Have you seen the movie Twelve Years a Slave?  Winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, Twelve Years is the unfortunately true story of a free man living in the American north who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South.  It's an awful story, really:  the abuse and injustice he endured is almost beyond imagination. Even more awful is that his fellow slaves were not as fortunate as he was.  When he was finally released, those with whom he had lived for twelve years continued on, oppressed and brutalized until the day they died.  It's almost unfathomable.
     Even worse, as I write this blog, thousands, perhaps millions of people across the world are in slavery, sexual, political, or otherwise, living their lives under the iron hand of another human being.  They have no recourse, they have no hope.  All they have to look forward to is a life of drudgery and pain.  It's horrific o contemplate.
     Most of us know that many of the American slave owners believed they were doing God's will in enslaving the Africans they bought.  Today, slavery is not done for such "noble" reasons.  Even more than the decades leading to the Civil War, slavery today is a purely economic enterprise.  It's about the money.  And that's the worst part of it.
     In this light, it's difficult to think about Jesus' words that, "The truth will set you free and, if the Son [Jesus] sets you free, you will be free indeed."  If one is free, this is easy to believe.  If one is not free, belief is much harder.  While Jesus is talking about spiritual freedom, a not unimportant thing, in the present age, physical freedom seems equally significant.  The challenge, it seems, for those who believe in Jesus, is to see freedom holistically.  That is, to not hide behind spiritual platitudes, but to rather engage in the arduous work of preaching with words and deeds, rich, active, and fulfilling deeds.
     Jesus didn't set anyone free to enjoy her freedom only.  He set people free to lead others to freedom--in every way--too.