Captivity and freedom

[Jesus said,] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Luke 4:18-19

Did you know that 36% of the Bible is written about or from prison?  It's easier to see if you expand "prison" to include slavery, captivity, exile, and confinement.  The foundational character of Christianity, Jesus Christ, was accused, tried, and executed by the Roman Empire for committing the crime of sedition--basically rabble-rousing.  The book of Acts records at least nine stories of arrest.  The Apostle Paul wrote four of his books from prison (Ephesians, Philemon, Colossians, and Philippians).  The book of Revelation was written from a work camp.  And the enslavement and subsequent exile of the Israelites are two primary themes in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).  

Prison is an important place from which to read Scripture.  I will be doing that this fall.  I am taking a course called Biblical Incarceration.  Half of the students are divinity school students, and half are from a local prison.  We read the same books, complete the same assignments, and share more things in common than not.  We are all women.  We are all have hopes and dreams, fears and things we wish we hadn't done.  We differ in where we live--some inside of a correctional center, others outside of its walls.  We differ in that it might be possible for me to find information on Google about some very difficult times in my classmates' lives.  I might be able to read about something of which they are ashamed on in a very public forum.  They can't do the same about me.  For one thing, they don't have access to computers or the Internet.  For another, I, like so many of us, keep the things of which I am ashamed mostly shrouded in silence.  My classmates who live in prison often don't have that option.  

Last night was our first class together.  It was hugely eye-opening, to say the least.  I began to think about captivity and release, and freedom and oppression.  My classmates in captivity live circumscribed lives.  They must wear a certain color of clothing, and be present at particular places at specific times.  They live within hierarchies and systems and levels of privilege that are earned in certain ways.  They think in terms of the outside world.  In contrast, I have an almost unimaginable amount of freedom.  Every day, I choose what to wear and eat, where I will go and when, who I will see and what I will do.   I have constraints on my life, like everyone else, but I also have a level of autonomy that is hard to fathom in many, many places, including prison.  

In the past, when I have read the words of Jesus that are recorded in Luke 4:18-19, I have tended to spiritualize them.  I have thought, well, we are all captive and blind and oppressed to some degree, aren't we?  We all struggle with forces and situations within ourselves or in the outside world, so Jesus comes to liberate all of us.  Yes, he does.  But my "captivity" is not the same as literally being captive inside a correctional facility.  The kind of release and freedom that I imagine is in a different category than freedom from prison walls.  For the first time, I am looking at those words of Jesus in a more literal way.  What does it mean to go to prison, to live there in a place and situation that is not of your own choosing?  What does it mean to be released from that kind of captivity?

I don't know.  I have lots of questions and no easy answers.  But I am deeply grateful for the chance to learn alongside all of my classmates, those who live in prison and those who do not.  Together we will listen and speak, learn and question, and hopefully, in some small way, be released from our own captivity.  

This is the prayer with which we will end each class.  May it be a comfort to you today, whether the captivity and freedom you wrestle with and long for is literal or figurative.

Visit this place, O Lord, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy; let your holy angels dwell with us to preserve us in peace; and let your blessing be upon us always; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.