slavery & the Christian life

February 6, 2008

Ephesians 6: 5-9

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves, of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.”

Imagine moving by yourself to . . . let’s say . . . France. You are in your 20’s. You don’t speak French. You’ve never been to France before. You don’t have a map and you certainly don’t have money. So, a kind French soul takes you under his wing. He provides you with a bed, food to eat and even the best of teachers. You become better educated than most French people. You are, of course, not paying for these services except by your willingness to work and take on chores that the gentleman who has taken you in requests of you. You gladly do the work. Years pass and at age 30 you now have all the tools you need to integrate as a full participant in this new non-native culture of yours.

What you have just experienced is slavery in the 1st century Greco-Roman culture. Slavery of that day was a far cry from the slavery experienced in recent centuries here in America. Sometimes impoverished people would sell themselves into slavery for a pretty price so as to take the money, knowing that by age 40 at the latest they could be emancipated and therefore set to begin living on their own.

While that slavery may sound as rosy as slavery can sound, one’s success as a slave did depend on the mood or disposition of one’s owner—always a male—in that patriarchal culture. So beatings and torture were a part of the culture.

Because slavery was such a norm in those days, this Scripture is not concerned with turning those norms. Rather, it is about coping and only there can most of us begin to relate.

Some of us may have family environments or work environments where we feel more like slaves than free individuals. Some of us of may feel captive in our own faith development—stuck in an emotional cycle of life. Slavery can come in many forms and the truth that I take from this passage is the idea that freedom comes when we make ourselves slaves to Christ. Committing ourselves to God’s service and entrusting our lives—every part of them—to God brings a freedom that is difficult to articulate. Yet, it is a freedom that allows us to be provided for at every level of life and a freedom that brings us to fully experience love, joy and peace.

So, the question that this passage poses for me, especially during this Lenten season as it begins today is: what do I need to do to surrender myself more fully to God so as to know freedom?

May we find ourselves free from all of the things of life that want to bind us! Amen.