May the mumbling commence!
When is freedom not free? You have probably heard it said that our freedom in America is not free. Freedom was bought at a high price – young men and women sacrificing their lives in the call of duty. These service people have and continue to sacrifice their lives. I give thanks for their service.
I wish our service men and women no disrespect, but there is a greater truth to freedom not being free. One taught by one of the most beloved leaders of all time – who, by the way, knows more about sacrifice than any other person who lived. That leader, my leader, is Jesus. I think we ought to pay attention to what Jesus says about freedom. Read from John chapter eight:
So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, "If you are faithful to what I have said, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free!"
"But we are descendants of Abraham," they replied, "and we have never in our lives been any man's slaves. How can you say to us, 'You will be set free'?"
Jesus returned, "Believe me when I tell you that every man who commits sin is a slave. For a slave is no permanent part of a household, but a son is. If the Son, then, sets you free, you are really free! I know that you are descended from Abraham, but some of you are looking for a way to kill me because you can't bear my words. I am telling you what I have seen in the presence of my Father, and you are doing what you have seen in the presence of your father."
"Our father is Abraham!" they retorted.
"If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the sort of things Abraham did. But in fact, at this moment, you are looking for a way to kill me, simply because I am a man who has told you the truth that I have heard from God. Abraham would never have done that. No, you are doing your father's work."
"We are not illegitimate!" they retorted. "We have one Father – God."
"If God were really your Father," replied Jesus, "you would have loved me. For I came from God, and I am here. I did not come of my own accord – he sent me, and I am here.” (Verses31-42)
The truth will set us free. And the truth comes only from God. God’s truth is what guides Jesus’ words and actions.
The Jews of Jesus’ day did not believe that they had ever been slaves. Had they forgotten their past in Egypt? Had they forgotten that, even though the Lord God rescued them, they carried the chains of slavery with them – at time desiring to go back to slavery? Had they forgotten the sin that separated them from God? Their sin had delayed coming into the Promised Land. Their sin had forced them from the Promised Land into a Diaspora.
What we forget, we are doomed to repeat. The one thing that we learn from history is that we do not learn from it.
What is the sin that binds us? We avoid truth because it will make us wake up and change the way we live. We do not want to see that our luxuries come at the expense of others. We do not want to challenge the myth of redemptive violence. We do not want to challenge the American dream for the fabrication that it is. It is far too easy to continue on without considering such ideas.
Until we seek the truth in Jesus, we will be bound in these sins and many others that are like them.
But we are free, aren’t we?
Take this into consideration: We work our lives through to attain things that our culture says we need. We confuse wants for needs. The rich try to cling tightly to their money. Other people suffer in the meantime.
While some people strive for luxuries, other people barely scrape by. For every millionaire, there are millions of people who often do not have food, clothing and adequate shelter. These people are told the American Dream that if they would only work hard enough they could be rich, too. All the while, there are mainly minimum wage jobs with no hope of advancement or significant wage increase.
That is some of the hidden violence. And it is ugly.
Violence not disguised in even uglier. I worry about what violence does not only to the victim but also to the aggressor. I pray for our troops because many of them who are dying are dying not from combat but from suicide.
Let us leave these deceptions and partial truths behind and seek Jesus, who never even bruised and broken reed.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
No comments:
Post a Comment