The Fourth Sunday of Pentecost

June 24, A.D. 2007


Set Free To Be


“Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty I am free at last!” Those immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King have resonated throughout the decades since they were spoken in front of the Lincoln Memorial before thousands of people who yearned for the equality of all people without exception. Those immortal words resonate deep in the heart and soul of every human being, for we all want to be set free from any encumbrance which keep us from being free to be who God created us to be. Dr. King was no doubt familiar with the immortal words of his namesake, Dr. Martin Luther, who, in 1520 wrote a treatise entitled The Freedom of a Christian, in which he states: A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all. He was also familiar with the words of St. Paul: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. All of the above points to the freedom to be for which every human being was created. That is what, deep in our hearts, we long for. Yet, that is often not what we experience in our lives. What we often experience in live is a bondage or imprisonment that is placed upon us by others, or, more often than not, something, which we imprison ourselves. Today’s Gospel speaks profoundly to this issue. Jesus arrived at what is now know as the Golan Heights, on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee He is met by a poor soul who lived in solitude among the tombs. We do not know details about this poor man, but, for some reason, his soul had become imprisoned by a legion of demons. His situation was so bad that he was often restrained by chains, only to break them and head back into the tombs. When he sees Jesus, he falls down before him, and listen to what he says: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you – do not torment me.” Interestingly enough he knows who Jesus is. Jesus, who never in all eternity has tormented anyone, casts out the demons, and sets him free. We then see this man, set free to be who he really was meant to be, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Could it be, then, that our freedom is at the utmost, when we sit, together on the level ground, at the feet of Jesus. That gives me real encouragement and hope. Let’s be honest: we all struggle with the dark forces deep within us, and it has been that way since the first bite of the forbidden fruit in the garden. One of my favorite writes is the late Father Henri Nouwen. He was a Dutch priest, and wrote many very spiritually uplifting books. Each time I read one of his books, I am stunned that he writes to exactly my situation at that moment. It is as if he went through, five years earlier, what I am going through at the moment. Unfortunately, he passed away some years ago, so I don’t have that particular resource. He wrote a book entitled The Inner Voice of Love, which describes his struggles through an intensively difficult time in his life. He writes: Today, the time when I wrote these spiritual imperatives seems far away and long ago. Reading them now, eight years later, makes me aware of the radical changes I have undergone. I moved from anguish to freedom, from depression to peace, from despair to hope. It certainly was a time of purification for me. My heart, ever questioning my goodness, value, and worth, became anchored in a deeper love and thus less dependent on the praise and blame of those around me. It also grew into a greater ability to give love without always expecting love in return. What once seemed such a curse has become a blessing. All the agony that threatened to destroy my life now seems like the fertile ground for greater trust, stronger hope, and deeper love. (Henri Nouwen: The Inner Voice of Love, back cover) My brothers and sisters in Christ: No matter what is oppressing us, no matter what imprisons us, no matter what bondage enslaves us, no matter what addictions afflict us, Jesus of Nazareth invites us to come to sit at his feet, to be healed, to be set free, to be who we were created to be. There is nothing than can keep us from the feet of Jesus. All we have to do is have the courage to put sit at his feet, along will everyone else, and to let him heal us and set us free. Hear the words of St. Paul: For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen