Gospel of Luke, chapter 4:18

The philosopher, Jean Rousseau, remarked: “man is born free, but everywhere is in chains.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a prisoner in chains? Perhaps, not. After all, we are living in a democratic society, and our constitution defends the rights of everyone to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These are the freedoms of a political democracy; we are grateful for them, and we are grateful also to be living in a country that can defend these rights, in the courts, if they are abused.

Still, people can be held captive and deprived of freedom in other ways. They can be held captive to destructive passions within; passions of pride, greed, lust, jealousy, anger, and self-centeredness. These unruly passions are like chains that hold the soul down, and prevent it from being set free. The freedom that Christ proclaims in today’s scripture is freedom of the soul; that is, freedom from within which liberates the soul from the bondage of destructive passions. The Lord declares in the gospels that the evil actions people commit derive from the deep recesses of the human soul. He wants to liberate us from these bad tendencies within; from this downward pull to selfishness.

The Lord has shown us how to free ourselves from the enemy within; how to live lives without giving in to negative impulses or passions. Thus He says:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Without the way there is no going;
Without the truth there is no knowing;
Without the life there is no living.

The freedom that Christ offers us is the freedom of the children of God; the freedom to be the captain of your own soul rather than to be held captive to your own impulses and the temptations of the world.

Thus the Lord announced in the synagogue of Nazareth, at the beginning of His public ministry, that He was sent “to proclaim liberty to captives.” The “captives” He came to set free are not just those incarcerated in prisons.

The “captives” are us.

Fr. Hugh Duffy

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