TheoTrek — A Journey with God in Discipleship
Freedom for All
Genesis 14:13-24; Luke 4:18-29; Galatians 5:13-23
Celebrating freedom and independence, we recall the signers of the Declaration of Independence standing against tyranny and striking out for liberty and self-governance. Freedom was a hard-won, but cherished blessing. We celebrate freedom, but what is freedom all about? God’s name was invoked in the Declaration of Independence, but what are God’s desires regarding freedom?
In Genesis 14, we find Abram taking up the charge to release Lot. Lot had been captured in battle as part of a regional power struggle. On hearing of his Lot’s capture, Abram set out to free his nephew. At first glance, Abram’s actions are the natural protection of his family. It would be expected that he might rush to aid his nephew. He was, after all, a powerful man in his time, with over three hundred men to call up to serve in a raid.
The story begins as expected, yet Abram’s actions display character beyond this desire to help his nephew. It was also expected that he should retain booty from the raid as payment for risking his life and men to rescue Lot. Such was the normative practice of the day. By rights, all booty and people rescued became Abram’s personal property. Rather than follow protocol and serve his own interests, Abram accepted no payment, but returned everything rescued in the raid. He focused on granting freedom to Lot, and restoring him back to his people. His ignored his own gain, seeking to serve others with the gifts of life and liberty. Abram was free and used his freedom to extend its blessings to others.
Many would claim to speak for Jesus as to the essence of his ministry. When Jesus identified the central focus of his ministry and purpose, he received a negative hearing. Jesus’ cry was one of freedom and release—not to the Jews as a nation, but to the oppressed, down-trodden, and neglected among them. This was not the kind of freedom the Jews wanted to hear proclaimed. They were interested in comfort and power. They wanted freedom from Roman oppression. They desired freedom for political and financial prosperity. They wanted the blessings of this world. They longed for God to bless them at the expense of others. After all, it was their right as the chosen people of Yahweh, wasn’t it?
Jesus called for a different kind of freedom and release. His words did not fit the more popular concept of political independence and sovereignty. Jesus was not focused on leveraging the structures of power, wealth, and control in society. He was not so concerned with the economic development of the nation, their level of comfort, prosperity, and achievement. He was concerned with sharing the blessings they already enjoyed with those on the margin of society. He sought to grant freedom, release, and blessing to the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. This was the focus of his message and the reason for his coming.
Why did they throw Jesus out of the synagogue? These words sound like the ones we have heard all our lives, don’t they? Aren’t they simply a quote from Isaiah—a passage known and loved by the people? The problem was that Jesus came back to his hometown and declared that their desires for advancement were not high on God’s priority list. Jesus was Nazareth’s hope for getting on the map of importance in Israel. Their hometown hero had achieved a national hearing and could promote Nazareth to importance. This hero called their hand, declaring that he would not be used as a political tool for their cause of self-advancement. He had come for those without hope, not for those who wanted more.
These were hard words to hear. The crowd was disillusioned and frustrated. They looked down on the marginalized as being less worthy of God’s attention than they. After all, Nazareth had been overlooked in the national spotlight. They deserved some attention and prosperity. Now Jesus was taking their chance and throwing it to convicts in prison. He promised to focus on the criminals, the insolvent, the worthless poor, the blind beggars, and those who found themselves oppressed by the social order of the day. He declared it just that attention be ministered to those on the outside.
The townsfolk of Nazareth felt disparaged, considering that they should be coddled in comfort. Jesus would give the attention they deserved to the scum around them. They were too interested in their own comfort to share Jesus’ longing to focus his ministry on those they felt deserved to be neglected and marginalized. Jesus should have given his attention to the upright—the folks who paid the bills and carried the weight. They deserved acknowledgement for their efforts, morality, and dedication to uphold society. These were the leaders of the people, the prominent, upstanding citizens, those attending the synagogue in faithfulness. They deserved more respect and consideration! They did not like Jesus looking outside their circle to focus on those without. They were already free, and Jesus wanted freedom for those still in bondage. This was not what they wanted to hear.
In Galatians five, Paul turns his attention to freedom. He reminds us that in Christ Jesus we are all free. We are not to slip back into any kind of slavery, even to a yoke of legalism. Paul looks at freedom as more than a release from oppression, however. Freedom in Christ is not a gift to be enjoyed as one would indulge in an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. He defines freedom as an opportunity for responsible action.
Freedom has purpose. It is not a selfish one. Whereas we normally consider freedom a gift to be relished and enjoyed, Paul looks at freedom as it relates to the demands of love. Freedom is no gift to flaunt, nor an opportunity to gratify selfish desires. It is a release that enables us to love others, bringing them to the same freedom we enjoy. While we are wont to define freedom as independence to do as we please, Paul seems to join Jesus in defining freedom as the opportunity to live according to God’s character of redeeming love. This is not freedom from responsibility. It is the freedom to become the responsible members of God’s family we were called to become.
For freedom, Christ Jesus has set us free. We are not freed to coddle ourselves in the comforts of our design. We are not freed to enjoy the pleasures of this world in utter abandon. We are freed to find release from self-centered desires that we might share the blessings of freedom with those who have not found the peace of Christ. Freed from the shackles of carnal living, we are freed to live according to the Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
The Spirit of Christ Jesus is upon us, and he has anointed us to preach good news of freedom to the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. We are freed to live in the manner that Christ Jesus lived, according to the essential purpose of his own ministry. How will we live out the demands of the gospel of love? What will we do with this charge?
The world is watching our celebrations of independence and freedom. Will we resist the responsible use of our freedom, or use it as intended to serve? We were anointed by the Spirit of Christ Jesus to proclaim freedom. Will we respond as Nazareth, or as the Apostle Paul?
—©Copyright 2006 Christopher B. Harbin