Reflecting upon this week’s celebration of Independence Day, it would be good to remember these words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
So begins the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 2nd, 1776. Two days later, the Continental Congress approved the wording of this Declaration, and so the 4th of July is celebrated as the beginning of our independence from Britain, and the birthday of the United States of America.
Listen again to the words of the Declaration’s second sentence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This sentence is one of the best known sentences in the English language, and has been described as containing the most potent words in American history. Years later, Abraham Lincoln would form his political philosophy around these words and insist that they be the filter through which the Constitution should be interpreted.
And today you and I enjoy their benefit. Here in America, we ARE free to pursue life, liberty and happiness. But it is not simply because we have a document that says so. No, a Declaration of Independence is only meaningful when men and women embrace its principles and risk living out its values for each other.
The founders of our nation were great heroes in this regard. They risked everything so that these God-given rights could be advanced, protected and preserved for all who would follow them. This Declaration of Independence was not for their personal benefit, but for the good of the whole – the community – the nation. The signers of that Declaration claimed freedom not just for themselves but for those they represented and for all who would come after them, including us.
The Declaration of Independence, if you think about it, is a “love your neighbor” kind of document. You cannot understand it if you think of the Declaration only as your personal guarantee of freedom. You have to look at it as the guiding principle for the whole community. None of us is free unless we ALL are free!
As Benjamin Franklin said just before signing the Declaration, “…we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”
Freedom can only be experienced in community. We are all God’s children, and so we need each other to preserve, protect and promote our God-given and inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
As people of faith, this should have particular importance for us. Did you notice the dramatic shift of events in today’s Gospel reading from Mark 6?
From the day Jesus first walked along the Sea of Galilee calling people to follow him to this very moment in Mark 6, the disciples have enjoyed all the benefits but none of the responsibilities of Jesus’ ministry. They have seen Jesus perform miracles, cast out demons, walk on water, and – best of all – turn water into wine! Jesus has fed them their daily bread, and satisfied their thirst for living water. They have been connected to God in a new and profound way, and have been spiritually energized, and filled to overflowing with life, liberty, and happiness! They are like some of the people I know who go to church because they get so much out of it!
But now, that’s going to change. Faith – ultimately – is not all about ME. Faith is about US – ALL of us – TOGETHER.
So Jesus says to the Twelve, “Okay, now it’s YOUR turn!”
You’ve received, now it’s time to give. You’ve been blessed, now it’s time to become a blessing. You’ve been set free, now it’s time to go and set others free.
So the disciples are sent out. And Mark tells us that they set many people free from the evil powers that enslaved them, and they set many people free from the illnesses and limitations that hurt them.
For many people, “faith” is about “believing” stuff. But to Jesus, “faith” is not so much about what you believe as it is about what you “do” because what you “do” is the true reflection of what you REALLY “believe.”
And what we are called to believe is that God loves this world of ours and all its people, and that God has given us human beings certain inalienable rights – that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And what we are called to DO as followers of Jesus, is to set people free to live into those God-given rights.
And it all begins with an unswerving commitment to this Godly principle that is woven into the American fabric – the truth that all people are created EQUAL.
A number of years ago, I was at a Conference in Denver and had a few members of my church youth group with me. We were walking along in the city when a panhandler came along, begging for money. I, of course, just ignored the guy, walking past him at a pretty good clip. But Andy, one of the kids with me, stopped to talk with the man and I saw him give the man a dollar. When Andy got back to our group I told him what a foolish thing it was that he’d done. The man would probably just take the money and buy alcohol or drugs.
Andy surprised me with his answer. He said, “Well, Marty, that’s between him and God. He’s responsible for what he does with the money now.” I was taken back a bit by Andy’s response, and even though I disagree with giving out money like that, I was impressed with his thoughtfulness. And then Andy said, “Besides, Marty, he’s a child of God, too. Isn’t that what you teach us?”
Well, THAT hit home! The wisdom of what Andy said to me that day is not on the issue of whether or not you give money to panhandlers. Each of us can decide that for ourselves, and I choose not to give out money that way. But where Andy got me was right where it hurt. I had no thought – no perception – no recognition that this man was a child of God. To me, he was not my brother. He was just a beggar.
She may be just the worst waitress who ever waited on your table. He may be the carpenter who never shows up on time. They may be the group of people whose lifestyle you abhor, or whose religion you detest, or whose language should not be spoken if they are going to live in this country.
But she, he and they are children of God. They are equal to me. They are equal to you. God does not play favorites. God loves ALL his children.
And our job is to live out that love.
But it’s hard!
I read an article once about a homeless person who told the person interviewing him that one of the most difficult experiences of homelessness was not the cold of the night, the danger of the street, or the hardness of the sidewalk upon which he slept. The hardest part of being homeless, the man said, is that regular people won’t look you in the eye. “It’s as if I don’t even exist,” he said.
Well, a day or so after reading about this, I was getting off the Interstate and as I pulled up to the light at the end of the ramp, you know who was there, right? It was the guy holding the sign that says, “Homeless and hungry. Will work for food.”
I had the bad fortune of being the first car at the light, so he was just a few feet away from me. So I pretended to be adjusting the volume on my radio. I drummed the steering wheel. I thought, “Come ON, light, change to green!”
But it was as if this traffic light was conspiring with God against me.
That article kept coming back to me, about the homeless man who said no one ever looks at him, but they look past him as if he’s just a piece of trash on the roadside. And I realized that was exactly what I was doing.
“Come ON, light!”
But then, I screwed up my courage and slowly turned my face toward the man. I saw that ridiculous sign and knew that it was just a ruse to get people to give him money. If I offered him a job, he’d tell me to take a hike. I saw his wrinkled clothing, and his filthy hands, and then – in one terrifying moment – our eyes met.
He nodded at me. I nodded back.
And then – thanks be to God – the light changed and I was out of there!
But there was something in that moment that felt like God. It had nothing to do with the economics of begging, either from his point of view or mine. But it was that simple, momentary connection of one human being with another, for in that moment when our eyes met, we were brothers, we were God’s children, we were equal.
You can’t be a follower of Christ if you think of yourself as better than others, or if you think of others as less than yourself. Only when you commit yourself to our God-given equality with each other can you be about the ministry of setting people free.
Some years ago eleven year old Jaheem Herrera woke up acting strange. He didn’t want to eat breakfast. He didn’t want to go to school. He was down in the dumps. But off to school he went, and when Jaheem got home that afternoon, his mothers says it seemed like the doldrums had passed. Jaheem was happy as he handed his mother his report card that was full of A’s and B’s.
He went upstairs before dinner, and when the time came to eat, his mother called Jaheem, but got no answer. She climbed the stairs to his bedroom, and there she found her son hanging from his belt. He was dead.
It turns out that Jaheem was the victim of bullies at school. Being from the Virgin Islands, he was different. So some of the other kids called him names. They pushed him around. They accused him of being gay.
He was a nice little boy,” his mother said through tears. “He loved to dance. He loved to have fun. He loved to make friends. (But) all he made at school were enemies.”
Eleven years old.
I find myself wondering how this story may have turned out differently if just one person among all those at school had stood up and said, “Stop.” What if just one person had said, “I’ll be your friend”? What if one person had looked him in the eye and seen him as a child of God, a brother, a human being of whom our Declaration of Independence speaks:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Long before these words were penned by Thomas Jefferson, a rabbi by the name of Jesus told his followers to go and set people free.
Freedom is not just for some of us, but for ALL of us.
And it takes YOU to make freedom ring!
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