Skip to main content

Proclaiming Freedom


and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim
the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:17-19)

          Today’s passage is another mix of the two themes on my heart: the reason He came and freedom. He was sent, and therefore, He came, to proclaim good news to the poor and freedom for the prisoners and the oppressed, recovery of sight for the blind, and the year of the Lord’s favor. Twice, He said He was sent to proclaim freedom.
          These proclamations were given to specific people: the prisoners and the oppressed. He didn’t put them together the way I have. Even Isaiah, who penned the original prophecy, didn’t put them together. Poor does not equal oppressed. Given that when Jesus told them that the prophecy had been fulfilled, He didn’t overthrow the Roman government and release all the political prisoners or the politically or socially oppressed. He didn’t even teach them how to achieve freedom for themselves. His proclamations don’t seem to have had anything to do with politics or human governance. If those things had been His focus, He could have fixed it all without dying. There are people who have usurped this idea of proclaiming freedom, who are exploiting it for political purposes.
            I want to celebrate the freedom that He proclaimed, but I’m feeling a little like I’m in Plato’s cave. I’ve been watching these shadows and listening to others talk about freedom. I’ve turned from those shadows and walked toward the mouth of the cave, but there’s a bright light there, and the ground beneath my feet is starting to give and slide a little. What was a solid rock is now sand, or maybe even grass. Walking out into the real world, like being born, is more than a change of location. There are new experiences, new responsibilities, new things to learn. It feels safer and more comfortable to return to the cave and its shadows. It’s easier to be complicit in the oppression, to act as our own prison guards.
          This year is rapidly coming to a close. It has meant a lot of changes. I don’t think I’ve quite left the cave I was living in, but I’m closer to the exit than I was. The thing about freedom is that it involves taking responsibility for one's choices, And that's always frightening. I have a feeling that 2020 is going to be a year of freedom for me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more