Scripture Reading: Isaiah 61:1-7
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”—Isaiah 61:1
When the Emancipation Proclamation became the law of the land on January 1, 1863, it announced the liberation of the nearly 3 million enslaved people within the affected regions of the United States. The Union victory in the Civil War ensured full enforcement of the law, yet some former slaves remained in bondage. Generations of enslavement had embedded some in a lifestyle of bondage from whence they couldn’t be freed very easily.
Christmas is the most celebrated and anticipated season of the year. But Christmas is more than a holiday or a season of giving. When Jesus read this scripture from Isaiah (in Luke 4:18-19), He heralded his role as our emancipator. His birth is our light of hope for freedom; not from human slavery but spiritual emancipation from sin, hopelessness, brokenness, oppression and captivity. That emancipation isn’t just for people of a particular ethnicity, pedigree or human condition, but for all humanity.
Like some of the slaves in American history, even today, we may find ourselves in bondage still, unwilling to accept the freedom and liberty Christ offers. If we’ve tried to free ourselves, we know it takes a liberating force to fulfill our emancipation. Not a force of violence found in a marching army, but the simple force of Jesus’ message—I came to set you free.
Even with all the liberating force Jesus brings ready to instill into our lives, our emancipation is dependent on us knowing we’re in bondage, and our willingness and desire to be made free. A liberator in her own right, Harriet Tubman was quoted as saying, “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”
If you’re in bondage today, the Great Emancipator, Jesus, stands ready to lead you to freedom.
Lesson to Remember: Christmas is our day of spiritual emancipation—Jesus came to set us free!
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”—John 8:36
