Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The Lord sets the prisoners free.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, February 23, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Notice that God doesn’t ask what the prisoners are in for. God just frees them. In fact, to my knowledge (which is arguably limited) in all the places this idea of God liberating the prisoners comes up in scripture, at no time is there any discussion of the crimes committed. This says to me that imprisonment as a concept is unjust in the eyes of God. Yeah, I know that’s a huge statement to make. There are true sociopathic serial killers who really shouldn’t be just walking around. I’m not going to pick a fight here.
All I’m saying, having read portions of The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, among other sources, is that imprisonment doesn’t work. Not as a way to rehabilitate criminals and not as a way to deter crime. What prison does do is create an illusion of safety for white people while destroying BIPOC individuals and communities. The U.S. prison system, and I would daringly purport all prison systems, are by definition unjust.
What’s the solution? Well, God just sets the prisoners free. And I would assume that means they would also be freed from the prisons of their destroyed mental health, freed from the oppressive systems that prevent them from earning a living, freed from state violence, freed from the power of white supremacy…I could go on. There is a lot of work to be done but that’s no excuse to delay. God calls us to this work of justice and equity. God calls us to set the prisoners free. May God give us the grace to set aside our own biases, fears, and judgments, and the strength to build communities of mutual hope and support without the destructive presence of prisons.
Where is God calling me to work for justice in my community?
