- The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
- Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put [his] hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.
- And, behold, one (rich ruler according to Luke's Gospel) came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Three episodes:
freedom tests about the law and the nature of relationships
freedom tests about pride and self-importance
freedom tests about wealth and burdensome responsibility
The tyranny of individuality...three not-so-dissimilar points of origin from which to define a point of central truth in a multi-dimensional spirit-universe.
Regarding laws of marriage, His answer was: consider why God made marriage a feature of human life.
Regarding time dedicated to children even when weighty matters press, His answer was: consider why God made children a feature of human life.
Regarding the relationship between temporal wealth and eternal wealth, His answer was: consider why God gave you wealth.
Everyone has a type of wealth and a type of bondage...particulars change, but the central truth of it remains. I've had a profound awakening to that fact this week. Because I rarely brush shoulders with ones who have truly deep wells in the domain of worldly wealth, I rarely consider the particular bondage that comes with that life. Nor do I often see the freedom I breathe that is suffocated there.
For instance, I could lay awake at night worrying over how to pay my bills, but the conscientious person of wealth could likewise lay awake at night worrying about the many people under the influence of his finances, who rely on him in order to pay their own bills. And the sleepless night's impact would be of little difference on one hand. While there are benefits and curses unique to each situation, there are nevertheless benefits and curses inherent in both. There is no escaping it. There is the self-deceptive lie in thinking that the other world is better, and there is the self-deceptive lie in thinking our own world is better. But the rich man can become callous and the poor man can become bitter. Or the rich man can become magnanimous and the poor man can become a bastion of strong humility.
So what is freedom? Do we really understand how to get it? Do we really know if we want it?
By definition, it is a broadly used term.
It can be a very good thing: 1 : the quality or state of being free: as a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : INDEPENDENCE c : the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous.
But it can also be a bad thing: f : improper familiarity.
Its range of application is large: from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated.
Finally, it can imply positive change: LIBERTY suggests release from former restraint or compulsion: the released prisoner had difficulty adjusting to his new liberty
or negative potential: LICENSE implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom: freedom without responsibility may degenerate into license.
So how does one embrace freedom?
It is hidden here:
24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two‑drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax*?”
25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes–from their own sons or from others?”
26 “From others,” Peter answered.
“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four‑drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” Matthew 17
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