Slavery is in the news. A few days ago, Brown University in Providence released a report of what it will do to make amends for the fact that this institution was founded on the proceeds from the Rhode Island slave trade, and many of its initial buildings were built by slaves. Abolitionists in Providence are working to expose the sex-slave trade there, which holds foreign prostitutes in the city, a “business” protected by city loopholes. And, sometime in May, our church will join with others in sponsoring “Traces of the Trade”, a film which documents a wealthy white family from the North coming to grips with its complicity in the slave trade in generations past.
Today’s scripture indicates that we may well be slaves ourselves, slaves to sin. And though we may protest, like the believers in Jesus’ day, saying that we have been freed from such bondage, Jesus would press into our concept of “freedom”. Again, from our history, residents of the US would say that our entire culture is based on freedom, in that we threw off the shackles of oppression from a foreign government. And though that may be true, to be truly free is not only to be freed from, but to be freed to. Just because black slaves were eventually freed from their shackles, their sad history, particularly in the north, indicated that they were not free to resume a normal life in our culture. As many came north, looking for jobs, communities like Worcester and many others refused them entrance, offering nothing but the most menial employment. They were not yet free to do what their white counterparts could, and such freedoms have, in many ways, still to be realized.
And so, though you and I may think that we are freed from the bondage of sin (and indeed, such shackles may have been taken off by the Lord), to be truly free is to be free to do the good which God has prepared for us, to have a new identity, a new intention, and a new opportunity to become the people that God has designed us to be. Sad to say that many believers settle for being freed from the flames of hell, but not freed for the rewards of glory.
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). Believer, does this describe you?
[...] Hat tip: NativityOasis Weblog. [...]