13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C June 26, 2022
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
If I told you that today’s readings are about freedom, how would you take it? Would you perhaps point out that the 1st reading is about a man sacrificing his livelihood and leaving his family all because another man said so? Or point out that Jesus tells people that following him means giving up a home and family?
But St. Paul is clear: “for freedom Christ set us free.” Jesus also tells us “the truth will set you free.” So, if you want to actually be reasonable and consistent, there are only two choices for you. You can say that Jesus takes away our freedom and so see him and St. Paul as liars. Or, you can take the time to see what freedom really means.
As Americans, we love the idea of freedom. What do we mean by that? “This is a free country” gets thrown around a lot, especially after someone says “you can’t do that.” If we’re honest, we all tend to think freedom means being able to do whatever we want. We’ve been taught that our whole lives. It’s part of the reason there’s so much outrage over Friday’s Supreme Court ruling. In many states, people can no longer do what they want; they feel their freedom is being taken away.
Yet, if we’re faithful, we should also realize that that’s not what freedom really means. You’re free to put diesel in your gasoline car, but then you’re not free to actually go anywhere. You’re free to do what you want with your body, but it will eventually take away your health, your freedom to do anything. And the more we flex our freedom to do what we want, the more we realize that that means we’re always in competition with others. If I’m free to take the food I want, someone else is not free to have that same food. This is why St. Paul immediately puts a “limit” on freedom by reminding us of the golden rule, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The truth is that that actually increases our freedom. It doesn’t limit it. How? By rooting us in reality. When you define freedom as the ability to do whatever you want, you will always run into this problem: that’s not how reality works. From the very first instant you exist, you are limited. Your entire existence is full of things you did not choose, cannot control, and cannot change. When, where, how you were born; whether you’re male or female; your height, eye color, and metabolism. Thinking freedom is doing whatever I want means you are constantly at war. The world is your enemy, and so is everyone in it. The sad irony is that the more you think of freedom this way, the less you’ll have.
So, what does freedom mean? Freedom is about choice, but the difference is the reason for choosing. It means choosing to accept what’s real, what’s right, what’s good. It means starting with the fact that the world and our existence in it is a given… a gift. There is a foundation I did not choose, but now that I am within that framework, I can choose to participate in it. And within that participation, I have many choices about the way I do it.
Freedom is the ability to make a commitment to something real. It’s a paradox. We don’t actually use our freedom well until we’ve given it away. A person who spends their whole life drifting from one impulse to another is never considered great or fulfilled. The great figures of history, the saints we know and love all have something in common. They freely chose to give away their freedom, to commit to something meaningful. Doing this well, however, is something of an art form.
It starts with acknowledging that freedom isn’t absolute. We have to commit to something if we want our freedom to matter. The next step is committing to the right sort of things. St. Paul is talking about freedom precisely because the Galatians are trying to obey the Jewish laws of the Old Testament. They are trying to commit to circumcision and all the little rules and regulations that come from that. This, St. Paul tells us, is the wrong commitment. He says, “if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” At the same time, being “guided by the Spirit,” means we can’t just “gratify the desire of the flesh.” There are still boundaries, limitations, and commitments.
This points us to the heart of freedom-as-commitment. The Spirit is a person. He is God with whom we have a relationship. Unlike a bland commitment to a set of rules, the free commitment to the Spirit is personal and dynamic even though a lot of the externals look the same. Jewish Law and the Holy Spirit both require us to keep the Ten Commandments, but the heart of the matter is different.
And we see that in Jesus’ demands of his would-be disciples. Honoring your father and mother and burying the dead are things God himself asks us to do. They are requirements in both the Old and New Testaments. So why is Jesus saying “let the dead bury the dead?”
Because. Jesus. Is. God. The reason that burying the dead or honoring our parents matter is because of how God designed us. Made in his image and likeness, the way we treat other people – even their dead bodies – affects us as persons. These things are good rules because they match God’s design. When we follow them, we are using our freedom to become more fully human, fully alive, fully invested in love. There are moments, however, when love itself… when God himself comes first. Jesus uses these examples to make this point: true freedom is the ability to choose to participate in God’s plan for us to become perfect, holy, happy. These rules generally guide us there, but there are times when the source of the rule outweighs the rule itself, like when the call to evangelize takes precedence… when time does not allow you to both go home to say goodbye and announce God’s kingdom.
What is freedom? Ultimately, it is the ability to choose to love. Because God is real – that’s objectively true – and because he is love, freedom is the ability to choose God. Yes, we choose him in following the laws he gives us. But even more than that, we choose him in the spiritual, personal relationship that makes those rules matter in the first place. And like any relationship, it’s a commitment. It means saying “no” to other things, often permanently. Wealth, political power, pleasure, success in sports, comfort, the option to change your mind later – these aren’t always bad things, but they are not what your freedom is for. If you are unwilling to sacrifice some or even all of them when God asks you to, then you are not free. That’s not what you really want, is it? It’s certainly not what Jesus wants. So, what will you do about it?
Will you cling to your freedom so tightly that you lose it anyway? Or will you give it away and so be truly free?