Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Lectionary: 253

They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

 

My favorite topic of conversation with the Veterans in substance abuse rehab concerns freedom. What is it? Why is it important? What does it demand of us?

I often begin with the dual question, “Freedom from…? and Freedom for…” Or I might ask more bluntly, “What do you want?” 

Invariably the Veterans can describe their aspiration of freedom from. That’s easy. But most have a very hard time describing positively why they want their freedom. “What will you do with your freedom?” I ask.

Freedom without purpose is a rudderless boat; it floats with the tide and drifts with the wind. It is subject to every external impulse, having none within itself. They have already experienced the freedom of doing what they want to do and found themselves in bondage. That’s a one way street.

The “Jews” in today’s gospel resent Jesus’s suggestion that they are not free, and that they will be free as his disciples. Oddly, they don’t ask, “Why should we believe you or follow you?” He clearly invites them to “remain in my word,” but they do not respond to that. Rather, they maintain a critical, academic distance. They would discuss the idea and definition of freedom rather than accept or decline his gracious invitation.

The Fourth Gospel demands a response today. There may be a time and place for everything, but now is not the time and this is not the place to discuss the meaning of freedom. Jesus demands a response. There is no tomorrow to put off to. As Saint Paul insisted.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

The American idea of freedom is best described by Cole Porter’s 1934 cowboy song, 

“O give me land, lots of land, with an open sky above. Don’t fence me in. Let me ride through the wide-open country that I love. Don't fence me in.”

Riding horseback through open country, or driving your Ford Ranger over a mountain ridge, is not freedom; it’s just a lovely vacation from freedom. That’s not a bad thing but neither is it the real thing.

Saint Paul, again, directs us:

For you were called for freedom, [sisters and] brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-14

A freedom which takes liberties and gives nothing in return, which does not does not serve others, is born of fornication, as Jesus warned his opponents in today’s gospel:

They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” 
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works of Abraham. 
But now you are trying to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God;
Abraham did not do this.
You are doing the works of your father!”
So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication. 
We have one Father, God.” 
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and am here;
I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”