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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.

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