Claim freedom
Jesus' proclamation of freedom for slaves in a synagogue in Israel over 2,000 years ago has implications for us today, says Rose Wedderburn.
March 25, 2007 marked the bicentenary of the British Parliamentary Act abolishing the slave trade in Africans. There are differing opinions as to whether this anniversary should be observed but as Christians we cannot afford to ignore the subject of slavery.
Rose Wedderburn
We have to use the legacies of the past to help address existing conditions and circumstances which classify as modern day slavery.
Recently in Jamaica news broke of a 12 year-old girl who was allegedly given by her parents to a man in exchange for a piece of land. The child lived with the man for 10 months before the situation was uncovered.
This is but one of the many cases of child slavery all over the world. Slavery is therefore not something of the past but rather a reality of today that we must face. In seeking to respond to this issue I first draw our attention to Luke 4.16-21, which I believe speaks both to the oppressed as well as the oppressor and presents the message of God’s liberating love for all.
Using Isaiah 61.1-2 Jesus told his listeners that he was the one anointed to preach the good news and to set at liberty those who were oppressed. Jesus presented himself as the messiah to the people, however the passage in Isaiah continues in verse six to indicate that others were also called to be servants of God.
God was empowering others with his Spirit to continue the work he had begun. The question for us today is: are we truly carrying out God’s work of liberation? Can we say we are anointed to set at liberty the child labourers and the women being trafficked for the sex industry and those who perpetuate these acts of inhumanity?
Are we deaf to the cries of the young women who are being sexually used and abused?
In the story of the liberation of the children of Israel found in Exodus 3 we are told that God saw and heard the misery of his people who were in slavery in Egypt, and that God was concerned about their suffering. If we are to be liberators we need to see, hear and be concerned as a first step.
In verse 10 God called Moses to go and rescue his people from the Egyptians. Are we being called to rescue someone today?
Could it be the children in our area who we know are being sold into slavery, or that mother or father who thinks their only hope for a better life, or survival for that matter, is to sell their children to people who often work them to death?
Are we deaf to the cries of the young women who are being sexually used and abused? Are we being called to start the rescue process in our very homes, communities and churches? What will our response be? Will we like Moses ask God to send someone else?
Liberation takes courage but there is God's assurance as he gave to Moses that he will be with us. We have to be prepared to face the pharaohs of our day. We are God's agents of transformation in the world and the enslaved and oppressed are depending on us for hope. The vision for hope must therefore be what drives our action.
As we work towards freeing the enslaved we need also to work towards a more just society by dismantling the systems that would cause some to experience less than fullness of life.
The parents of the 12 year-old mentioned above had five other younger children and nowhere to live. While what they did was inexcusable, where was the hope for that family and for the young girl?
After a long and painful journey the children of Israel were eventually freed. There is therefore hope for those who are oppressed today. God’s promises of hope are for all times. Let us enable that hope so that in the end we can all worship God on the mountain.
Rose Wedderburn is deputy general secretary of the CWM-member United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands