Ezk. 2:2-5; Ps. 1-4; 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Mk. 6:1-6
Freedom is not free but faith is the door of strength to receive the grace of power made perfect in weakness to defend our freedom. Today we celebrate a nation of freedom from the sacrifice of forefathers who in fear rose to defend a call to freedom and create one nation under God. We honor those who have joined to take an oath to defend freedom, those who have died in defense of our freedom, and those who have returned as veterans sometimes with the scars of freedom. Theirs is a deep understanding of why freedom is not free when called to stand for freedom and we express our gratitude for their courage.
Today religious freedom is under attack around the world and in our own country. It is a battle for who has the greater authority, the right of the individual to live, practice and come together in freedom of religion in all aspects of our life not just under the roof of the church or the right to enforce limits on the faithful practices of religion based on state authority. Is this a battle of issues or authority, over subsidiarity or central authority, over individual rights or social order? Perhaps we can even say it is a battle over natural law or political law and ultimately over good and evil. We are reminded today that the imperfect structures of this world can only be made perfect when God comes first.
The call for freedom is a constant tension between those who believe and those who have “rebelled” against God just as the Israelites did before so do many today who seek to separate God from the nation. Let us plead for God’s mercy and let us recognize the greatest prophet, priest, and king who came to sacrifice his life for our freedom and stand united as a people of God. Not only has Jesus been among us in his humanity and divinity but he dwells with us until the end of the world with the gift of freedom.
Though we are born imperfect and all carry “a thorn in the flesh” we fix our eyes on the mercy of God. When we fix our eyes on the Lord, we are made perfect in weakness with the strength to overcome “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints for the sake of Christ”. When we stand for the freedom of God others will seek to discredit our religious rights as they tried to discredit Jesus in his native place. They took offense at him not quietly but publicly tried to “cancel” him reminding everyone he is a “carpenter, the son of Mary” with brothers and sisters. Translation, “he is no better than us so who does he think he is speaking with authority”. He is the Son of God, our savior and redeemer but their ears were closed to the amazing word they heard.
Faith comes through hearing the word and allowing it to speak to our souls and make a connection with the transcendent. It burns into our hearts and remains with us ringing true across time. It is not the truth of the world that is relative, true for today but not for tomorrow. It stands the test of time to believe in a power greater than us, the power of the prime mover for all eternity. It is freedom personified in the person of Jesus who left us his word, comes to us in the Holy Spirit and raises us up to the Father. This faith remains a threat to a world where authority rests in its human structures to define freedom and claim its rights to establish the boundaries of freedom by lawful decree.
An immediate attack on freedom warriors includes labels as zealots, “far right”, extremist, and now even a danger to society by being identified as domestic terrorist. Try to stand outside an abortion clinic to pray a rosary and the law can arrest you for disruption if you are within feet of the clinic. Try to deny as a business serving in a same sex wedding and your business can be canceled and taken to court. Try to speak up at a school board meeting against teaching gender neutral sex education and you can be arrested for unlawful assembly. These are but some of the stories being recorded attacking our religious freedom. Jesus was crucified as an enemy of Caesar, a malefactor and a blasphemer of the religious law. Jesus did not come to do away with the religious law but to make it perfect in its weakness.
Today we hear how “the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet”. The movement of the spirit creates warriors for Christ. There is no spiritual “couch potatoes”. It picks us up from our lukewarm faith and lights a fire and gets us going to be active participants for Christianity in our home, our workplace, our church and in the public square as voices to the “Hard of face and obstinate of heart…and whether they heed or resist—for they are a rebellious house—they shall know that a prophet has been among them.” Yes, by our baptism we are called to be prophets and witnesses to our faith.
Know someone who is “hard of face and obstinate of heart” when it comes to the teachings of the church based on the word of God? Just mention any of the hot topics of our times, abortion, racism, immigration, social justice, euthanasia, gender identity, embryonic stem cells and see the fire it lights up. Are we simply to remain silent and go along to get along? As the popular bracelets many young Christians wore would ask “WWJD – What would Jesus do?” Jesus left no stone unturned to reveal sin wherever it hid. Jesus also countered evil with good performing mighty deeds, offering mercy, forgiveness, truth to power, reconciliation, and love. Jesus’ feet never rested from carrying the good news even when he carried the cross and walked to calvary.
What does it take to “amaze” Jesus? It is not what the power of faith can do but what the lack of faith prevents him from doing “so he was not able to perform any mighty dead there”. Consider how we may be creating resistance to the power of faith in our lives. Perhaps we say we have faith but as soon as the storms of life become threatening our faith turns into despair as the disciples called out to Jesus in the storm “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” His response was “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”
In the mystery of faith there is always a tension between fear and faith. If we make an inventory of our fears the list becomes unbearable from fear of loss, fear of danger, fear of abuse, fear of failure, fear of aging, to fear of death but we have but one fear to concerns ourselves with and that is the fear of the Lord. When we focus our fears on ourselves, we fail to trust in God. When the only fear is our relationship with God faith works miracles. God is amazed by our self-centeredness when he is there the source of life, the power to rise us up above the storms and bring calm to our life.
If freedom is not free then the work of freedom begins with faith. We must exercise our faith to live in freedom. Prayer is an exercise in freedom as we turn our minds, hearts and souls to the reality of our powerlessness without faith. Prayer is a call to increase our faith to God’s gates of mercy, justice, healing, forgiveness, and love. Faith is a gift that comes through prayer thus, in times of weakness we are to pray, “God I believe, help my unbelief and increase my faith through your grace and the power of your love.”
Faith is constantly active in the tension of life moving us to act. Faith is not stagnant wishful thinking. Faith is love in action. We are to act in faith by taking the next right step. When we walk in faith, we act in freedom because it is no longer about us but about him who acts through us. We are not afraid to act but are moved to action trusting in God. In fact, faith is a movement from God already working in us for us to act and to serve his divine providence. We do not always know where faith will lead us but prudential judgment unites us in spirit to what is right, just, true and to know what is the next right step. I know that I know God is with us and we are free indeed.
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