We never lose our right to forgive

​If you're like me, you don't have to scroll too far down your Facebook timeline to read a conversation or a heated debate or just plain old ugly finger-pointing about freedoms.

My friends of faith are often in the middle of those conversations. Sometimes their voices are the loudest.

I don't say that critically. The beauty of our country is we get to choose the freedoms that are most important to us and we have a lot more options than many places in the world when it comes to choosing how we fight for them.

But Henri Nouwen's words this morning capture some freedoms I never hear people worried about losing. In these ongoing battles about freedom, I never hear people say someone is trying to take away my right to forgive others. And I don't hear panic about the possibility I'll no longer have the freedom to serve my neighbor, or form a new bond of fellowship with them.

In my life, the greatest freedom fighting example I have is Christ. And, I think the greatest example of his fight for freedom happened on the cross. A man losing his right to life at the hands of the government leaders at that time, demonstrated freedom right up until his last breath.

As the soldiers who were stealing his right to live gambled beneath him to determine which of them would lay claim to his garments, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

These soldiers were not going to deny Jesus the spiritual freedom he had to forgive.

When the criminal who was being crucified next to Jesus said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom," Jesus responded to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Even as he was dying, Jesus was exercising his freedom to form a new bond with a fellow human.

Then, as Jesus took his final breath, he cried out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

In a final display of freedom, Jesus honored the opportunity to serve his father. Even in the midst of the ultimate oppression, Jesus found the ultimate way to serve God, and through Him, serve us.

I think this final scene in Jesus' life is full of lessons. And I think one of the important ones is this:

Yes, as a church and a body of faith, we need to fight for our freedoms. But when the fight for what we fear might be taken away becomes all consuming, and it blinds us to the freedoms that can NEVER be taken away - the freedom to forgive and to serve and connect with others in love - then maybe we're fighting too hard. Or even fighting for the wrong things.

Jesus didn't die fighting for his freedoms, he died exercising them. I for one think he intended for us to find spiritual freedom in that.