THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

Over the years, the word “Freedom” has  become front and centre of debate in this country. We uphold our freedom of speech vigorously. But, despite talking a lot about freedom, we are not always sure what it means. 

The most obvious meaning of freedom is the ability to do and say whatever we want, without interference from any authority or institution. With this definition of freedom, it is little wonder we often disagree on what it means to be a freedom-loving Australian. Our freedoms are always in tension with the freedom of the people around us. When we think of our neighbours, freedom isn’t just the ability to do whatever we want, especially if that action puts our neighbours at risk.

As Australian Christians, we are often tempted to define freedom through the lens of Australian society and culture. But freedom is older than Australia, older than England, and older than any other modern nation-state, no matter how wonderful it may be to live here.

Our second reading today tells us that, “When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free.” The freedom St. Paul writes about here is in contrast to the “yoke of slavery.” Sin is slavery because we lose our freedom to do good. In our sin, our failures crush us. The more laws we break, the more the law breaks us. We become discouraged with our lack of progress—our inability to be the kind of people we think we ought to be. We are locked into a yoke, unable to do anything but repeat the same cycle of failure, shame, trying harder, and more failure.

Jesus set us free on the cross, embracing us, just as we are in our sin. Our enslavement to the cycle of self-destruction is forever broken as we share his broken body and drink his shed blood. We are free in Christ—free to do good things. Each of us is free in Christ to be for the world what he was for the world: an agent of reconciliation and love.

Our gospel lesson tells us, “When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus was walking into a death-trap, and yet he set his face, stone-like in the Greek, towards Jerusalem. He knew what he was getting into, and yet he moved toward Jerusalem because he had the freedom to love. Jesus was determined to love the whole world, including the people who actively rejected him. This is the ultimate freedom, the freedom to love those who do not love us. The ultimate freedom is the freedom to love our enemies.

Freedom to love our enemies is empowered by the Holy Spirit; it cannot come from our own willpower or self-determination. We can practice this kind of freedom when we are filled with Spirit and begin manifesting the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Only the truly free can live out these fruits.

The image of freedom we find in our second lesson, “For freedom Christ has set us free,” is the image of the fruits of the Spirit. 

When we experience the freedom to practice the fruits of the Spirit, we become a blessing of freedom to everyone we meet. This is the freedom we were created to experience, and it is the freedom that Jesus calls us to today. “Come, be free,” Jesus seems to say. “Follow me, and you will bless the world with your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Jesus explains that following him is always a forward motion. We're always walking away from something -- away from rejection, away from our unloving reactions to prejudice, away from the close-heartedness and moving into the loving embrace of Christ.

To move forward, remember that the Holy Spirit is the only one who can prepare a heart to receive Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit finish the work while you move on to other fields.
 

[Guest]

Thanks Father.  Good to know there is a fellow Aussie regularly on Phatmass