Near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he went into the synagogue in his home town and read from the book of Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
He then announced to the startled crowd:
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
Freedom for the prisoners and the oppressed, he said. Freedom can mean a lot of different things. In the United States we celebrate our political freedom, and we remember when freedom came to those who were held in slavery. We also talk about freedom from pain, freedom from debt, and freedom from a bad marriage. Sometimes, children can have too much freedom. And Janis Joplin sang that freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. So what kind of freedom did Jesus give to the prisoners and the oppressed?
Fortunately, there’s no need to speculate. On a later occasion, Jesus himself explained what he meant:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:31-36).
Political and legal freedom are undeniably good things, but the freedom that Jesus promised goes deeper. It’s the freedom to turn away from sin. The freedom to deny my own passions, to not have to give in to whatever I’m feeling. Our culture makes a big deal about the “freedom” to do what we want. In Christ, however, I have the freedom to refuse what I want. It’s the difference between giving an alcoholic the “freedom” to drink, versus the freedom to stop drinking.
Sin is the ultimate addiction and we’re all, by nature, its slaves. Just as Jesus said; “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34), or as the Apostle Paul wrote; “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).
The freedom we have in Christ, then, is the freedom to choose what I know is right, even when I want to do the exact opposite. It’s no accident that self-control is listed among the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). More than that, the freedom Christ gives is the freedom to consider myself dead to sin, because I am alive in Christ (Romans 6:11):
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14).
Sit for a while and let that soak in.
But the question we have to ask ourselves, then, is, “am I living like I’m free, or am I letting the habits formed during a lifetime of slavery draw me back into slavery again?” After all, a freedom that you never exercise might as well not be there at all.
Maybe today is the day to ask God if there is some area where you’re not acting like a free son or daughter of the king of the universe. And to be prepared to act when you receive the answer.