Unbind him and let him go!

I have mixed feelings about the John gospel. Of the four gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, the John gospel was the last written. None of the John material can be read as history. It was written two to three generations after the death of Jesus. The author cannot possibly be John the disciple. The John gospel was written in the area of Antioch in central Asia Minor. The other gospels were written in or around Jerusalem. Antioch was about six hundred mile north-west of Jerusalem. Antioch was a hub city that had a very mixed population. Although a part of the Roman Empire, it was heavily influenced by Greek and Babylonian culture and philosophy. Theology was debated and Christianity was in the middle of the debate. That is what John is about. The John gospel is strikingly different from the other three gospel accounts. It was written for a different audience and a different purpose.

John was a great story teller, and some of the greatest Bible stories come from his pen. Jesus and the woman at the well. The wedding in Cana of Galilee. The conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus. Feeding of the five thousand. Jesus walking on water. Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. Jesus and the man born blind. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Peter’s denials of Jesus. Jesus and Thomas. Most of these stories are told only in John. Each story is told to make a point, not to report the history of Jesus.

If you are looking for history, forget John. If you are looking for great stories that make a point, read John. The stories are unforgettable.

I love the story of Jesus and Lazarus. I have preached a good many sermons from the passage that is found in chapter 11. It tells the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha. Lazarus had fallen ill. Mary and Martha sent an urgent message to Jesus. “Come quickly and heal our brother.” Jesus showed no urgency in making a response. By the time he arrived at the home of his close friends, Lazarus had died. Jesus and his friends then went to the grave site of Lazarus. Jesus with a loud voice called out “Lazarus, come out!” Out walked Lazarus from the tomb. He was still wrapped in grave clothes. The next word was spoken to those who accompanied Jesus. “Unbind him and let him go!”

These are words from John that have long confronted me.

In the story of the Israelites, one of the great dramatic times in their history was when Moses confronted Egypt’s Pharaoh. In the name of the Lord, Moses gave the command “Let my people go!” It was the new chapter in the life of the Israelites. Moses demanded release of a slave people. God’s people were to be a free people, not a slave people.

One of the most common tasks of organizations is to formulate a mission statement. Churches are not an exception. Some mission statements are long; some are short and concise. I believe I can make a strong case for every Christian church to adopt a mission statement that simply says “Unbind people and set them free.”

Paul asserts the ideal of freedom in Galatians. “For freedom Christ has set us free.” For Paul the image of the Christ-like life is freedom, not bondage. Paul would be a strong partner of any church that adopted a mission statement “Unbind people and set them free.”

Can words written 1900 years ago in a very cosmopolitan city in Asia Minor with a particular audience in mind, be reasonably applied broadly in the life situations of the 21st century? I would argue that freedom and human beings are a good fit for one another in every century. This was the ideal of our nation AND is a key insistence in the Israelite and Christian traditions. Human beings find their best in a society in which freedom is honored and practiced.

I do not believe any amount of education and training can fully prepare a minister for the vocation of pastor of a church. An amazing variety of people come through the door of every congregation. I had high quality college and seminary training. Preaching, teaching, baptizing, conducting funerals and weddings and hosting communion services were not all that difficult. Good training covered those bases. The surprise was the number of ways people were bound up by life circumstances. In those settings I found that a key part of pastoral responsibility was in the name of Christ to unbind and set free.

I treasure my Christian Faith. There are key words that grace my vocabulary. Grace, peace, kindness, mercy, love. However, those great words and the meanings that drive them are incomplete without freedom.

For freedom Christ sets people free. Never forget it.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.