Freedom

Isaiah 61:1-2

“1The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn”

That Jewish people waited for the Messiah who would free them from the darkness.  For the captives in Babylon freedom meant a return to their homeland.   For God, freedom meant faith and a transformation of the heart, and the freedom from sin and death that that kind of  faith would give to the world.

The Jews did, eventually, return to Jerusalem, but they did not find spiritual freedom in that return.  Their faith was rooted in laws, regulations, and rules, not in the heart.

Christ came to redeem us, to change our hearts, to transform us…

to release us from the darkness.

“I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.” John 12:46

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)