Sunday Reflection–Freedom

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  (Luke 4:18-19)

Tomorrow is Independence Day – a day we celebrate our freedom from the oppression of an over-reaching English government.  It made me think about our spiritual freedom.

When Jesus stood up in the presence of the Jewish hierarchy and said those words above, he created a firestorm.  How dare he take on those things that belong only to God?

Yet, that’s exactly what he did and what he still does today.

The poor are those who are poor in spirit; who see no hope.  The blind are those who are blind to the truth of God and who he really is.  The oppressed are those who are pushed down by religious rules and regulations.

When he said “freedom for the prisoners” I don’t believe he was talking about people who were behind locked doors.  He was talking about people who are prisoners to those things in their lives that hold them in bondage – sin, lack of forgiveness, wounds to our emotions and spirit, addictions, etc..

Jesus came, and still comes, to set us free from everything that is keeping us from being the person that God means for us to be.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

If you are bound by anything in your life, if you see no hope for your life, if you are oppressed by religious rules and regulations, then Jesus waits for you to ask him to come into your life.  He wants us to know freedom, to be set free.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1)