Freedom

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
- 2 Timothy 2:8-10

What does it mean to be free? Here we have Paul who is suffering, he says, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. "But the word of God is not chained." This is something we must take a hard look at - Paul is chained but the word of God is not. How can a man be chained and yet what he has to say is done with freedom?

I think this is a deep paradox, running far deeper into Christian understanding of the way in which God works than merely the example of the life of Paul, or the persecuted Christians of his time. It goes deep into the heart of what it means to be free, or to have spiritual freedom. It comes up against what we nowadays might call an existential understanding of what it is to be free. We always have choices; even in the direst of circumstances, about what we are to believe, and what we are to listen to in our hearts.

Repeatedly I have been told or read stories of people persecuted for their Christian faith. This is particularly so amongst Orthodox Christians as the countries in which they live have often been places in modern times where they have been persecuted for their beliefs. In Eastern Europe, for example, under communism, many lay religious and those of the priesthood were in prison. The Christians of Eastern Turkey at the beginning of the 20th Century suffered genocide and ethnic cleansing. Today, conditions in various locations in the Middle East due to warfare mean that native minority Christian populations become scapegoats, or are caught between different powers doing the fighting.

But the word of God remains free. It cannot be chained. It survives. It speaks to the heart even in the direst of prisons, even in the direst of circumstances, according to the survivors. The word of God lives, even as those with faith suffer and die for that word. This freedom - this internal freedom in the heart to hear the word of God - is the spiritual freedom that cannot be taken away. The paraclete - our companion - is with us in all circumstances. For reasons we do not know, that shape yet another mystery of spiritual life, persecution has served to strengthen faith, not to quench it. We have freedom to hear and to serve; this is an existential freedom that is perhaps the really true freedom that no one can take away.