Of Freedom

By Brad Henderson

It’s hard to believe that we are so close to Independence Day, July 4. Though we have three months more of hot weather, the summer is quickly slipping by... especially if you have school to return to in early August. Across the country this weekend, there will be countless festivities celebrating the freedom on which our nation was established. Stories will be told of the Founding Fathers, of wars fought for liberty, of sacrifices made. Picnic feasts will be shared and fireworks will be launched. And this is good. In the midst of this, the Christian must, as always, ask how this is to be understood and received in the light of the life of Christ. To do so is not unpatriotic. It is not ungrateful. It is who we are. The paradox of Christianity is that freedom is achieved only when we utterly surrender, something that stands in stark contrast to the history we will celebrate this weekend. When we give away our very selves to the God who has created and called us, and bend ourselves to his will and desires... only then can we be said to have found total freedom. The struggle for this freedom is both a reality and an ongoing ch a l l eng e. Through the Incarnation, Jesus takes on and experiences our human struggles, knowing in full what it means to be cold in the winter and hot in the summer; what it means to be afraid in the darkness of place and spirit; what it means to be betrayed by those who said they understood him but did not. In short, Jesus comes to know what it is like to be... us. But his work is not done there. Instead, he forges on, dying a human death in the sacrifice of himself. Truth be told, it is not something he is cheerful about doing. Remember his cry of anguish in Gethsemane, asking God if there is any way in which “this cup” of suffering might be avoided. But the divine answer, as far as we know, is silence. It is at that point, that Jesus utter gives himself over to the desires of God: “May your will be done. ” And there it is: the paradox, for only in giving himself up completely does Jesus get the freedom he needs to fulfill himself as God’s Child. And there is the freedom for you and for me, one that lasts a lifetime and beyond.