Some of the greatest stories ever told are stories
of freedom. It has always read well in books and it
continues to play well in the movies. The film Glory
starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and
Morgan Freeman was about the first all black
military unit in the civil war. The Patriot,
starring Mel Gibson, was about this country’s
freedom. Another Mel Gibson film was Braveheart—maybe
you’ve
heard of it! Do you remember how the film ended?
William Wallace, the Scottish hero, is being
tortured. The king wants him and his people to give
into his power and rule, but Wallace suffers through
it and won’t give in. As he marshals all his
strength in the last moment, Wallace lets out a loud
cry of “FREEEEDOOOOM!”
Freedom plays well in the movies. But there are also
freedom moments based in reality that are forever
powerful. Who could forget the freedom speech of
Martin Luther King? “When we let freedom ring from
every village and everyhamlet, from every state and
every city, we will be able to speed up that day
when all of God’s
children, black men and white men, black sisters and
white sisters, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the
words of the old spiritual, ’Free at last! Free at
last!’ Thank God almighty we are free at last.”
In Washington, D.C. stands the Capitol Building of
the United States of America. The cornerstone was
laid in 1793, but the crowning touch is the statue
on top of the rotunda known as the “Freedom Lady,”
being placed there in 1863. The Freedom Lady stands
nearly 20 feet tall. A crest of stars frames her
face. A shield of Stars and Stripes is in her left
hand. She was sculpted in Rome, then the “Lady” was
brought to America aboard a sailing ship. During the
trip across the Atlantic Ocean, a fierce storm
developed. The Captain ordered cargo thrown
overboard to lighten the load. The sailors even
wanted to throw the heavy statue overboard, but the
captain refused, shouting over the wind, “No! Never!
We’ll flounder before we throw ‘Freedom’ away.” So,
Freedom was saved and the statue stands above the
dome today because one man believed not only in the
stone symbol, but the true ‘Freedom.’
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Freedom is something we all want. As Americans, we
seek it out and our nation was built upon it. No one
wants to have their freedom taken away. Ever since
we were kids we wanted to grow up as fast as we
could so we would be free from the awful reign of
our parents whose rules and regulations seem to rain
down on our parade of fun. Now, as adults, we
continue to complain about work invading our
freedoms or an overreaching government. We love our
freedom.
Jesus was a freedom-lover too! He said, “If the son
sets you free, you shall be free indeed” (John
8:36). He also said, “You will know the truth and
the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Bill Gaither wrote a song several years ago that
includes the words, “Shackled by a heavy burden,
neath a load of guilt and shame, then the hands of
Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same.
He touched me . . . oh he touched me, and oh the joy
that floods my soul. . . something happened and now
I know he
touched me and made me whole.”
Most people are unaware that there are broken
shackles resting at the feet of the Statue of
Liberty. She is breaking away from that which had
her in bondage!
Jesus has broken the chains that held us and now he
offers freedom to anyone who wants it. Galatians 5:1
tells us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us
free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be
burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
[Ron Otto, Preaching Minister at Lincoln
Christian Church] |
