Elemental: S2 - Day 18

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

As a high school chaplain, I found the rhythms of a senior’s year predictable and interesting. They would return to campus the stars of the show, the adults of the student world. Dating would be taken more seriously, and their ways of getting into trouble were more costly. Many would have more fun this year than the rest of their entire high school career. Then, returning from spring break, they would become entirely unteachable, so ready to graduate.

What stood out most was the common thread of certainty in what they would experience after graduation. Many were confident of the degree they would pursue in college (even if that would change by the time they got there). Some had summer jobs lined up. They all knew one thing they were looking forward to—freedom.

“I can’t wait to get out into the real world,” they would say. Little did they know of the “real world,” with its 60-hour work weeks, bills, taxes, and financial obligations. They were oblivious to workplace rejection, holding a job they hated, or coming home to help with homework that wasn’t their own. I was especially amused when a student who chafed under the oppression of a school dress code used their first act of freedom to join the military. So much they had to learn.

But I recognize what was happening there. I believe every human heart echoes the sentiment of the high school senior, “I want to be free.” Sometimes I forget there are places in the world a person can’t drive because they’re a woman, children can be abused without recourse, or people of certain ethnicities are forbidden basic opportunities. Not long ago, in my hometown, I wouldn’t have been able to vote or get a mortgage if my skin had been a few shades darker. And as I ponder these things, my heart cries out, “I need to be free.”

I resonate with Luke’s Jesus, who steps out of a desert of preparation and onto a synagogue stage, scroll in hand; whose first recorded words are, “I bring good news… I bring you freedom.” Sure, He reads from a prepared script. But that makes it more remarkable. Of all the words He could have been handed to read, He reads FREEDOM. It is a prophecy describing what God cares about most, the work of the Messiah to come, rescuing the oppressed—setting us free.

1. If you had a magic wand, what task would you wave and never do again?
2. If you could go back and talk with the high school senior version of yourself, what would you tell them?
3. What spiritual issue has you bound, tied up?  What would you want Jesus to know about it?