I remember back in the 1960s when those talented with guitars would gather people to sing. These “hootenannies” were songs of justice, liberty, and peace.
 
“Freedom isn’t free. Freedom isn’t free.
You’ve got to pay a price.
You’ve got to sacrifice for your liberty.”—Up with People
 
Today’s readings from the Book of Daniel and the gospel of John flesh out for us what is really necessary for freedom. The three young men in the furnace use their intelligence and free will to decide whom they worship. They belong to God and will not follow false leaders or false precepts. When they express their intent, the king is filled with rage and insult. Nebuchadnezzar orders the young men to be thrown into the fiercest of fires to burn. Not only do the men not burn, there is a fourth man also unscathed with them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have found freedom in their faithfulness to their God.
 
    In 2016, Pope Francis visited the Philippines. He challenged the people to live the gospel. He identified “complacency” with a lack of freedom in proclaiming the gospel.
 
“Only by becoming poor ourselves, by stripping away our complacency,
will we be able to identify with the least of our brothers and sisters.
By doing so, we will see things in a new light and thus respond
with honesty and integrity to the challenge of proclaiming
the Gospel in a society that has grown comfortable
with social exclusion, polarization and scandalous inequality.”
 
 
    In Jesus’ discourse to the Jewish people who believe in him, he tells us, “…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We are living at a time when our own country’s freedoms are tenuous. Perhaps, now is a good time for us to examine our own contributions to our freedom, for example. Not only can we lessen violence in our families, our streets, and our church, we have been given intelligence and divine grace to help ourselves and others to freedom.
 
    Exclusion, polarization and scandalous inequality are our barriers to the freedom that Jesus has promised us. The three young men are thrown into the furnace because they are victims of a lack of freedom of worship. During these last eleven days of Lent, let’s sit with Jesus crucified.  In our gaze at Jesus, let’s take time to evaluate how our attitudes and actions might contribute to a false façade and lack of understanding of other people in our own families, our church parishioners, our society, our nation. Only in the depths of our own hearts can we admit our contribution to what Pope Francis described as “social exclusion, polarization, and scandalous inequality.” Where in our hearts is there not truth? Without it, we will never be free.
 
 
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“Freedom Isn’t Free” –Up With People