It wasn’t beautiful, the corner of Cedar and Walnut. In fact, whatever planner decided to name the streets after trees must of have had some twisted sense of humor. No forest could have less to do with the dirty, dingy gray of metal and concrete.
Despite uninviting appearances, the bench at the corner was always full. Pedestrians couldn’t seem to resist its invitation. Sometimes they paused there with coffee and sandwiches from the warmly lit shop on the other side of the concrete wall. Mostly they just sat and read, chatted with strangers who joined them, or smiled with thoughtful eyes that saw anything but the noisy bustle of city streets.
They called it Le’s Corner in the neighborhood. Most didn’t know why, but the old man who ran the shop spoke the name with moist eyes. He ran trembling fingers over a faded black and white photograph of a tiny girl. Even in the aging exposure her eyes lit up the room, and her smile seemed just for me.
He had made the bench for her when he was just thirteen. She had loved people and spent more time talking with passersby than playing with the toys neatly arranged upstairs. Baba had even said that she kept the shop open because no one could resist stopping to visit with the sunny child and often passed the time sharing a cold snack or the warmth of a hot drink.
Everyone knew her name, and she knew theirs. Visitors would be brought to her corner as if to a temple or a great attraction. No one noticed surroundings when she sat on her bench; light and color seemed to emanate from her and soak into everything.
When she was gone, people came for the memory. They brought their children for quiet chats, who came out of habit and comfort as they became adults. Le’s brother fed them all, and her picture hovered like a shining star over the corner.
For those of us who are citizens of the United States of America, this weekend marks the celebration of our ancestors’ declaration of liberty from political, economic, and social oppression. The centuries following that declaration have brought many debates over and changes to how we as humans apply the principles upon which that declaration was founded. Because as humans we are vulnerable to Satan’s manipulation of good things, we don’t always get it right, but our mistakes do not make the principles false. Scripture is full of the concept of liberty, taught to humans by the God who created them in His image. True liberty is founded upon our identity as the offspring of the perfect Creator, given life by His own breath. It is freedom to embrace that core identity in its entirety, to live the image of God in a world whose will is broken by the abuses of Satan. It transcends all human cultures, politics, social structures, economies, and desires. It is the inescapable and unquenchable result of faith, and leaves its unmistakeable mark on the behavior of those who enjoy it. Let’s make sure our definition of liberty matches that of the one who IS Liberty.
Isaiah 61:1 The spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;…
Romans 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly, but because of him who subjected it – in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Galatians 2:4-5 This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us. But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.
Galatians 5:1, 13-23 For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery… For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things – as I warned you before – that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
In the Sinai law system, God provided specific celebrations that would remind the Israelites of important concepts they needed to hold onto. The first celebration of each year was of course Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This eight day long celebration was intended to remind the people that God had delivered them from a life of servitude and poverty and demonstrated His undefeatable power. The last celebration of the year was the Festival of Shelters. During this celebration the people gathered palm fronds and other greenery traditionally used to greet and honor royalty and used them to build temporary shelters in which they would live for a week. The Festival was an opportunity to remember the years of homelessness and helplessness in the wilderness when every necessity came from the King of Kings. These memories were intended to create the awareness of need for God, of need for a Provider and a Deliverer. They, along with the other sacrifices and celebrations, promised an ultimate deliverance and a final reconciliation with the Anointed One, the Priest-King.
After three years of wandering and willing dependence, Christ sent word ahead and made preparations for entering Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Based on what we are told in scripture, this was unusual behavior for Him. Like all other Jews, he had travelled to Jerusalem without fanfare three times every year for the festivals. This time He made sure His coming would be known. As it was Friday afternoon, the people would have been gathered near the temple preparing for the sacrifices of the following day, or scurrying to their homes to eat the Passover lamb with their families. The temple itself would have been filled with frantic activity as the priests and Levitical workers contained thousands of animals and prepared to lead the people in song and sacrifice.
The moment Jesus approached the city, however, everything changed. Forgotten were the Passover sacrifices, forgotten were the humble meals set on family tables. The palm fronds and greenery of the Festival of Shelters filled the streets as the people hailed the Anointed One and His deliverance. They knew. They had watched and listened for three years. They understood that the moment for which the Sinai law had prepared them had arrived.
The Jewish leaders also understood, and knew that the system upon which they had built power and wealth was ending. Already the people abandoned them for the true King. They were left with only one last-ditch effort to convince the people that He was a fraud. So they killed God.
In their worldly wisdom it was an effective move. In the aftermath even Christ’s closest followers and friends were confused. Had they been wrong? How could man dispose so easily of God? For fifty days the Jewish people lost conviction completely, convinced by a mock trial and a lot of frenzied shouting that they could not believe the evidence of their own senses. The leaders, knowing full well the gravity of what they had done, spent that fifty days looking over their shoulders, exceeding their legal boundaries in order to control any activity that might expose their betrayal. To their horror they could not win. The living God would collect His harvest and their fields would be left to languish.
How often do men fear losing what this world can give them so much that they are willing to kill God to keep it? How often do we as humans allow dramatic lies and frantic noise to convince us that the Anointed One is anything less than the King of Kings? The Jewish leaders knew they hadn’t succeeded, and the knowledge made them paranoid and controlling. For a century they continued to attempt to kill God, knowing already that they could not win. The lamb had sacrificed himself, the Passover had occurred, the Day of Atonement had arrived, and the world had received its King. Will we continue such a worthless fight, or will we abandon our tents for the shelter of the Throne?
The Word Worker 