The other day on the news I saw a video clip of a fundamentalist pastor declaring that no masks would be allowed in his church even as numbers for Covid19 cases increased in his community. It makes me sad to see someone act as if this is the mark of a true believer. What happened to talking about Jesus, repentance, or aspirations to becoming a better person? The pastor’s message was, of course, about freedom. And who isn’t for freedom?
In fact, the Bible speaks directly about freedom. The Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians has sometimes been called the Magna Charta of Christian freedom. I wrote my dissertation on it. The fifth chapter declares that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free (5:1).” Freedom is opposed to a yoke of slavery, life lived anachronistically subject to the Old Testament law as if Christ’s sacrifice were not sufficient. The only thing that counts Paul writes, is “faith expressing itself through love (5:6). “
In 5:13, we find an echo of the earlier words, “you were called to be free.” And then a warning not to use freedom for self-indulgence but “rather, serve one another humbly in love.” The Old Testament law, Paul writes, in fact is fulfilled by the single command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” There is then a restatement of the danger Paul sees for the community: he warns that the abuse of freedom leads to destruction.
For followers of Jesus, freedom is not defined as something we fight for. Freedom is a gift God has given in Jesus Christ. He paid the price. The right use of that freedom is the critical question for us now. And Paul tries to persuade a confused and hostile audience that freedom is for love. One cannot talk about Christian freedom apart from love.
It seems simple to me. When children are not yet able to be vaccinated, the loving action is to get vaccinated and to wear a mask while there are still too many at risk. It is the right use of the gift of freedom.
