Let me ask you if this seems strange. John and Jesus have been down is arrested and thrown into prison. Jesus leaves the scene of the crime, so to speak, and goes north to Galilee. That sounds right. But if he wanted to avoid John’s fate, he’s making a mistake. Instead of keeping quiet, he takes up John’s cry: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” If he wants to stay out of trouble, he’s got a funny way of showing it.
But I think there’s a method to his madness, or his brilliance.
Jesus is not concerned for his own safety. He’s concerned to spread the good news of what God is doing among the people. In order for that good news to spread, he has to be heard. He doesn’t have to be heard in Jerusalem, not at first at any rate. He doesn’t have to be heard by the Jordan where John was baptizing. He knows that the message needs to be preached everywhere, so anywhere he goes can be a place to share the good news. Even Galilee, that backward, out-of-the-way place. Even here, even now, can be that place. Jesus speaks to crowds, and he speaks to one person at a time. He’s not counting. He’s teaching, and proclaiming, and healing.
That’s what I have to do today. I have to bring you news of those who sit in darkness, and call for repentance. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, but so is another kingdom. We must choose where to live.
The latest estimates are that 29 million people around the world are currently living in slavery, the victims of what today we call human trafficking.
As defined under U.S. federal law, victims of human trafficking include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms of "labor or services," such as domestic workers held in a home, or farm-workers forced to labor against their will. The factors that each of these situations have in common are elements of force, fraud, or coercion that are used to control people. Then, that control is tied to inducing someone into commercial sex acts, or labor or services. Numerous people in the field have summed up the concept of human trafficking as "compelled service."
Every year, human traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people around the world, and here in the United States. Human trafficking is considered to be one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.
This is a local problem as well as an international one. The CIA estimates 50,000 people annually are brought into the United States for slavery, debt bondage, or enforced servitude.
This is especially timely because the Super Bowl, to be played next Sunday, is the biggest single trafficking event in the United States. Every year, over 10,000 prostitutes are forcibly brought to the Super Bowl venue, where they are forced to have sex as many as 50 times a day. They may be tortured if they don’t meet their quotas. This involves women, girls, and boys.
But not all trafficking is sex-related. Domestic workers as well as workers in hotels, in restaurants, in agriculture, in garment manufacturing, and in nail salons are often being held against their will and compelled to work.
All races and social groups are victimized. The key is the powerlessness or marginality of the person. They might have run away from home. They might have come to this country with the promise of work, only to have their passport taken from them on arrival. They might have been sold by their parents because they couldn’t feed the family.
If you don’t believe that there is a battle going on between good and evil, between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan, then you haven’t been paying attention.
There is no place, no out-of-the-way corner, that is not infected by this scourge. We have to start where we are, with our local farms and businesses. We have to ask questions about where our clothes and our food are coming from.
As William Wilberforce, the great 19th century anti-slavery crusader, said, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
The Episcopal Church is trying to raise awareness of this shocking problem. This is a direct mandate from our Baptismal Covenant, in which we commit to resist evil, to seek and serve Christ in all person, and to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.
You can get involved by going to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, or by liking Episcopalians Against Human Trafficking on Facebook. They will guide you to initiatives, to legislation that is pending, and to information about what to look for and what to do.
The Kingdom of heaven is real. It is here and now, as real as the kingdom of Satan. But we have to choose it. We have to choose to be part of God’s good news of freedom.
As Jesus came to Galilee and shared his message, some people shrugged. Some people ignored him. Some mocked him or tried to get him arrested as a troublemaker.
But others listened. Some of those went home and pondered. Some of them opened their homes and their wallets to Jesus and his companions. And some, like Peter and Andrew and James and John, left everything to follow him. They knew it was crazy, and probably dangerous. But they saw the kingdom in Jesus, and they knew it was worth everything they had. In time, they found their own voices and their own power through the Holy Spirit. They taught and proclaimed and healed in turn. Just ordinary guys, who made extraordinary choices. They brought light to the world.
May we who gather here find our voices and bring light into the dark corners of our world. May we repent, and turn to God. May we proclaim wherever we are. And may the light dawn on your town, and region, and world.
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