Jesus The Liberator

Jesus the Liberator

Read: Luke 4:16-21

“He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.”

Luke 4:18

“Sin is a power in our life: Let us fairly understand that it can only be met by another power.”

—Henry Drummond

IN WORD Jesus the freedom fighter. The liberator. The defender of all who are oppressed. The image conjures up a khaki-clothed Marxist in a third-world jungle. This Jesus has, in fact, been adopted by some freedom movements around the world, but it isn’t a portrayal the evangelical church normally embraces.

But let’s reconsider that. Take the image of this freedom fighter out of a sociopolitical context and define oppression as the spiritual enslavement that it truly is, and we may be on to something. The oppressive government of the ruler of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4) reaches into suburban neighborhoods as much as slums; into downtown office suites as much as jungle outposts; into education and religion as much as politics and economics. And we need liberating. Whether we are the diseased or the doctors, beggars or barons, ignorant or educated, we are prisoners in a fallen kingdom.

IN DEED This is extremely relevant for the average Christian. We know we have been freed from the penalty of sin, but how often we feel enslaved by it! We know we have eternal life, but how often we feel imprisoned in a body of death! We can easily feel trapped in mundane, uneventful lives. We are so frequently stuffed back into our shackles that the excitement of our freedom seems a distant memory.

Focus today on Christ as Deliverer. Think of what robs your joy in Christ and makes you feel imprisoned. Know that whatever it is—whether it is within your heart or some external constraint—Christ is victor over it. Consider how an imprisoned Paul and Silas sang joyful hymns to God and how a dying Stephen saw heaven opened. None were bound by their surroundings. What binds you? Circumstances? Discouragement? Sin? Ask God to reopen your eyes to Jesus the Liberator.