When I prepare sermons each week, one of the things I do is to read the scripture multiple times and see what pops out. This past week, one word kept popping out and it sat with me in my reflections – prison. The word is found in this week’s portion from the letter to the Hebrews where they are encouraged to “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them”
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Truthfully, I have never been in prison – well, except for those tourist spots where you can go into an old prison cell to ‘see what it was like’. Of course, it is little more than a photo opportunity. No one can truly know what it is like unless they have had their freedom taken away.
I do know people who have been and are in prison. I have also read stories, autobiographies. Admittedly, the stories I know, reveal that life is not simple. People who are put in prison are not simply bad people who deserve to be punished. They are individuals, often with hard lives, mental health issues, and/or addictions.
Jesse Thistle’s book “From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way” is one such powerful autobiography. I commend it to you as potentially meaningful reading as we move into the cooler fall nights. Jesse’s story includes time in prison. It would have been hard to avoid prison given the complications of his life. There are also examples of metaphorical prisons that he endured. The prison of addictions. The prison of mental health struggles. The prison of homelessness. The prison of intergenerational trauma. The prison of racism. Does all this make him a bad person or a person who has lived through bad things? What can we learn from stories like these about the realities of those who are in prison – literally or metaphorically?
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. The letters we find in the Bible were sent to early Christian churches to teach about what it means to follow the Way of Jesus. Jesus truly turned the world upside down and challenged people to care for one another in transformative ways. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we meet someone who could look beyond the assumptions and perspectives of the world and see an individual, a beloved child of God. In Jesus we are encouraged to meet the Jesse Thistle’s of the world and look beyond the judgments society imposes about his character to recognise the circumstances that limited his opportunities, imprisoned him in metaphorical cells, and ultimately contributed to some of the choices he made.
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. What happens when we humbly meet people where they are at? How might our perspectives shift if we take the time to consider the ways society is structured giving some people far fewer opportunities, and leaving them vulnerable to choices that imprison them? Are there choices we can make that will lift up those who are left on the margins of society with few opportunities and choices? How might empathy compel us towards the transformation of ourselves and our world?
Jesus truly turned the world upside down and challenged people to care for one another in transformative ways. It is a message that is as important to us today as it was to the early Christian Church. There is still so much work we can do. There are still so many ways people are being imprisoned by the injustices of this world. Jesus has shown us a better way, one that centers love.
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. May we continually seek to meet people where they are at, open ourselves to truly listen to their stories for the sake of compassion, understanding, and empathy. May we follow the Way of Jesus and trust that each person, whether imprisoned or not, is a beloved child of God that deserves respect and dignity. All this we pray as we sing: (VT) 712 Beauty for Brokenness