Finally Free

Seeking love rather than freedom

02/24/2021

Jonah 3:1-10 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

One of the hardest things about junior high is having to do what other people tell you to do, rather than what you want to do. You have to do homework the teachers assign you; you have to practice basketball the way the coach directs; you have to come to school in-person rather than virtually like we did last week because Dr. Hollenbeck insists on it.

We dream of the day we will graduate from junior high and go to high school because then we will get to do what we want to do, and not obey other people. We will finally be free, we think. But we find the same “chains” on our freedom. Teachers who give more homework, coaches who demand harder practices, principals who expect more discipline and effort.

Then we hope for a future of freedom after high school when we can go to college or work, and no longer listen to others or do what they say. Then we think we will finally be free. But what happens in college? You fall in love with someone and they want to see different movies than you. She wants to watch "La La Land" but you want to see "John Wick 3," she wants to go shopping but you want to go fishing, she wants to talk for hours, but you want to take a nap for hours. And you do what she wants.

Or, you might think once I get a job, then I will finally be free to do what I want. But not so fast. Your boss will give you strange tasks and new responsibilities you do not want to do, like some of our teachers who had to learn how to do “virtual classes” this year. (And you all did a great job, by the way!). Or maybe you think you will just become a priest and so you only have to work one day a week on Sunday, and be free for six days to do anything you want. But the bishop makes you not only pastor of I.C. but Administrator of Trinity, and gives you the mission church in Winslow, and puts you on the marriage tribunal.

Then you think “getting married” and having a family brings me the freedom to do what I want. Then, I will be finally free. But again, we must obey others, rather than do what we want. We have to compromise to our spouse if we want a loving and lasting marriage. We have to give up our weekends to take our kids to basketball and baseball and volleyball tournaments. We have to watch the movie “Frozen” at least 100 times until we have memorized all the lines.

Then we think when I retire the kids will move out of the house and I will finally be free! Then I will only do what I want, and not what others tell me. But then come along the grandkids, and you chase them all over the world, and even move to live closer to them and spent time with them. You play legos with them, and you dress up and enjoy tea parties with them. And you do what they want.

Do you see what happens? At every step along the road of life, we think we will be “finally free” at the next step. But that freedom turns out to be an illusion, like a mirage of water in a desert that, when we get to it, is just more dry, hot sand. So, let me suggest to you that what your heart really longs for is not freedom but love. And when you love someone (or something), you are more than happy to forfeit your freedom.

You do not want to be finally free. If you love basketball, you gladly give up your freedom to get better and practice the way the coach says. Our teachers love you, so they give up their freedom and teach virtually. Your parents and grandparents love you, so they forego their plans to give you what you want. I love Jesus and his Church so I am happy to obey the bishop (most of the time).

This choice between freedom and love is the struggle that underlies the story of Jonah. At first, like you, Jonah wanted to be free to do what he wanted so he ran away from God (and was swallowed by a whale). But then he learned that to love and obey God was much better than chasing his freedom, so he went to a foreign land of Nineveh, just like your parents and grandparents will travel to the ends of the earth for love of you.

So, boys and girls, you can keep chasing freedom, but you will discover it is no more than a mirage of water in the desert; it disappears as soon as you run up to it. Or, you can fall in love and then freedom will not seem so sweet. Only when you sacrifice freedom for love will you find the happiness your heart desires.

Praised be Jesus Christ!