May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight: O Lord our strength and our Redeemer...
Bishop Steve has asked that, in the light of the current political situation in our country, we engage in 50 days of moral action from Passion to Pentecost with a special area of focus each Sunday.
The focus for today is:
‘The Morality of Freedom’.
Cape Town, 9 May 1994
The Grand Parade
Take your minds back to the excitement, the euphoria, the happiness, the anticipation, the togetherness of that moment....
The inaugural speech of our then President Nelson Mandela
‘Today we are entering a new era for our country and its people. Today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of South Africa.’
‘The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections. They want change! And change is what they will get. Our plan is to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation, and to guarantee freedom for all South Africans.’
I ask you to spend a little time reflecting on that moment and then to put it aside as we consider some of the moralities and the current realities of our freedom....
In our reading from Galatians today we heard some very pertinent words:
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery"
Consider then these words which introduce the Ten Commandments. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." The land of slavery. God had given the people of Israel political freedom from Pharaoh, and spiritual freedom from the gods of Egypt, in order that they could practice moral freedom from their own inner bondage to sin, and for the purpose of practicing that freedom which God gave to them with the Ten Commandments.
This sounds a bit like a contradiction in terms with commandments equating to freedom but..
In the Bible, the Law is not the opposite of freedom; it is the key to freedom in that it told the Israelites (and us in our country today!) how to live in their new found freedom.
In the Bible, the Law is not the opposite of freedom; it is the key to freedom in that it told the Israelites (and us in our country today!) how to live in their new found freedom.
The Ten Commandments and the other laws and statutes that expanded them were the law-code of a brand new nation -and this nation was unique - who was going to tell them how to conduct themselves, what to do?. In order to practice freedom, you need to have law to provide direction.
...think about how that applies to us in the South Africa of today... the unfair load placed on our judicial fraternity to correct what should not need correcting...in the protection of freedom.
All of our citizens, in law, have equal access to freedom.
Consider the introduction to the Freedom Charter:
We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people; that our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality; that our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities; that only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief; And therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and white together - equals, countrymen and brothers - adopt this Freedom Charter. And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won.
We must ask ourselves:
‘Is this the morality of Freedom?’
‘Is this what we truly have in our country today?
The Oxford Dictionary, amongst other meanings, describes ‘Freedom’ as:
‘The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.’
‘Absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.’ Despotic government
While ‘morality’ is defined as:
‘Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour’.
From an individual perspective we live in a society that seems committed to self-interest and to everyone doing their own thing, pursuing their own happiness, comfort, and peace.
Our individual ‘rights’ have become paramount with little emphasis on the accompanying responsibilities. We are all entitled to ‘freedom’ whatever interpretation we may put on it....while morality has become almost a blurred concept with increasing flexibility.
Sadly, for many people, including a fair proportion of those with political power the concepts such as ‘Love thy neighbour’ and
‘For the Greater Good of all’ have become foreign and lost in the race for personal enrichment.
The message of Christ is love for God and love for one’s neighbour, the pursuit and the promotion of the kingdom of God, doing not our own thing, but denial of the self-life that we might be free to live for God and others.
Thus, we find in the New Testament what we might call the doctrine of One Another. Over and over again in the New Testament we find injunctions and statements concerning our responsibilities to one another. The point being, God has called us to be a ministering people following the example of our Lord who came not to be ministered to, but to minister and give Himself as a ransom for many.
Freedom is not the right to do as one pleases, but gives each person the power and the capacity to both have the will to do and actually to do as one ought to do.
From the classic Water Babies tale – Mrs do as you would be done by.
True freedom is never freedom from responsibility, but a responsibility not only for choices made, but for the right and moral choices.
Galatians 5:13-15 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather serve one another in love. The entire Law is summed up in a single command, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other’.
An area of real concern is when the political leaders of a country who have been elected to govern choose to take the view that ‘freedom’
means doing their own thing, being their own boss, looking after number one first. The Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary says it means “exemption from necessity in choice and action.” It is the right to any choice so long as it is your own personal choice.
But the Bible teaches, as well as a simple observation of life, that such a definition or viewpoint is not freedom. It is instead licence as in the abuse of freedom and an excuse to throw off the moral restraints of God in pursuit of selfish goals. This always results eventually in the exploitation of others, moral degeneracy, and lawlessness as is becoming more and more evident...
The Oath of Service taken by the leader of a nation is designed to be a counterbalance to this loss of morality in freedom...
For example:
The Oath or solemn affirmation of President
The President or Acting President, before the Chief Justice, or another judge designated by
the Chief Justice, must and did swear as follows:
In the presence of everyone assembled here, and in full realisation of the high calling I assume as President of the Republic of South Africa, I, Jacob Zuma, solemnly swear
that I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa, and will obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other law of the Republic; and I solemnly and sincerely promise that I will always:
• promote all that will advance the Republic, and oppose all that may harm it;
•protect and promote the rights of all South Africans;
• discharge my duties with all my strength and talents to the best of my knowledge and ability and true to the dictates of my conscience;
• do justice to all; and
• devote myself to the well-being of the Republic and all of its people.
So help me God.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! This declaration of our freedom is both a statement of an accomplished fact and a goal to pursue. Freedom is ours because of the accomplishment of Christ: Christ has set us free! Paul does not appeal to his readers to fight to be free. Our Christian freedom is not the result of our long march. We have not liberated ourselves by our efforts. We are not able to do so. But now that freedom has been given to us by Christ, that freedom is our goal and our responsibility.
Freedom is an inner contentment with whom we are in Christ and with what we have. It means to covet only heavenly treasure. It means the willingness and the ability to allow God to be in control of our lives. It means single-mindedness which turns the control of one’s life over to Christ. This in turn frees us spiritually and willingly to follow the Lord. It means the liberty for self-responsibility to both God and man under the grace of God.
We cannot ignore the abuse of Freedom by those who lack morality.
As Archbishop Thabo said in his sermon at the Easter Vigil:
‘Yet, even as we survey this and the litany of other social pathologies that afflict our country and our world, we have in faith to say that even though it is absolutely true that darkness overwhelms us, the events at the tomb of Jesus on Easter Day signal a greater victory, a more abundant truth. At the heart of the message of the Resurrection of Jesus is the stubborn insistence that nothing is irrevocable. No betrayal is final. There is no loss that cannot be redeemed. It is never too late to start again. As John Shea reminds us: “What the Resurrection teaches us is not how to live but how to live again and again!”’
Amen
Roger Lee
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