HE HAS COME TO HIS PEOPLE AND SET THEM FREE

These last several Sundays our 2^nd reading has been from St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, often referred to as the “charter of Christian freedom.” Last Sunday’s declaration highlights this view: “For freedom Christ set us free…” But especially on this weekend when we celebrate our nation’s independence, questions can fairly be asked: “Freedom from what?” and “Freedom for what?”

St Paul certainly doesn’t equate freedom with license to do whatever one wants. He was explicit in last Sunday’s excerpt: “…do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh…” And in a different way this weekend’s excerpt makes the point more dramatically, when St Paul points to one place where one can boast: the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, it seems that “freedom from” means freedom from the bonds of sinfulness, the cravings of “the world, the flesh and the devil.” Jesus would agree with St Paul, as we can see in John 8:34—“…everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.”

But what about “freedom for”?

Based on the Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68ff.) I want to suggest that ours is a liberation not to do whatever we wish, but to be enabled to do and be what we were meant to be from the beginning: human beings fully alive, the glory of God (as says St Irenaeus of Lyons—his feast day was 28 June). As Zechariah puts it, God wants “…to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship Him without fear, holy and righteous in His sight all the days of our life.” Ours is a freedom that eliminates the fears which push us into sin; it is a freedom that allows (and enables) us to be “holy and righteous.” This means to be like God (by loving like God), and especially to love justice.

This freedom is radically different from what many of us think today. It makes us able to say YES to God’s call to discipleship; it allows us stand for the truth and for goodness and for beauty even when we face ridicule or rejection. It is the freedom that welcomes the possibility of a vocation to ordained ministry or consecrated life; it rejoices in a married life rooted in permanence and fidelity. It is what empowers us to say “thank you” to the One who does all things for us—a thank you with lives and not just lips. In the words of Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound,” This…is to be good, great and joyous, beautiful and free.

Let’s celebrate true freedom this weekend with our lives, our choices, and our love.