True freedom – thirteenth Sunday, June 26, 2016

There is a nation that in 1776 declared its independence from British rule and calls itself the land of freedom. The declaration of independence had a sentence that has become a well-known statement on human rights: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. People from all corners of the world long to live in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and pursue their happiness. However, that liberty falls short of true freedom. Moreover, it often gives license to sin, thus gratifying the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:19–20).

Today’s liturgy of the Word calls us to freedom. Prophet Elijah threw his mantle over plowing Elisha. Twelve yoke of oxen indicates wealth but the work of plowing points to the consequence of sin (see Gen 3:17–19) from which humanity needs to be redeemed. If Elisha rejected the call of Elijah, his name would never be written in the Bible, and he would spend his entire life plowing the ground that brings forth thorns and thistles. However, the son of Shaphat in a symbolic gesture of sacrificing the animals and burning the yoke change his life’s direction. He leaves behind his wealth, gives up his profession, and becomes an apprenticeship of the great prophet. Since that moment, the Lord became his inheritance (Ps 16:5) and we realise that true freedom can only be found in service of God and neighbour.

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal 5:13). Christ’s life is the best commentary to this fragment of today’s readings. Our Lord said to his disciples: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). He instructs us to pray for the fulfilment of the will of the Father here on earth as it is fulfilled in heaven (Matt 6:10) and informs us that our eternal salvation depends on doing the Father’s will (Matt 7:21). Then, he also says that He “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). We see this attitude of service on Holy Thursday when he washes the feet of his disciples (John 13:1–5). That gesture is an indication of His love for us. This love to the end is preserved for us in the Eucharist, “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19), and consummated on the Calvary. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph 5:25; see Gal 1:4).

Unfortunately, the world does not want to understand freedom this way. False prophets and teachers have arisen among us promising us freedom but in fact, they corrupt our conscience (2 Peter 2:19). They insist that freedom means to ‘do what you want’. Nobody has the right to tell people what is right and what is wrong. After eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:6), humans decide what is good and what is evil. No authority from above will dictate moral norms for us, say false prophets and teachers. Our Lord, however, does not agree. He rebukes us for allowing ourselves to be influenced by false teaching and. reminds us that we are of a different spirit (Luke 9:55). God gave us freedom, not in order to commit what is evil but to do good (Gal 5:13).

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1). Elisha sacrificed the oxen and burned their yoke. In a symbolic way, he broke free from false worship of golden calves (see Ex 32:4; 1 Kings 12:28). “Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him” (1 Kings 19:21). That decision made him truly free. “Freedom has been given to man in order to love, to love true good: to love God above all, to love man as his neighbour and brother” (saint John Paul II). Jesus’ first disciples made this choice as well. “They left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11). This following leads to a state of royal freedom because to serve Christ the King in our brothers and sisters is to reign (Lumen Gentium 36).

The Creator has endowed humans with freedom so we can love and serve Him and our neighbour. Paradoxically, however, this freedom is being denied in many places. Multinational companies can reap copious profit across the globe, libertine and atheistic ideas are propagated in the academe, but Christians are treated with contempt, barely tolerated or refuse the right to worship altogether. One has no problem to set up a MacDonald’s franchise, but a request for a church is declined. “Man does not live by bread alone” (Matt 4:4). Contrary to prevailing anthropologies, human nature is not simply material, but above all moral and spiritual. Those who try to reduce us to matter only never read Bible. They do not realise that God created us in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26) and that human heart can find their rest and satisfaction in God alone.

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). This journey to Jerusalem will set humanity free. It is the way of Passion and Death leading to Resurrection and Ascension. It is set up as a pattern of human liberation. Whoever decides to follow Christ on this journey they will be truly free. We have this promise from our Lord: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32). The way requires trust and total surrender without counting the cost. But, it is the path of life leading to. the fulness of joys in God’s presence, and the delights at His right hand forever (Ps 16:11). Therefore, like Elisha and Christ’s disciples, we break free from false idols and the yoke of sin and put our entire lives at the service of God and our brothers and sisters. This decision makes us truly free.

Question

1. How do you understand freedom?

2. What constitutes Christian freedom?

3. Why is the world oppose to the concept of Christian freedom? Why is religious freedom denied in so many places?

4. Are you willing to follow Christ on His journey to Jerusalem? Why?