Jesus Came to Set us Free: Commandments and Freedom

 

In the first reading, we hear about the redemption of Israel by a child who is to be born. In the Gospel, Elizabeth is redeemed by the Child to be born, as she shouts for joy in the Spirit. How can this unborn Child redeem Elizabeth from Mary’s womb? The letter to the Hebrews tells us what’s going on in Mary’s womb: the Son of God enters to world to do the Father’s will and, in that way, He redeems the world. The Son of God in Mary’s womb says, “Behold, O Lord, I come to do your will.” We are being set free by the obedience of God’s only Son.

We tend to consider freedom as something opposed to authority, perhaps because we have experienced authority as something oppressive, something which was not on our best interests, something like slavery. Sometimes, and without realizing, we may transpose our bad feelings about that kind of authority to any authority: we feel oppressed even when a certain particular authority may intend to do good to us.

Something similar happens to children, but not for the same reason. Children cannot understand the commands of their parents and sometimes cry and suffer for doing what is good for them. Teenagers understand better, but do not have enough experience to realize that their obligations (waking up early, studying, working, chores) are good for them: they also find it difficult to obey. We will talk about adults later… When people have a limited understanding of what is good for them, and someone leads them away from their desired world, people resist, complain and suffer. They are slaves to their limited perception of what is good. If they keep going on their own ways, one day they will suffer the consequences. A mother knows more and tries to set her children free, but they resist. When children give up, when they accept the command, they become open to a new experience of good. They see the truth, and now they are free. Their understanding of what is good for them has expanded and so they have been empowered to choose what is best for them. Previously, they were not free to choose the best, because they did not know it. They were slaves to their limited perception of life but, now, the truth has set them free.

Now, human parents are subject to error. They sometimes mean well, but they do not know what is truly good for their children. Other times, even in proposing the good, they may do it in the wrong way, with too much harshness, for example. And, sadly, some parents do not truly seek the welfare of their children. These experiences of authority, sometimes too human, are the ones who shape our perceptions of authority, fatherhood, command, obligation, law, etc. That is, we tend to perceive God’s fatherhood according to our own experience of fatherhood, or God’s commands according to our human experience of being commanded something.

Now, human parents may not know what is best for us, but God knows it perfectly: we can trust Him. Human authorities may be too harsh or too light in commanding, but God is perfect, He is not subject to error. Human authorities, even religious authorities, may sometimes seek their own interests rather than ours, but God does not need anything from us: God wants only our happiness. The only reason He came into the world is to deliver us, to set us free.

Free from what? From ignorance, from sin, from weakness and from hell. Let us go briefly over these four things.

Jesus came to teach us that God loves us, and to manifest God’s love for us. God’s love does not simply mean that God wants you to exist, but that God wants you to be with Him, in His house; and not in His house as a piece of furniture, or a pet, or a guest, but as a child, and even as a spouse. Our truth as human beings, in God’s plan, is that we are meant to be His friends and His children. We are not meant to be simply friends and shepherds of animals, even if there is nothing wrong with having a pet. We are not simply meant to be a human family, or caregivers of people for this earth only. We are meant to be God’s family on earth so as to inherit His Kingdom for ever, in Heaven. In other words, we are meant to rejoice, not in what animals rejoice, not even in what a simple human being could enjoy: we are meant to rejoice in what God rejoices in. We are meant to be happy with God’s own happiness.

“Now, how can this truth set us free if we are not able to achieve this wonderful happiness? We are not God’s friends, but sinners!” This is why Jesus came to forgive sins. “We do not know the way to God’s house, how can we get there?” This is why Jesus came to show us the way: God’s commandments are the road signs to Heaven. “But how can we travel such a difficult road, when we are so weak?” This is why Jesus taught us to pray and left us the Sacraments of grace, especially the Eucharist, so that we may always have the strength to fulfill the commandments and persevere till the end.

Getting married is an act of freedom: you marry if you want, whomever you want. But getting married is at the same time a renunciation to any other person and a certain giving yourself away, surrendering to the other person. This surrendering is where you expect happiness to lie hidden, and this is why you renounce everything for that person. It is an absolute yes that implies many “nos.” I wish we could understand the commandments as those “nos” allowing us to say “yes” to the only one who can make us happy. He has already said yes to us, when he came to Bethlehem. Now the whole Heaven is expecting our own “yes.” And when we do, there is joy of wedding in Heaven. “I assure you, there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents, than for ninety nine righteous who are not in need of conversion.”

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In the end, we are free in order to choose happiness. When we do not choose happiness we waste our freedom. When we choose the wrong happiness, we become slaves of our own finitude.