Looking for Freedom in all the Wrong Places?
Reformation Sunday October 30, 2011 (John 8:31-36)
Freedom – what a wonderful thing. Free as the breeze. Free to do whatever we want whenever we want. Free from school. Free from examinations. Free from responsibility. Free, free, thank God I am free at last. The last sentence, the epitaph on Martin Luther King Jr.'s tombstone.
Are you free? Am I free? Be honest now. Is the church free? Are Christians experiencing freedom? I mean today we mark Reformation day. And for years we gave thanks to God that Luther in some ways rediscovered the actual grace of God – the free love of God in Christ – that our ultimate standing and relationship with God does not depend on us. So true. But does that doctrine lead us to freedom? Are you free not to hate? Are you free not to worry? Are you free to actually care about others – others who think differently than us, look differently than we do, worship differently than we do.
Our track record hasn't been good – as Christians, as Canadians, even as men and women. From the crusades, to residential schools, to wars and disputes between Christians regarding certain understandings of "truth" we have hated, killed and slandered. Is that freedom?
As Canadians – from interring Japanese Canadians during the Second World War to erecting residential schools assuming that our language, our religion, our culture was vastly superior to "theirs" – is that freedom? And finally seeking to live together as people in love whether in the boundaries of marriage or in some other arrangement – why do we continue to need shelters for those who have been violently harassed, even abused by their partners? Is that freedom?
Often we think about freedom as an idea – of being able to do whatever we want. Even if that self centered individualistic concept were freedom, would we be free, here and now?
The Biblical witness holds up for us again and again a mirror reflection of our reality. As human beings however hard we may strive to be, we are not free. We are not free to love our brother or our sister as ourselves. There may be instances when we do. Wonderful, thanks be to God for that. A plane out of control suddenly veers and crashes meters from the runway. Smoke and flames engulf the plane. Passengers are obviously injured maybe even killed. And some people just driving by, perhaps even without stopping to seriously think about the personal danger they are assuming, race out of their cars to begin to attempt to pull people out of the wreckage. For a moment, there is wonderful freedom. But when they and we return home, back to "ordinary" life – does such selfless love, such concern for the other, still abide, even thrive?
There seems to be something within us, within the human mind and heart – that compels us to be suspicious, of others, of ourselves. If it seems too good to be true, well then it must be!
There is also something within us, that compels us to be anxious. We fret about our own wellbeing and the well being of those closest to us. And so we work often feverishly attempting to explore options trying to secure a future, our future. At times we may even think or feel that we are making progress. But then the unknowns occur: the markets crash, we lose our job, an illness befalls us, someone betrays us. We may even do something we couldn't have imagined doing, something that hurts others and ultimately ourselves. We might not even know where the impetus for such a thing came from, but nevertheless we did it.
To these realities Jesus speaks this morning in John's Gospel. He addresses some people who had believed him. Even now they may be ascribing some worth to his teaching. But Jesus refuses to be an intellectual exercise for them or for us. He says to them even as we listen: "If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." They take umbrage with his declaration. They ARE NOT SLAVES! Oh, really? Their anger with him is growing, soon to be leaping out of control.
Jesus is more direct. Might they understand? Might we? "Very truly I tell you, (code words in John for THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT) – EVERYONE WHO COMMITS SIN IS A SLAVE TO SIN. "
Everyone who falls short of God's hope and dream individually and collectively by thought, word and deed is enslaved to sin. YES, SUCH STUFF COMES FROM SOMEWHERE, from deep within, from around. It is embedded in our very beings, individually and collectively: this suspicion, this tendency towards violence, hatred, jealousy, envy – unwillingness to be open, to be hardhearted, prideful.
History bears this out – not that there aren't instances of individuals and even collectives of people being enabled to break free for awhile –to care for and love others. Thanks be to God. But too often our enslavement is obvious. Driving our cars, having our mental monologues about others – enslavement!
What shall we do? What can we do?