 Rev. Rod Quainton |
In Is Where It's At: A Riff on Freedom
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I’m one of those persons who love patriotic holidays like the Fourth of July with its pageantry, parades, picnics and, of course, fireworks. This past Memorial Day weekend, I was in Philadelphia and visited the Liberty Bell with its stirring inscription: “Let Freedom Ring!” In addition, there was this quote inscribed on the bell from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Note the word “all.” This inscription reminded me that our nation’s understanding of liberty and freedom derives from the faith of our forebears. Having vacationed often in the state of New Hampshire, its license plate motto, “Live Free or Die,” lives on my patriotic windscreen. It was years before I realized the truth of this statement, not just in a political sense, but also in a personal way. Those who are addicted to unhealthy habits/things know that addiction is death, not life. Liberty and freedom are sometimes states of being that we, as Americans and Christians, take for granted. However, our national monuments and great historical documents constantly remind us that freedom comes and came with a cost. The French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau stated: “All men are born free, yet everywhere lie in chains.” The news headlines daily reaffirm that statement, lest we become complacent. One of my most memorable experiences several years back was visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Those of you who have visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island know you can’t help but be moved by these powerful symbols of liberty and freedom. Emma Lazarus’ (1849-1887) poem entitled “The New Colossus,” dated November 1883, bears repeating:
Not like the brazen giant of
Greek Fame,
“Keep, ancient lands, your
storied pomp!” cries she The striking sentiment recorded on our Lady of Liberty remains alive for the world’s dispossessed. For example, our youth went on a Borderlinks trip last spring break and saw, first- hand, people struggling and sacrificing for economic freedom, freedom from want. As we prayed today in our Prayer of Patriotic Affirmation, our ideals remain alive and well as people struggle to find their way to our shores in search of freedom. One only has to visit the immigrant city, New York, to understand the magnetism of our values! A favorite image in the poem is “Mother of Exiles.” In today’s lesson, Peter reminds us that we are visitors/pilgrims, strangers/sojourners, resident aliens/exiles (depending on which Bible translation you prefer). Peter calls us to have the mindset of exiles. As people who reside in this world but are citizens of another, we don’t assume that what is on MTV is helpful to the soul. We don’t assume that the priorities of advertisers are good for the soul. We don’t assume that some business practices, while legal, are good for the soul. We don’t assume that playground morals are always good for the soul. We don’t assume the toys you “must” have are good for the soul. Aliens get their cue from God! In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted an old spiritual song sung by slaves: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” Peter is proclaiming that we are free, but we have to seize our freedom and use it responsibly. Christian freedom is conditioned by responsibility, which is conditioned by accountability, which is always conditioned by God’s love and grace, and Christian love as a reflection of God’s love! Although the dictionary defines freedom as “the condition of being free of restraints,” meaning that we have freedom to make choices, Peter makes it clear that our call is “as servants of God, live as free people; yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil.” (1 Pt. 2:16) The irony is that Peter is urging the Christians of his community to live free under the yoke of the infamous Emperor Nero, who was not known for his devotion to freedom. Peter’s exhortation in today’s passage can be confusing in its declaration that we are to give honor to the king and the government. It is a call to be good citizens with a caveat. The Hebrew scriptures note several individuals who stood up to statist power. Accepting the authority of the state is not a blank check, because we are also under God’s law. Yet Peter is making the point that societies need rules for civil conduct, for order, security and the safeguarding of liberties, which should be honored. It is not by accident that after the Israelites were led out of Egypt from slavery to freedom, they received the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. Even freedom has limits. There are out-of-bounds lines. Moses stood up to the Pharaoh and declared: “Let my people go!” Just this past week in VBS, we celebrated Daniel and his three friends, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, who stood up to King Nebuchadnezzar. In a biblical sense, they were honoring the king by standing for justice. The Micah Mandate 6:8 states: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Freedom’s corollary is responsibility. Freedom has a “to do” list! Do what is right, just and good. The teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes stated: “Better is a poor, wise youth than an old but foolish king who will no longer take advice.” Peter is reminding his listeners/readers that Christians have a responsibility to legitimate authorities. Part of our Christian call is to be good citizens. Yet the Christian has a higher obligation than to the state. It is to God. The scriptures and Jesus’ example constantly remind us to put the interest and welfare of others above one’s own, giving rather than getting, serving rather than being served. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” were President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s stirring inaugural words! Peter sets us up for some hard choices: “Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the king.” (1 Pt 2:17) Peter is laying out four commands for Christians who feel the tension of living in the world while being citizens of another. First, honor all men. Honor means to give due respect. Remember that, as are we, others are created in the image of God, so always try and look for the Jesus in the other and the Jesus in the mirror. In his letter to the Galatians 5:1, Paul states: “For freedom has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” And Abraham Lincoln intoned: “In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.” Freedom is a word whose meaning is in the eye of the beholder, which is why it can be contentious. To different people and different cultures, it means different things. Depending on context—whether economics, politics, ethics or morals—freedom is often proclaimed more than it is responsibly practiced. However, for Christians, we are the bearers of freedom in Christ. Peter is getting at a fundamental truth that, as Christians, we will be accused of many false things. We will be reviled by the culture and our neighbors. But whether we like it or not, every Christian is an advertisement for Christianity. By our lives we either commend it to others or make them think less of us. William Barclay has stated that “the strongest missionary force in the world is a Christian life.” In other words: “We are the Bibles the world is reading. We are the truths the world is needing. We are the sermons the world is heeding.” The Sermon on the Mount reminds us that, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be light to the world, salt to the world. Mathew 5:16 states: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” The punch line is that good deeds of believers are not for their own glory, but for the glory of God. This passage sets us up with talk of aliens, exiles, sojourners, etc. Our own social location will help us determine the appropriateness of the epistle for our time. Your context of freedom is different depending on your age, time, place in history, the government under which you operate, etc. The epistle raises the critical questions: Are we strangers and aliens, so radically divorced from the culture around us that we are called to stand against the values of the larger society and to build enclaves of Christian fidelity? On the other hand, are we the happy citizens of a society in which Christian values generally win out, so that our proper function is to lend the blessings of the church to the successes of the culture? Or are we like the implied hearers of the epistle caught somewhere in the middle—citizens of a society in which we are never entirely at home, but which is still created by God and where good things happen in spite of sin? The challenge for each of us is to define Christian faithfulness when we are called to obey the laws of society but also to make the laws. The word freedom is, more often than not, followed by a preposition: of, from, to, for or in. The latter is at the center of what it means to be Christian. Following in is the word Christ!! Christian freedom starts there. In the end, an understanding of freedom is prepositional! For some, it is freedom of religion, speech, expression, press, conscience, thought. For others, it is freedom from addiction, want, oppression, tyranny, fear, possessions. For others it is freedom for peace and justice, the Micah Mandate. It is also freedom to be light and salt to the world, to do what is right and good. In, however, is where it’s at. Freedom in Christ! What’s your take on freedom? How are you using your freedom in Christ?
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