The free sacrifice of our rights
This week, in one of West University’s local
newspapers, The Examiner, an image of the Declaration of
Independence filled the Opinion Section. This document,
so foundational to our nation, celebrates its 239
this week. And seeing it there, blazoned in stark black and
white, one word came to my mind: liberty. It is in this
declaration, after all, that Thomas Jefferson penned what
has become one of America’s central creeds: “We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and
the pursuit of Happiness.” Since then, liberty has become
one of the most treasured, most discussed, and at times
most controversial of our national values. The U.S.
Constitution describes its purpose as, among other things,
“securing the blessings of liberty” for the country’s
citizens. And our national anthem closes with an image of
the Star-Spangled Banner flying “o’er the land of the free.”
Clearly, liberty is an important theme in America.
Liberty is an important theme in the Gospel too, but in
ways that are perhaps a bit surprising. For the Christian,
liberty means primarily freedom from sin. In Christ we are
free from the guilt of sin (Col 2: 14), the tyrannical power
of sin (Rom 8:1-8) and the consequences of sin, namely
death (1 Cor. 15: 54-57). But the question that I find
interesting is this: what does the liberty found within Jesus
give us the freedom to do? And here’s where we start to
see the Christian value of liberty diverging from the
American value of liberty. In America, liberty means the
free exercise of our rights. In Christ, liberty means the free
sacrifice of our rights for the sake of others.
Consider the central symbol of our freedom: the cross. A
symbol of Jesus’ selfless surrender of his right to life for
the sake of humanity. Paul looks at the cross and at Jesus’
sacrifice as the model for what Christian freedom truly
looks like. “Let each of you look not to own interests, but
to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that
was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:4-5).
So next time you see a U.S. flag, or you hear a patriotic
tune extolling the virtue of liberty, consider liberty from
this point of view. In Christ, we have the freedom to give
up our right to speak in order to better listen. We have the
freedom to give up our right to have in order to better
share. And we have the freedom to give up our
served, in order to better serve.