“Chained Hands, Free Heart”: a sermon for the THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (29 JUNE 2025)

 

     Prison – now and then.  In the month of March, I began working as a chaplain at an Immigration Holding Centre in Laval.  This Centre is run by the Canada Border Services Agency.  Spending my days among detainees has given me a small taste of the discomfort, frustration, anxiety, anger, desperation and fear that are the daily lot, not only of detainees in Canadian establishments, but also by millions of displaced/ incarcerated people around the globe.  Many detainees feel like their wings have been clipped; they came to Canada to make a better life for themselves and their families – and several even had some initial success – before being detained because of past criminal offenses and/or inadequate documentation.  Every story I hear is different, and I must always read between the lines of what is shared in order to discern the (perceived to be) shameful facts that led these individuals to find themselves detained while the government deliberates whether to allow them to remain here or to deport them.

     Another reality that has struck me is that faith is very present behind the walls and doors of the facility.  Whether it is a question of Muslims observing Ramadan or of Christians reading the Bible and praying both together and individually, their present circumstances have not prevented these believing detainees from seeking God.  Naturally, perhaps, my thoughts upon beginning my work among them immediately went to the letter of Paul to the Philippians.  You will recall that this letter was written from a jail cell, as Paul experienced yet another imprisonment “for the gospel” (cf. Phil. 1.12-14).

     Three themes.  Besides the immediate context of this letter, there are 3 themes in the apostle’s epistle to the Philippians that I find particularly relevant to those I’m ministering to at the Centre.  First of all, there is the challenge of living as a believer amidst paradoxical situations and feelings.  As G.K. Chesterton is purported to have said: “Jesus promised his disciples three things–that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.”  While there are letters in the Pauline corpus that reveal the sorrow and anguish that often haunted the apostle (e.g. 2 Corinthians), Philippians is indeed a “happy” letter.  The theme of joy is omnipresent, even as Paul manages his frustration at being temporarily “taken out of the fight” for the advance of the message about Jesus (cf. Phil. 1.12-26).  Those who find themselves caught on the horns of an emotional/spiritual dilemma have a true companion in the apostle Paul, as his letter to the Philippians shows – prayer (cf. 1.3-11) is essential if we would navigate and conjugate our faith with our often-fraught life situations.  It remains true that even when we are locked up, we can experience joy, gratitude and hope for the future (Phil. 1.25-26; cf. 2 Cor. 12.10).

     A second “Philippian” theme that is relevant to detainees – and to those of us who feel “stuck” for whatever reason – is Paul’s acute awareness of “the Day of Jesus Christ”, i.e. the day of judgment.  Paul’s “prayer request” for the Philippians is that they will be ready for “the Day”.  Everyone will have to stand before Jesus, as he “judges the case” of each individual and the whole world in order to establish true justice (1.7-11).  Paul prays that the Philippians’ love will increase in “the knowledge of the things that are exceptional”, so they will be blameless on the Day of Christ and so be vindicated as belonging to the people of God, the community of those whose sins and crimes are forgiven (1.9-10).  Detainees regularly “appear” before immigration judges who themselves appear on screens in the “hearing rooms” of the facility.  The detainees nervously anticipate these hearings, as they receive updates on their file and sometimes…the judge’s (final) decision.  Paul reminds us that we are all, as Christians, called to prepare for the day when our Lord will render his verdict on the lives we have lived as his servants (cf. Phil. 1.1-2).

     A third theme is that of hopeful trust in the goodness of God.  As he brings his letter to a close, Paul exhorts the Philippians to not be anxious about anything, but rather to ask God to supply their needs and promises them the “peace of God that surpasses understanding” (Phil. 4.6-7; cf. 2 Tim. 2.4).  The apostle then instructs his disciples to ponder those things that are “true, grand, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute”.  He then reminds them one last time to put into practice “those things that they learned and received and heard and saw in him” (4.8-9).  As ever, Paul is the Philippians’ exemplar of a joyful, faithful, resilient and holy Christian.  Paul’s words to the Philippians are good news both for detainees and for those of us who enjoy the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

     Original incarceration.  As we saw in today’s first reading, the founding of the church in the city of Philippi occurred during Paul’s second missionary journey.  This was the first Christian community that Paul established in Europe (prior to this, Paul had evangelized Cyprus and what is now Turkey).  Paul’s first experience of the city of Philippi had included an imprisonment, after he and Silas had been publicly beaten due to their having ruined the business of the owners of a slave girl who had worked as a medium until Paul had exorcised the evil spirit which had granted her demonic powers.  As Paul writes his letter to the Christians of Philippi several years later from yet another jail cell, the recipients of his epistle fully understand what Paul is going through and can sympathize with the frustrated undertones of the intrepid apostle who found himself – yet again – “stuck” behind bars.  This imprisonment probably took place in the city of Ephesus (cf. 2 Cor. 1.8-11).  Paul’s time in Ephesus, during his third journey, is described in Acts 19.

     An ambitious apostle.  You see, Paul was nothing if not ambitious (Rm. 15.20; cf. Gal. 1.13-14; Phil. 3.4-6).  It seems that even in his previous life as a Pharisee (Ac. 23.6), Paul had always been a self-starter.  Not one to follow precedent or wait for instructions, Paul had always had the tendency to take the initiative, to chart his own course, to blaze a trail into unmapped territory.  Whether it was hunting down followers of Jesus in foreign cities (cf. Ac. 9.1-2), or out-pacing his peers in terms of “zeal” for his Jewish faith (cf. Gal. 1.14), Saul the Pharisee was always out in front, leading the charge.  As Paul the missionary of Jesus would quickly discover, taking life head-on means absorbing a lot of hard knocks (cf. 2 Cor. 11-12).  It might be easy for us to accuse Paul of having lacked prudence, wisdom, or even good old common sense.  “What a sucker for punishment,” we might say to ourselves with a smirk as we read the accounts of his many (mis)adventures.  Whatever our opinion of Paul may be, one thing is clear – Saul of Tarsus was built differently.  Once he was convinced of something, there was no possibility of half-measures – it was always all or nothing, come hell or (often literally) high water (cf. Ac. 27.1-44; 2 Cor. 11.25).

     Whether as a Pharisee or as an apostle of Jesus, Paul had ever seen himself as a man on a mission – whether striving to defend the integrity of the Jewish faith “against all enemies, foreign and domestic” or striving to “proclaim the good news in places where no one had yet heard the name of Jesus” (cf. Rm. 15.20).  This was because he did not want to “build on someone else’s foundation” (cf. 1 Cor. 3.10-15).  Paul was a true pioneer, he wanted to be on the cutting edge of the kingdom of God, to push the frontiers of the gospel to the (literal) “end of the earth” (cf. Ac. 1.8).  As Paul concludes his letter to the Christians of Rome, he informs them that he wants to pay them a visit “on his way to Spain” (Rm. 15.24, 29).  Spain was quite literally the western edge of the (Roman) world – beyond which lay the vast unknown of the “Outer Sea”.  Paul tells the Romans that he has “fully proclaimed the good news” in the eastern end of Rome’s domains (cf. Rm. 15.19), and that it is now time for him to strike out westward, beginning in the very heart of the empire.

     Letter from an Ephesian (?) jail.  As he again finds himself confined to a cell, Paul wrestles with the “constraints” imposed upon him by his imprisonment, all the while expressing his joy at the continued advancement of the gospel, as we saw in today’s third reading (1.12-26).  “The gospel” is a central concern of Paul’s: he mentions it 5 times in the first chapter of his letter (1.5, 7, 12, 17, 27).  Paul claims that his imprisonment has emboldened other Christians to proclaim the gospel (1.12-18).  Paul insists that he has been imprisoned “for the gospel” (1.12-13, 16).  Paul is confident that Jesus will be “glorified” in either his continued life or his death (by execution: 1.19-22).  Paul is torn between a desire to go and “be with Christ” and the realization that he still has work to do (1.23-26).

     Continue the struggle!  At the beginning of chapter 4, Paul addresses his “…beloved sisters and brothers, my joy and crown…take care of those women who struggled with me in the gospel…” (Phil. 4.1, 3).  We have already examined the tension in Philippians between Paul’s frustration at being constrained by his imprisonment, on the one hand, and his detachment and joyful “resignation” to the will of God regarding his fate, on the other.  There is another paradox in this letter – on the one hand, Paul seems to be full of joy and exhorts his readers to “Rejoice…always!” (4.4); on the other hand, Paul acknowledges that the Christians of Philippi are engaged in a struggle against those who would silence them (1.27-30).  The French have an expression – “la joie de combat”; i.e. the joy of the battle.  There is indeed much joy to be had in struggling for a common cause together with likeminded people (cf. 4.14-16).  Hence Paul’s repeated request for the Philippians to be “of one mind” (4.2; cf. 1.27; 2.1-4).

     Paul calls the disciples of Philippi his “joy and crown” (4.1).  Throughout the letter, the apostle has been reminding the Philippians of the “day of Jesus Christ”, i.e. the final judgment (1.6, 10; 2.14-16).  As he wraps up his letter, Paul states that “The Lord is near” (4.5).  Paul rejoices that on “the day”, his efforts to evangelize and disciple the Philippians will be “crowned”, and they will be able to rejoice together after having received a favourable verdict from their Lord and Judge.

     As he prepares to sign off, Paul exhorts the Philippians to not be anxious about anything, but rather to ask God to supply their needs and promises them the “peace of God that surpasses understanding” (4.6-7; cf. 2 Tim. 2.4).  The apostle then instructs his disciples to ponder those things that are “true, grand, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute”.  He then reminds them one last time to put into practice “those things that they learned and received and heard and saw in him” (4.8-9).  As ever, Paul is the Philippians’ exemplar of a joyful, faithful, resilient and holy Christian.  Paul closes his letter by expressing his gratitude to the Philippians for the practical provision that they had made for his needs during his time in prison, all the while insisting that he has learned contentment, regardless of the situation in which he finds himself (4.10-20).

     In his letter to the Philippians, Paul is sending “a dispatch” to his comrades in the good fight of faith (cf. 1 Tim. 6.12; 2 Tim. 4.7-8).  The final victory is guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (cf. Phil. 3.20-21).  In the meantime, the battle rages on – and the Philippians have received the honour of suffering for their risen Lord (1.29; cf. 3.10-11).  The message of Paul’s letter to the Christians of Philippi – and also to us – can be summed up this way:

Rejoice, carry on the struggle, be united and humble, full of grateful confidence in God, who will provide for your every need (4.19).  Amen.