Christian freedom is different

Every year I enjoy watching our Independence Day celebration televised from Washington, D.C.  I was able to watch it in person three times while studying at Catholic University of America in the 1970s.  July 4th calls us to give thanks for our freedom to be a nation, a different kind of nation, a democratic union of free people. It began with a revolutionary war to break free from a British monarchy to become the world’s first democracy since ancient Greece.  It began, already marred by slavery, and is still struggling to achieve equality of freedom for all its citizens and those striving to become its citizens.  It began, as Benjamin Franklin called it, “a great experiment,” and remains so, sometimes fragile because we strive for Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of an ever more perfect union while fiercely fighting against any restraints on our personal freedoms.  

Christianity offers a different kind of freedom, a freedom “for,” rather than a freedom “from.”  It can help strengthen our union as a nation, just as it strengthens our church parishes, dioceses and universal Catholicism.  Jesus began his ministry by calling St. Andrew and St. Peter, St. James and St. John to follow him, promising to make them “fishers of men.”  God is the original “fisher of men.”  He created Adam and Eve and all humankind in his own image and likeness.  Through Jesus he invited us to share in his power, to be a reflection of God, to join his community, his school of fish.

We live in a time of extreme individualism.  Media, the internet, advertising, all broadcast a message of self-creation, of making one’s own rules, of living exclusively by our own choices, being bound by only one’s own desires.  However, to pretend that we can make ourselves whatever we choose is to live outside the creative power of God. The biblical story of Adam and Eve warns us against this danger.  They valued their own will above God’s will.  And human life became darker and darker, beginning with the murder of their son Abel by his brother Cain.  

Human nature is flawed by loving the darkness more than the light.  “And ... the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil … But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God” (Jn 3:19-21).  Yes, but that journey to light is difficult because we are influenced by false patterns in media, others with whom we associate, advertising and our own thoughtless, mistaken choices.

Jesus offers us a more positive way.  He is the light who has come into our world.  “If you abide by my words, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:31-32).  In our natural (fallen) state we are captive to lies.  We don’t see reality as it really is.  St. Paul says that even knowing deep down what is true, we can “exchange the truth of God for a lie” (Rom 1:25).  Ultimately, we can be headed away from God by saying “My will be done,” as we desire something that will do harm to ourselves and/or others.

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is our model: “Not my will, but yours (father God) be done.”  God’s grace can turn us around.  That is what conversion really is.  We have to pray for it, and it is needed many times in our lives.  We are not free to do whatever we want.  We don’t get to make all of our own rules. That is extreme individualism, and it will never work.  We are created in the image of God. He gave us his psalmists, judges and prophets in the Old Testament and finally his own son to become man in the New Testament and to show us what that image of God looks like.  

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, as he proclaimed.  His way of humble service, healing, forgiving and fidelity to shepherding his sheep is the “way” or model we are to imitate.  He is the truth, and he gave us his approval of the Ten Commandments of Moses and added two:  “1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and 2. Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37-39).

These will save us from our own proclivity to sin and give us a share of his Spirit and a promise of our own resurrection after death.  As St. Paul says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your sting? ... but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Cor 15: 54-57).  We may fear dying but we have Jesus’ word that he has prepared a place for us in heaven so that “Where I am, you also may be” (Jn 14, 3). We are free to follow Jesus, free to serve others, to be children of God and enjoy the “first fruits of the Spirit” (Rom 8:19-23).  St. James calls this the “law of liberty” (Jas 1:25).  

At graduation time from high school, the valedictorian often urges his or her classmates to “make a difference,” to leave this world a better place through their life’s work.  The science they have learned can help them gain jobs, work efficiently and maybe even save lives.  But it can’t make them honest, honorable, loving, self-giving and hopeful, even in the face of adversity and death.  For these virtues, which are the real “stuff” of life, we need Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life.       

Father Carville is a retired priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge and writes on current topics for The Catholic Commentator. He can be reached at johnnycarville@gmail.com.