What Were You Thinking?
Lately I have noticed the word “freedom” being bantered about a lot. I suppose that is not new. People have talked about freedom for as long as there has been language, I suppose. Although if you were to talk about freedom to a person in Jesus’ day he would not understand you. Your concerns would not be his. While I am not an expert on Roman society, I would guess that even though the Roman Empire was vast and the rulers absolute, the people of the empire probably wanted less freedom than there was. Life was hard and dangerous. Any travel from your home was full of fear and worry. There were areas where no law existed and complete freedom reigned and if you had to travel through that area you did so with great fear and trepidation. The people of Jesus’ day were not worried that they no longer would be able to say something or buy something. They were worried that stepping out into the world from home would be the last thing that they did.
It seems that our concerns about freedom may not be what Jesus came to give and what Paul so emphatically expressed. I would suggest that the freedom of Jesus is something other than what we so fervently desire. In fact our desire for freedom just might be part of our bondage. One of my university professors often talked about a tension between freedom from something and freedom for something. Through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection we have both. We are free from the bondage of sin and death. Yet we often place the reward of this freedom in the world to come. Jesus did not come to us just to give us a promised future in God’s kingdom. While that will be glorious. Jesus came to us here and now, into our broken messed-up lives.
Jesus has given us the freedom to meet him on the road in our pilgrimage of life. My question to you, are you prepared to meet Jesus? Would you even recognize him if you did? While Matthew and John do not fully agree on this point, it seems that even Jesus’ closest friends and followers did not recognize him when they first met him after his resurrection. For us, who did not have the privilege of walking with Jesus 2000 years ago, recognizing Jesus may be that much more difficult. Especially when our world is filled with would-be saviors. I do not have to list them to you. You already know them because you have chased after them so many times. People and things beckoning you to come and eat as the serpent said to Adam and Eve. Come here, buy this, do that, they call out to you with their smooth talk and glitzy spiff and, once again, you bite into it. Only to taste the bitterness of sin and death.
It is appropriate that Jesus meets his followers on the road. Because that is where we are. In the midst of our struggles – our hopes and dreams, our fears and desires, our life and death – we do not need to search out Jesus and find where he might happen to be. Jesus meets us where we are. That is the true gift of God. That we are people worthy enough to have God’s own Son take the time to meet us on the way. We do not have to dress up fancy, hide our bruises, or even wipe away our tears. Jesus who brought blessing to a wedding in Cana and raised Lazarus from the dead knows the depth of our lives, meets us on the road, and walks with us as we go on our way. And in those to-often times when we bite the bitter fruit of sin and death he carries us. Let Jesus meet you today and fill you with the peace and hope that the world cannot give. Let Jesus be your life and hope, your dreams and fears. Let Jesus carry you in his arms of love.