Unexpected Freedom Found

Wednesday, April 8, 2020  Some material taken from Real Freedom by Van Houser
As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Luke 9:57-58

Unexpected Freedom Found  
Yesterday we learned about how Jesus and the disciples were not welcomed in a Samaritan town because they were Jews, on their way to Jerusalem.  The Samaritan and Jewish people were enemies. The disciples asked Jesus "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"  They wanted the wrath of God to take them out for rejecting their Lord, but we all know this was not Jesus’ way of handling those who opposed Him.  So they left the town and as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Luke 9:57-58

It's at this point that there ensues a wonderful, moving, poetic exchange between Jesus and the disciples that is so revealing about how Jesus understood and experienced his own freedom. It begins when a stranger approaches and offers to follow Jesus, in fact he offers to follow Jesus wherever he will lead. And contrary to what we might expect, Jesus does not accept the man's offer of total devotion. Rather he utters these beautiful words which are all the same very sad. "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

Here Jesus is speaking of course not so much to that man who offers to follow, but to the disciples, and to the experience of being rejected by the people of that little Samaritan village. "The Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."   In one sense Jesus was being literal here. Having been essentially barred from staying for the night in that little village, Jesus and his group will have nowhere to lay their heads.  But in a deeper sense Jesus is speaking about the sacrifice that attends real freedom.

Real freedom is being cut loose from whatever it is that ties us down. This is the shadow side of freedom which Jesus understood so well, for he had chosen to live without either the benefits or the bonds of marriage, family, children, or career. He moved like the wind through the villages of his native land, never stopping to make a home or build enduring relationships with people or any particular place. He was utterly free -- and very much alone.

Who do you know that has enough courage to live in such a way? This requires not only courage but an ability to be comfortable with yourself and God. At the root and heart of the matter, real freedom makes us uncomfortable because it reminds us of our isolation, our loneliness, our lack of connectedness to anything comforting in this world.

What do you need to be cut loose from?
What have you been cut loose from because of this pandemic? Maybe it wasn’t your choice, but you are really enjoying the
 new “freedom” ironically found in these restrictions.  

We have a pass, an excuse, a reason – as if we needed one. We have the opportunity to stop doing some of the things that have destroyed our lives. Busyness.  Social Media. Over scheduling yourself and your kids. Not spending the time with your family that you really want to. Not eating together as a family. Not getting outside and enjoying God’s beautiful world with your kids. Now is the time.  Remember, Christ died for our freedom, not for us to stay in bondage. Don’t’ let this time be for nothing.  Do not taste this freedom and throw it away by going right back into a life of distraction from everything important. While you are “involuntarily” cut loose, make a permanent change and claim the freedom God intended for us to have

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1