Slave or free?

John 8:31-36

          When I was a teenager my community changed from a suburban, predominantly white neighborhood to a predominantly black neighborhood. Before my family moved it would change again to a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Through all these changes I became a minority. My neighbors were all middle class blacks (or Hispanic) and the neighborhood really did not change. Well, the people 'moving in' had a tendency to make the neighborhood better since they apparently had worked quite hard to afford their houses. There was pride of ownership and the neighbors were always nice. Still I was a minority and I felt some pride in the fact that I was not prejudiced about anyone. If someone was a scoundrel, they earned it on their own merits not based on their nationality or the color of their skin.  Fast forward a few decades and I was working with quite a variety of medical residents. Still prideful of me being 'not predjudiced', I had to approach a resident with an Asian background over a clerical issue that I was in charge of. I asked the resident who came to my office to fix it. His response was that it was not his issue but that of another Asian resident and he asked if I thought that they all looked alike. I was mortified. I was prejudiced in a way, even if  it wasn't malicious. Damn.  Sometimes you are slave to things when you would swear that you are free of.

           One thing that I have learned from that incident and from decades of working with such a diverse medical staff as well as my own life experiences and religious training is that we are constantly called to learn and grow.

           It seems almost funny the things that we can become slaves to. It surely isn't simply owning someone although thank God that is recognized and almost completely accepted as a universal human wrong.  We can be slaves to our own ideas and we also can be slaves to 'things'. I would be the first to recognize how we Americans are held captive by materialism. 

           How about keeping the gay community slaves to ancient and antiquated ideas or mistranslations of Scripture? Isn't it ignorance to assume all gays are the same? Isn't it a form of slavery to ones ideals to assume people cannot lead committed loving lives? 

            No matter what your definition of slavery is, no matter what form it takes, Jesus walked the earth to set you free. The command to love, those two great commandments will set you free.  You may not realize the depth of those commandments but your life should be set to grow and learn with each breath and each day how we are to love. We must never become complacent about being a slave and to what extent we need to grow in His love to set us free.

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.