Prayers of the People: To Free or Not to Free ~ 4th Sunday of Easter ’25 WLWC* Yr C

 For Sunday, May 11, 2025; Readings: Acts 12:6-17, Psalm 69:1-3, 30-34; 

Philemon 1:1-2, 7-16; Luke 13:10-17

 

 Now when Simon Peter was about to be handed over to Herod…he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains…and suddenly an angel of the Most High stood over Peter…and said to him, “Get up quickly!”…Then the chains fell from his hands…Peter came to himself saying…”the Most High really sent their angel and delivered me”…he went on to the house of Mary…knocked at the door…an enslaved your woman named Rhoda…recognizing Peter’s voice…announced that Peter was standing in the courtyard…they said to her, “You are insane!”  [Acts 12:6-7, 12-15]

   Save me, God…I make my prayer to you Wisdom of the Ages…Rescue me…let me be delivered…For the Faithful God who hears the needy, and those who belong to her and are imprisoned, she does not despise… [Psalm 69:13-14…33]

  I am appealing to you for my child whom I birthed during my imprisonment, Onesimus. Formerly to you he was useless, but now to you and to me he is useful…I wanted to hold him with me…so that he might serve me However, without your consent I would do nothing so that your good work would not be forced rather voluntary…Perhaps for this reason he removed himself…for some time that for all time you would then have him. No longer a slave but more than a slave—a brother beloved…in flesh and in the Redeemer. [Philemon 1:10-11, 13-16]

   Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath…suddenly there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity… that had crippled her…she was bent over and was not able to stand up completely. Now when Jesus saw her, he called out and said, “Woman you are set free from your infirmity.” …But the leader of the synagogue…indignant because it was on the sabbath that Jesus cured her…said…”There are six days on which one ought work…and not on the Sabbath Day.” But the Messiah answered him and said, “Hypocrites…ought she not be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath Day?”   [Luke 8:4-9]

    In the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) across all three years of Readings (Years A, B, C) this is commonly known as Good Shepherd Sunday as Psalm 23 is read in all three years and most of the readings have to do with sheep, shepherds, and of course, Jesus. However, as is the usual case, Dr.  Gafney* challenges us with readings we do not receive over the course of the RCL, that is, these are actual biblical texts but are not used in the “regular” course of readings. We are called to question our own perspectives of freedom: who are free, and the societal indifference to the bondage under which some people live in our own time.

    By naming another woman we’ve not heard of in the RCL, we learn that Rhoda is an enslaved woman who recognizes Peter by his voice after God’s angel releases him from prison. Rhoda runs to tell the assembled [large] number of believers that Peter was at the door. But a credible slave girl? She was mocked although finally proved right. Nonetheless, she remained a slave, the property of Mary, mother of John called Mark.

   Moving to Paul’s letter to Philemon, we learn of Onesimus (oh-ness-eh-mus), a slave that Paul refers to as my child whom I birthed during my imprisonment. Paul asks for Philemon to accept him with the surprising phrasing of “Formerly to you he was useless, but now to you and me he is useful.” Paul also says he thought about keeping Onesimus to serve him but decided to give him to Philemon and so Onesimus then becomes the slave of Philemon—however, his story is far from concluded.

   We do know stories of Jesus healing on the Sabbath, agitating the Jewish authorities in every Gospel. In this one we learn of a woman so bent with a spirit of infirmity that she cannot stand up straight that Jesus laid his hands on her and said Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. When the leader of the synagogue tells the assembled women, men, and children that this should not happen on the Sabbath, Jesus calls him, and the others that agree, hypocrites. Why NOT heal on the Sabbath ~ ought she not be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath Day? The opposed were put to shame while the entire crowd rejoiced.

   As we, now, rejoice for her and for the healing and freedom Jesus restored, we must take some time to recognize who are and who are not free within our own lives and times. Who are those that we easily dismiss whether by intent or indifference, or perhaps even, dare I say: intolerance? It is time, especially in these times, for us to take a reckoning of how we each discount others by reason of political, religious, economic, ethnic, racial, gendered, sexual, educational, intellectual, physical, employment, housing, agreement/disagreement… and so many other kinds of status including the catch-all of just plain “well, because…” Who is a Rhoda, an Onesimus, a person with an infirmity that isn’t noticed or at least easily ignored?

   Are we more comfortable living in a free-for-all of discontent, discord, and disrespect for those who are unimportant to us? Or, are we striving for a FREE FOR ALL Welcoming Society, cheering, caring, and working for those oppressed by so many forces in everyday life? Are we seeing others not as less than we are but as we each are ~ created by God? The Psalmist’s cry and prayer is for and by ALL of us. The question isn’t who to free or not to free. The question is if Jesus is our Great and Good Shepherd, are we listening? If yes, there’s no question about what to do next.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Living, Healing Christ, fill us with the burning desire to follow Your voice, through the peaks and valleys of our human sojourn. Teach us to live the resurrection-life now, standing upright in heart and soul, glorifying God through our prayers and our actions, until we dwell again with you forever.
 
                                                      Lord Jesus, Heartbeat of our Faith
                RESPONSE:           Our Shepherd, our Shelter
 
~ Living, Healing Christ, open wide the souls, hearts, and minds of all who govern across this Earth, this Country, and this Community. Awaken their God-Given reason and endow them with the courage to act for the benefit of the safety, dignity, health, and equality of every human on this Earth. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Lord Jesus, Heartbeat of our Faith
                                                       Our Shepherd, our Shelter
 
~ Living, Healing Christ, anoint the hearts of all in chronic pain, the woes of addiction, or lost in despair, and restore hope and vitality to all who nurture and support them. We now join our hearts together to pray for those in need…add your own petitions
 
                                                       Lord Jesus, Heartbeat of our Faith
                                                       Our Shepherd, our Shelter
 
~ Living, Healing Christ, gather the tears from those who mourn, as those who have left this life, now drink from the springs of new and eternal life in You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                                       Lord Jesus, Heartbeat of our Faith
                                                       Our Shepherd, our Shelter

~ Living, Healing Christ, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… 

                                                       Lord Jesus, Heartbeat of our Faith

                                                       Our Shepherd, our Shelter

~ Living, Healing Christ, we give You thanks and ask Your blessings for the chosen Disciples of our own time who spread Your table before us, feeding our faith and confirming Your presence in our lives. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       Lord Jesus, Heartbeat of our Faith

                                                       Our Shepherd, our Shelter

The Celebrant adds: O Christ, our Messiah, grant us the faithfulness to awaken each day with You first in our thoughts, then inspired by Simon Peter and Mary the mother of John, Paul and Timothy, Philemon, Apphia and others, let us strive again to live in such depth of faith, that our moments of unbelief are few. We ask through the Holy Spirit, our Comforter; and the Almighty, our Creator; who together with You reign as One God, forever and beyond. Amen.

 

*Readings for our Parish in this Year C are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Yr C, and others in her series, and translator of its biblical selections. I definitely commend her book for the complete readings, to Clergy and Laity, for her Text Notes, and “Preaching Prompts” whether or not you will use them in your Liturgies/Services/Preaching. There is much to learn from her work to inform every facet of our lives in Christ.  To learn more about her and her work, see her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/

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