Do you know anyone in bondage? You probably would immediately say a quick no. But think about it for a minute.
Not long ago I visited a guy in the hospital who had just had a massive heart attack. His arteries were in such bad shape they did not know if he could survive open heart surgery. The guy has been an alcoholic most of his adult life, and does not intend to stop, though his addictions have nearly killed him three times now (health, DWI crashes, etc).
I read in the news this week that Lindsey Lohan was headed to rehab for the, well let’s face it, we’ve all lost count how many times. It really is sad to see someone in such bondage. When Lohan was a child star, she was widely considered a “can’t miss” top notch actor with the chops to win Academy Awards one day. Along those lines, the alcoholic I mentioned earlier also happens to be a computer genius. I guess that is the thing about this type of bondage, it is no respecter of persons. The chains of oppression are so insidious even intelligent people mistake them for jewelry, at least at first.
I suppose the reason this subject is on my mind is that a tragedy quietly took place a few days ago in Raleigh. An elderly husband and wife were leaving worship at New Hope Baptist Church and a drunk driver, headed the wrong way on a very prominent street near Cameron Village crashed head on into the older couple killing them. The couple have close acquaintances in our church. For the drunk driver it was his third or fourth known drunk driving incident. He also is not an “ignorant” person, apparently a UNC grad and co-director of a local bookstore. Go figure?
My first response was the usual, wanting to scream about ridiculously lax DWI laws, or more often, the ridiculously soft enforcement of the laws. But as a pastor there is something else at work here I am trying to put my finger on… and it has to do with bondage. Not having a chemical dependency unless chocolate is considered a chemical, I am challenged to fully understand this type of spiritual, and physical struggle sometimes.
But I do believe this: in Christ there is a power to break even the strongest of prisons open. I wonder if even Christians really believe that anymore? Too often, we trip over ourselves in our hurry to get people into rehab, but keep all too quiet with the info about the Lord of recovery.
I often think about Jesus’ very first sermon, occurring in Nazareth, his adopted hometown. What would he preach to introduce himself to humanity? He choose as his text Isaiah 61:1-2, which reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” My favorite part of Jesus’ sermon is this: the scriptures say that after Jesus read the passage from Isaiah, he sat down as was rabbinical custom, and said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!” (Luke 4:18-21)
Do you know someone in bondage? Are you that someone? Do you believe that Jesus really can break open their prison, or yours and bring freedom and recovery? It is time that we start pointing our neighbors, especially the ones we see heading into bondage to the eternal form of rehab, the Lord of true recovery, Jesus, the God of all comfort. I am all for recovery programs and rehab, especially the kind that point people to a real, living Lord named Jesus, but I fear the modern church and the contemporary believer decided somewhere along the way that this type of bondage was too intense for Jesus, so we turned to the “science” of behavioralism to cure what the power of the cross “could not” in our estimation. We have been wrong on all counts. The proof is in the abundance of personal prisons that dot the landscape.
And you shall know the truth…