Societies based on wealth (capitalism) can never be Christian (Matthew 6:24) as they exclude the poor.[5] This is a condemnation (as is much of Luke and Matthew’s writings) of the values that inspire and sustain capitalism. I imagine if you told these gospel writers that there would be a system of economic governance based so much on the service of mammon that is actually called capital-ism, they would be shocked. I imagine they would cry to see the wealth and unimaginable disparity between the rich and the poor in our world today. I imagine they would be sick to know that people now fly into space for fun while children starve to death and I imagine that they would not be even able to imagine our world where if just the richest country would spend a fraction of the money it spends on killing poor children and families instead on feeding and clothing them, there would be no more naked and hungry people in our world.[6]

 

Two thousand years after these words were recorded the chasm between the Rich man and Lazarus has expanded exponentially (Luke 16:19-31). As hard as it was for the rich young man to leave his wealth and follow Jesus in the 1st Century, I imagine it is that much more difficult today (Luke 18:18-30, Mark 10:17-31, Matthew 19:16-30).  When Jesus returns this will all change. It will and then woe to rich, woe to the fed, woe to those who laugh, and woe to those who receive praise now.[7]

 

These woes are something that I have been reflecting on this week as I have been praying, meditating, researching and reading this pericope. At first glance these woes read like ‘an eye for an eye’ – you kept all these resources from the poor; when Jesus comes back he is going to get you (but cf. Matthew 8:35-42). It almost sounds like Marx where he speaks about an impending society where the proletariat will get their revenge by instilling a dictatorship over the bourgeoisie. But I don’t think Jesus is a Marxist anymore than I think He is a Capitalist. I don’t read a lot of retribution in the words of Jesus.[8]  

 

In the very next words recorded in Jesus’ sermon here, quite the contrary, He says:

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

 

So then what does Jesus means when he pronounces woes for the rich, the well-fed, those who laugh now and receive praise, if it does not mean they will receive direct retribution? This is what I think it means in the context of Luke Chapter 6 and Jesus’ Plain Sermon: I think in the new heaven and on the new earth, there will be plenty of resources for everyone – just like there is now! But the difference is that those of us who are on the new earth, those of us who are part of the Kingdom of Heaven will share! I think the woes that will befall the privileged is that they will not have everything that they have now at the eschaton. In Jesus’ kingdom we don’t hoard money, or food, or housing, or access to resources. In Jesus’ kingdom everyone is invited to participate and everyone will receive the same just like in the parable of the farm workers/day labourers (Matthew 20:1-16).

 

As Christians it is our duty to try to create a Christian society where everyone has access to all that we need. This is why Jesus says, as recorded by both Luke and Matthew, that it is indeed difficult for the rich to inherit the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:19-24; Luke 12:13-21). This is the source of their woes, for as citizens of heaven we will naturally share all of our excess until such a time as no one has any deficit and indeed in so doing this is a key way we show that we are indeed citizens of Heaven.

 

God has provided more than enough so that no one needs to starve in our world, no one needs to be without full and proper medical and dental care in our country. And no one needs to be homeless in our city. As Christians, as citizens of heaven, it is necessary that we work toward those ends now. For as we work towards helping the poor and the disenfranchised now, we prove our citizenship in the eternal Kingdom to Come. [9]

 

This is my encouragement to many of you who are here today. Many of you have been helping those in need in our community and in our world for many, many years now.  Many of your have regularly tithed and given to Partners In Mission. Many of you have volunteered hours of your lives helping out those in need right here in our community. My friends I want to encourage you. As you continue to do this, you continue to show to the world not only what the Kingdom of God looks like but that indeed that each and everyone of you are citizens of that kingdom.

 

Let us pray.

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[1] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Matthew 5:1-16: A Spoonful of Blessings Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 04 January 2015 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 29 September 2019 by Captain Michael Ramsay. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2015/01/matthew-51-16-spoonful-of-blessings.html

[2] William Hendricksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), 334-335 explores this very question in detail

[3] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1990), 86 further explores some of the differences in physical and textual setting of Matthew, Luke and Mark.

[4] Paul John Isaak, “617-20a: Sermons Today” in  Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1241.

[5] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Matthew 26:10: The Poor will always be with you (Salvogesis, January 10, 2022), https://salvogesis.blogspot.com/2022/01/matthew-2610-poor-will-always-be-with.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR1pcI-pdA28F-qMsO1MMyjQ_E5EQgyQOuhWP5l1t6B50YpdqxVWd8ooPXQ

[6] John Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2008), 76: Ignacio Ellacuria emphasises the need for us to replace a 'civilization of wealth'.

[7] R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 143-145 speaks quite a bit about the woes to the rich in the impending society.

[8] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 146

[9] Paul John Isaak, “617-20a: Sermons Today” in  Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1242