If you ever watched the movie Braveheart, you’ll never forget the ending scene where William Wallace (played by Mel you know who!) having been captured by the English is about to be put to death via evisceration unless he declares loyalty to the Crown. He refuses to do so and his last word belted out in the most visceral declaration was…come ‘on you know it…”Freeeedommm!!!” The irony seems to be, in a way, that he declares freedom while being put to death after being a captive and after years of battling for the freedom of Scotland from England oppression. Sound like another historical figure? Someone who wouldn’t deny he was a king and submit to Rome? All Jesus had to do was deny he was a king, and he would have lived. He didn’t comply at the cost of his life, but you can be sure freedom for a people was his life goal. What is freedom really? I mean at the deepest level possible, who is it that is truly free? And free from what?
Jesus came to “set free those who are oppressed, “right? Who and what was he talking about? Who was “oppressed” by who or what? Was it the Jews being oppressed by the Roman Empire? Was it the Jews oppressed by a Jewish religion that was all about rituals, regulations, rules and a ruling religious hierarchy? Or…hang with me…or was it to set the human soul free from everything that wasn’t love. Better put…. free to love and to be loved…just as you are. Even better…to love one’s self and not be oppressed by darkness, hopelessness, guilt, shame, insecurities and self-hatred. Free to know oneself not only as a physical conscious being but also as a spiritual being.
Jesus said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” and “So, if the son makes you free you shall be free indeed.” The Apostle Paul tells us Jesus sets us free from a body of sin and death as well as from sin and death itself. Yeah, maybe that’s it. Ultimate freedom for a human being is being free at the deepest level of the soul…free in one’s own mind…free from the death of a soul or mind that loathes itself. Don’t get me wrong…. freedom from slavery, injustice, and oppression by others is a great thing, but the worst kind of oppression is when a human soul suffers from its own mind that says to the self, “you are unworthy, unlovable, unknowable, unacceptable.”
Let’s be honest, look around the world we live in, especially in the US and see how mental illness is so pervasive and is wreaking havoc in the human souls and minds of our young people. More people than ever, including adults, are literally killing themselves and hating their lives more than ever in all of history….and…in the country that provides more freedoms to its citizens than any country in all of history! Does that even make sense? Are we really free just because we live in a free society? Perhaps not.
The gospel, the good news must be deeply connected to the kingdom of God within you, the Divine life, where the soul can be at peace with the self. Where the mind is drawn toward grace and love far more than selfishness and self-absorption. Jesus then IS the way…the truth…the life…NOW, both at a mindset level and at a soul level as we follow his example and receive a spirit of love which can only come from God. How? I don’t know. But I know. Much of Christendom in its teaching and proclamations leans far too heavily into salvation from eternal torment far more than into the possibilities of a life now enriched by the love of God. There are way too many “saved” sad Christians who live oppressed by their own sense of inadequacy and disabled self-worth. I can’t imagine a God who doesn’t want more than anything in all of creation other than to see human beings truly free from any oppression in their mind, heart and spirit. And we human beings can also be the change agents to spread that love and message. This is my message to me!
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