16 March 2016 - freedom in the flames

[ Today's Readings ]

Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

We know this is true, LORD. We think that sin makes us free. We demand the freedom to live as we choose. Yet when we sin we do not find freedom. We find slavery. We find addiction. Now, even when we want to do what is right we find this slavery within us making it hard or even impossible.

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing (see Romans 7:19)

We find ourselves captives to sin. And what are we to do? As Saint Paul asks, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" But he answers immediately, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (see Romans 7:24-25)

We find freedom only by believing in you, Jesus.

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him,
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Unfortunately this means coming to terms with our own lack of freedom. It means owning up to the fact that the cry to crucify you in our own hearts, LORD. It means owning up to the fact that we are, in a sense, children of fornication, and that God is not our Father in the full sense we'd like to believe. But once we can acknowledge the fact that we are not free you can make us free.

So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.

We would imagine this freedom to be freedom from worldly circumstances. Freedom like that would mean there was never anything pushing us to choose bad things. But this is not the freedom you offer. You offer freedom in the midst of, indeed in spite of worldly oppression. We do not find, necessarily, freedom from the flames of King Nebuchadnezzar.

King Nebuchadnezzar’s face became livid with utter rage
against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual
and had some of the strongest men in his army
bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and cast them into the white-hot furnace.

Instead, we find freedom within the flames.

Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles,
“Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?”
“Assuredly, O king,” they answered.
“But,” he replied, “I see four men unfettered and unhurt,
walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.” 

You are the fourth, LORD. It is believing in you that makes us free. Help us to trust in you rather than in the kings of this world for freedom. When we are threatened and oppressed let us trust in you. When temptation to betray you pushes in let us trust in you. When we do we too find one like a son of God with us amidst the flames. We find true freedom.

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;
And blessed is your holy and glorious name,
praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.