Our readings this Sunday invite us to reflect upon the proper use of our freedom. Freedom is a gift that is given to us by God our Creator and we must exercise responsibility in using this gift of freedom properly. In freedom we respond to a call to a life of service that leads us to a true and life-giving love. We are not created to be alone and pursue our selfish desires and aims, rather, we are created by God for community and to take upon ourselves the “yoke of love” which binds us to one another in freedom and calls us to lay down our lives for one another. There can be no true life, freedom or love without personal sacrifice.
In our first reading we encounter Elijah who after his slaughter of the prophets of Baal felt that he was indispensible and the only true prophet in Israel. Elijah felt that he alone knew what was right and that he should dictate the proper course of his future. He escapes to the desert and undergoes a period of crisis that leads him to a theophany, an experience of God’s presence, that reveals to him how small he is and yet allows him to experience God’s love that bends down to his level and whispers to him the direction of his future. He is not indispensible, rather, Elisha is to be anointed to take his place and continue his ministry. How often are we tempted to think of ourselves as irreplaceable? The prophetic power of Elijah is transferred to Elisha when Elisha uses his gift of freedom to leave behind his former way of life and chooses to follow the Lord in service to God’s chosen people. Elisha places his life freely in the hands of God.
St. Paul reminds the Galatians that Christ has set us free and that this freedom is not to be used to satisfy selfish desires of the flesh but rather to serve one another in love. Only this way will we remain free and not fall again under the yoke of slavery (to sin and the flesh).
In the gospel we see Jesus calling people to discipleship and to freely choose to leave behind a former way of life and give themselves freely to the Lord and his work of love and salvation. Jesus is offering a yoke that is easy and light and that will lead to a life of true freedom and love. To accept this yoke of freedom and love one must be truly detached from the world, from the demands of worldly affairs and from selfish desires. One must be detached from the past and the future and resolutely meet the demands of love in the present. There are no guarantees of an easy life, there is no personal leave time and there is no turning back from the life of discipleship. Jesus himself is yoked to the Father and to the will of God. He is resolute in his determination to lay down his life in love in Jerusalem, no matter the personal cost. In this he gives us the model of true freedom.