The Profit Motive of Liberation

Lectionary reflections for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)

By David Selzer

Readings for Easter 7, Year C, May 23, 2004

Acts 16.16-34

Psalm 97

Revelation 22.12-14, 16-17, 20-21

John 17.20-26

The Lesson from Acts tells the story of Paul and his companion Silas healing a slave girl who bothered them. This slave calls Paul and Silas slaves as well, which annoys Paul, who turns and heals her. She becomes a person freed from possession and is no longer worth anything to her owners, who turn on Paul and Silas, have them arrested, stripped and flogged, and put into prison. At night an earthquake shatters the prison, the jailer fears for his life because his charges are freed, and Paul and Silas offer friendship to the jailer, who takes them home and becomes a part of the Christian community. 

When the oppressed are liberated, they are no longer of any profit to the oppressor, and the oppressor then seeks vengeance against those who are instrumental in their liberation. The American Rachel Corrie puts herself in front of an Israeli bulldozer that is destroying Palestinian homes, and in response the driver of the bulldozer crushes her.

The legacy of oppressor and oppressed and liberation is a strong theme for this section from Acts. When the oppressed are liberated, they are no longer of any profit to the oppressor, and the oppressor then seeks vengeance against those who are instrumental in their liberation. The American Rachel Corrie puts herself in front of an Israeli bulldozer that is destroying Palestinian homes, and in response the driver of the bulldozer crushes her. The driver claims he did not see her, but the world knows better in this struggle of oppressed and oppressor. How aware Paul and Silas are of their own role is a good thought to ponder.

The “owners” of the woman turn on Paul and Silas have them arrested, stripped and beaten. In a system of distortion and oppression, one could claim that the “stripping naked and beating” is biblical, and thus our U.S. administration, in its fundamentalist ways, could claim biblical precedent for its deplorable orders to humiliate and break down prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. We, the “liberators” of Iraq, have quickly become the “oppressors” – the thought that runs through this text and the current day is how much of the profit motive is at work – even at the cost of dehumanization.

When the providential earthquake happens, Paul and Silas “speak the word of the Lord” to the jailer, refusing to see him as only oppressor or enemy, and instead see him as one who has the potential for conversion – a brother or sister. How much in our own lives can we easily label and dismiss the other and not see them as the sister or brother in solidarity as persons created in the image of God.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus prays for us and asks that we may all be one. This is the hardest task of the person of faith – to see ourselves and one another as persons created in the image of God. This is not a request for uniformity but liberation, a request that through our ability to love one another even when we disagree the rest of the world might know that there is a power greater than the powers and dominions of this world at work. When I was a university chaplain and often engaged in “discussions” with students, I would often set guidelines for myself and the other – we had to be able to agree to disagree with each other, and we had to respect each other as persons. These guidelines gave us a basic common ground that when observed we could relate to each other as human beings with compassion and justice rather than individuals who each had their own point of view and whose task it was to win at all costs.

The power of love runs through these lessons – the love that liberates and transforms individuals, even at the cost of persecution. The sense of peace (translate “wholeness”) says that we seek the peace of ourselves when we seek the peace of the other, as we are all created in the image of God, and are connected with one another. When one engages in sadistic and homophobic (and potentially sexually repressed) behavior against the Iraqi prisoner, or destroys the house of another out of spite or “orders” than one sins against humanity and one's own sense of self. The cost of such sacrifice is often extreme, as peacemakers from many eras of history can testify. But to be a person in any other way and be faithful is impossible. The witness to the love of God, the love of self, and the love of neighbor, is a witness against oppression and a witness against profit of one person at the benefit of another.

“. . .that they may all be one.” “Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.”  (H. E. Fosdick)

The Rev. David O. Selzer is rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Buffalo, N.Y., and past chair of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship . He may be reached by email at dos403@aol.com .