Philippians 3:10-14 How many of you have ever been to prison? Not just for a sight visit, or for work, but to prison? Ok, so maybe you don’t want to raise your hand for that one, but let’s think not about cement walls and bars, but let’s think about some of the ways we talk about prison or jail:
• bound
• locked up
• without freedom
• detained
• shackled
• any others?
Now if we think about prison in those terms….detained, shackled, bound up…how many of us have ever lived in imprisoned lives?
• Prisons of pain?
• Of loneliness?
• Of the past?
• Of fear?
• Of grief?
• Of our failures?
• Of loss?
• Of hopelessness?
• Of Financial insecurity?
Truth be told, a lot of us have lived in prison…our own version of it. Right? And when we’re all bound up, it can be hard to see what might come in the future…what lies beyond these terrible walls that seek to choke the life out of us.
Prison is what was happening for Paul when he wrote this letter. He’s not staying at the Ritz or living the high life. He’s locked up. Behind bars. Literally. Without his freedom. Isolated from the people he loves. And in fact, it’s not the only time. Paul’s being locked up and chased out of town on a regular basis. He could be miserable. Lonely. Fearful. Anxious. Stressed. Any of that would seem normal and reasonable, right? But instead, as he writes here, he shares his complete joy and excitement for what’s to come living a life with Jesus. Which is kind of ironic because the reason he’s being locked up and chased out is because of his relationship with Jesus. But despite the persecution, he’s giddy, passionate, and excited about what’s coming next.
One theologian describes it like Paul’s in love ---it’s a parallel for how focused he is on his relationship with Jesus, how ready he is to do the next thing as a disciple, how hopeful he is about the future and how all of that almost anesthetized him to the things he was suffering.
In the passage, he advocates forgetting the past in light of what will come in the future. That’s not a flippant dismissal—Paul could be referring to his own suffering in prison, and letting that fade into the background, or he could be referring to all that he was and was known to be before he had his blinding awakening. Earlier in this chapter Paul lists is credentials:
• Circumcised on the 8th day
• Member of the people of Israel
• Member of the tribe of Benjamin (one of the two known to have been faithful to the covenant)
• A Hebrew born of Hebrews—in other words: pure blooded
• Trained and educated in the law—he was a Pharisee
• Full of conviction—an activist and a zealot protecting the faith
• Righteous and legally blameless before the law
But, he says, even all that won’t compare with the future in Christ.
So, good for Paul, right? Why does that matter to us?
I think it speaks to a widespread misconception were we? People? Someone? Believes/proclaims that Christians won’t have problems because they have Jesus on their side. Paul’s life directly contradicts that. Paul flipped his life to follow Jesus. He left most of the credentials he listed in favor of being a disciple of Jesus and it was then that his problems started. He became a dissenting voice against the government and paid mightily for it. Following Jesus doesn’t promise us a smooth road or freedom from suffering. That’s not part of the deal. I wish it were, but it’s just not the case. Christians lose their jobs. We struggle in our marriages. We battle abuse. We face racism and sexism. We lose our homes. We get sick. We break bones. We battle cancer. We are not immune to the problems of life. We deal with depression and anxiety. We face chronic pain. We have trouble with relationships.
BUT, Paul highlights what a life of faith does offer…a connectedness to the Spirit and the gifts of God that allow us to see there are still other things beyond our own trials. How many of us need that reminder? There are good things that lie outside of our problems! Good things that can’t be subsumed by your fears. Good things that will help you lay aside the past in favor of what’s to come. Not because the past doesn’t matter. But because there is something bigger and more important and more powerful ahead.
I mean, if Paul can say that sitting in a prison cell…truly and earnestly, not just as religious fluff….can we make that claim in our own lives when we’re living inside our own prison? Those prisons of pain? Of loneliness? Of fear? Of grief? Of loss? Of hopelessness? Of Financial insecurity?
What would it mean if the power of the Gospel could override the pain of what’s going on in this life? I don’t mean eradicate it….right, we already talked about how we’re not immune. We’re still going to have problems, big problems, life-sucking problems. BUT….maybe if we hold the gospel we hold onto the light that keeps us moving despite it all. Maybe if we remember that there’s something bigger, something better, something more hopeful, we won’t be consumed by the awfulness of right now…maybe we could look with hope, and in looking with hope, we practice hope, and in practicing hope we can live with hope…