Galatians 5:1,13-25, Luke 9:51-62
‘Tis the season to celebrate freedom. Last Sunday, June 19th, was Juneteenth, the day our nation commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people. And next Sunday will mark the eve of our country’s independence day. In the midst of these celebrations we hear a lot about freedom - often defined as the ability to do or say whatever you want. However, the reality is that freedom has its limits. Our freedoms are always in tension with the freedom of the people around us.
Take, for example, the coming celebration of the 4th of July. The freedom to blast-off massive amounts of fireworks can be severely limited by local governments due to the noise and the risk of fire. So even on the day when we celebrate freedom, our freedom to create giant explosions is balanced by our neighbors' freedom to live in an explosion free environment. Freedom isn't just the ability to do whatever we want without regard to anyone else. There’s more to it than that - or at least there should be.
It is “for freedom Christ has set us free.” That’s how the apostle Paul puts it in our reading from the book of Galatians. But lest there be any misunderstanding, he’s quick to make clear what he means by that. For in Christ we are indeed set free, but this freedom is not a license for self-indulgence. We are not set free to live lives that are centered on ourselves. Because, ironically, that’s not freedom. It’s a false idea of freedom. It’s actually, as Paul puts it, a way of submitting ourselves to a yoke of slavery. Because a life that revolves around the self - what I want, when I want it, how I want it - is a life that is chained to the fickle and insatiable master of the ego. That part of ourselves that is insecure and full of fear and anxiety and, when given free rein, can drive us in ways that are harmful to ourselves and others.
We see this in our gospel reading. Jesus and the disciples are heading towards Jerusalem and as they travel some go ahead to the next village to set up accommodations for their rest. But it turns out that the villagers, for unknown reasons, refuse to roll out the welcome mat. Ok, that’s not cool. And that’s certainly not following the cultural norms of hospitality. I’m sure it was an inconvenience or maybe even a hardship that the group was forced to walk further than they originally desired. It would be natural to be frustrated or angry about it. However, the disciples James and John take it to a whole new level. They respond as if the village’s lack of hospitality is a capital offense. Why? Because their egos are involved. Somehow this slight offends them in a very significant way which they feel deserves just recourse, driving their next comment, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" To which Jesus responds by turning to them and rebuking them. We don’t know what he said, but I can imagine it was along the lines of, “What part of loving your neighbor includes calling down fire upon them?” Then following the rebuke, Jesus models how to not to submit to the ego’s yoke of slavery by simply letting it go and moving on, both literally and figuratively.
It is for freedom Christ has set us free. We are set free from the bonds of self so that we might know the true freedom that is experienced when we take our minds, our focus, our passions off of ourselves and invest all that energy into love. Loving our neighbors as ourselves. Because the purpose of your life and mine comes down to this: to continually grow in the capacity to love. The more we love the more free we become. And we grow in this freedom to love by opening ourselves up to the source of love which is God. And God’s Spirit, if we let her, always desires to bear the fruit of love in our lives.
Several weeks ago in the wake of the most publicized recent gun violence, I heard on the radio one of the mothers from the Sandy Hook tragedy being interviewed. Her name was Scarlett Lewis. And one thing she said particularly resonated with me. She said, “There are only two kinds of people in the world. Good people and good people in pain.” I was struck by how someone who has lost so much due to the violent act of another could extend that much grace and compassion towards the perpetrator. No one would blame Ms. Lewis if she was full of bitterness and hate. But it seems that she’s not. Instead of being chained to that darkness she has opened herself up to know the freedom of extending love and charity to her enemy. I don’t know if she’s a Christian or if she would use this language, but to me her life looks like the work of the Spirit. And that is the kind of freedom that Christ intends for us all.
Ms. Lewis’ story is particularly remarkable and serves as a beacon for us. Yet as I preach this I am keenly aware of how challenging it can be to live in the freedom of love even in the regular struggles of life. So I take some solace in the apostle Paul who just before our reading begins in Galatians, is in a rage against his rival missionaries. What’s got him so distressed is that these other preachers have come to town, sought out the new believers and told them if they want to be legit they really need to be circumcised. Now for various reasons Paul is strongly, and I mean strongly opposed. So much so that in a fit rage he writes, “Why don’t those troublemakers, obsessed as they are about cutting, go all the way and castrate themselves?” (5:12, The Message)
I love it - telling these preachers to cut theirs off while at the same time extolling the fruit of the Spirit like gentleness and self-control. It’s so human, isn’t it? And I identify with the inner push and pull. How in some situations we can be our best selves, our Christ selves, and experience the freedom that comes with loving generously while in other situations not so much, we react harshly and lash out.
The freedom that comes from life in the Spirit doesn’t just happen. We lose it at times, we mess up, we allow ourselves to submit to the bonds of a self-centered life. Yes, that is all true. And yet what is more true, more real, and our greatest hope is that God’s Spirit lives within us. And that Spirit is all about love. Indeed, that Spirit is love and she is always seeking to flow in and through our lives. To manifest herself with the fruit of love so that not only are we blessed and set free, but are a blessing of freedom to others. This is the freedom - the freedom to love - that we were created to experience and to celebrate not just once or twice but all year long. For it is for freedom that Christ has set us free!
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