1. 3. He did not offer an explanation of Christian freedom but rather actualized it in the Last Supper, a culmination of the choices that He made.
1.1. Judas Iscariot
1.1.1. Judas -- a nationalistic name; "Iscariot" -- dagger man/assassin
1.1.2. longed for a revolution that would throw out the Romans
1.1.3. Judas is the disappointed man. He is the man of dreams who feels let down
1.1.4. Jesus has betrayed his hopes so he has betrayed Jesus
1.1.5. "Is it I, Rabbi?" -- had little awareness of what he was about to commit
1.1.5.1. We are trapped by blindness to our own sin -- not freedom, not authentic freedom
1.1.5.2. "tragedy of the man who hides even from himself what he is up to until the last moment, when it is too late"
1.1.5.2.1. rationalizing sin until you realize the gravity of what you have done
1.1.5.2.2. rationalizing sin until it becomes an addiction and with irreversible consequences
1.1.6. The man who longed for freedom was the man who lived the deepest lack of freedom
1.2. Jesus
1.2.1. "the victim"
1.2.1.1. extremely limited options
1.2.1.2. he was the victim of oppression, and fear, and his very body was about to be handed over
1.2.1.2.1. Jesus was not imprisoned by fear even as he was already being oppressed and he was about to be handed over
1.2.1.3. His irrepressible freedom draws us out of only ever seeing ourselves as victims
1.2.1.3.1. Jesus was a martyr but he did not have a martyr complex; he was the Messiah but he did not have a messianic complex
1.2.1.4. he chose to celebrate with a Last Supper instead of running away from his oppressors
1.2.1.4.1. Jesus lived his freedom
1.2.1.4.2. we cannot explain freedom but we can look at it in action
1.2.1.4.3. "Freedom cannot be explained, only defended" Kant
1.2.1.4.4. this sign of hope is the freest of all acts
1.2.1.4.5. Jesus was not afraid to be labeled as a transgressor -- freedom from the fear of man and opinions of others
1.2.1.4.6. In embracing his death Jesus was supremely free, because what he must do expresses who he most deeply is
1.2.2. "This is my body, given for you"
1.2.2.1. a culmination of utter freedom without which his previous acts would make no sense
1.2.2.2. both what he _must_ do and what he _most freely_ does
1.3. The Last Supper
1.3.1. a passover meal
1.3.2. feast of Israel's liberation from slavery in Egypt
1.3.3. Jesus reclined with his disciples
1.3.3.1. a sign of freedom
1.3.3.2. slaves ate standing
1.3.3.3. reclining means "they have gone out of bondage to liberty"
1.3.3.3.1. freedom is a freedom of rest and a freedom of being at peace even in the midst of oppression
1.3.4. can be likened to martyrs who were persecuted and died while singing praises
2. 4. The Last Supper invites us to deeper freedom, the freedom of spontaneity, and ultimately the freedom of giving away our lives.
2.1. The last Supper invites us to Freedom -- freedom is a choice to be -- freedom is not something to have but something you are
2.1.1. Our deepest freedom is to do the will of the Father
2.1.2. by exercising our freedom or not we have necessarily made a choice
2.1.3. freedom is not just a succession of morally good or bad choices -- a morally infantile perspective
2.1.3.1. morality is not just about submission to rules -- then judging our lives according to the rules we have kept or broken
2.1.4. being free is acting from the very core of our being -- not simply acting under specific constraints
2.2. We can never only be victims
2.2.1. victims of prejudice, history, genes, or upbringing
2.2.1.1. everyone claims the status of victim
2.2.1.2. Competition of victimhood
2.2.2. Freedom begins when people can grasp the choices they can make
2.2.2.1. Auschwitz -- people even had the choice to kill themselves than deliver themselves over to the Nazis -- a sign of defiance against their seeming lack of choice
2.2.2.2. Auschwitz -- survival depended on something as small as washing
2.2.2.2.1. "we still possess one power -- the power to refuse our consent.... We must walk erect, without dragging our feet, not in homage to Prussian discipline but to remain alive, and not begin to die."
2.2.2.3. The church must stand beside people as they make moral decisions within the range of what is possible rather than making decisions for them
2.2.3. We denigrate ourselves when we reduce or imprison ourselves or others in the image of victimhood
2.2.4. wherever we are must be the starting point of our journey home
2.2.4.1. "to find form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist." Samuel Beckett
2.3. freedom of spontaneity
2.3.1. being spontaneously true to who we are and ought to become
2.3.1.1. spontaneity is characteristic of people not who react superficially but respond from the depths of their being, from their heart.
2.3.2. spontaneity as an expression of deeper freedom, of being unencumbered by unexpected obstacles or creatively navigating around them
2.3.3. the fruit of being single-hearted
2.3.4. not simply acting out of impulse, but acting from the core of one's being
2.3.5. Jesus
2.3.5.1. loves without hesitation
2.3.5.2. acts with speed
2.3.5.3. acts surely and in connection to his core being as Messiah, as savior, as friend to sinners, as son of God
2.3.6. for us the fruit of deep travail and rebirth
2.3.6.1. takes years of small good acts of practising and trying and making mistakes
2.3.6.2. fundamental option
2.4. Our relationship to God in relation to our freedom must be reevaluated
2.4.1. God is not just our "boss"
2.4.2. He is the source of freedom and grants us existence in every moment
2.5. The freedom of giving away our lives
2.5.1. We are to be like Christ, who loved his life away, with the desire and intent of liberation -- to uphold the freedom of others
3. 1. Christianity invites us to a peculiar freedom and happiness, which is a share in God's own life.
3.1. "It is for freedom Christ set us free" (Galatians 5:1)
3.1.1. It is a freedom from sin and the yoke of slavery
3.2. The point of Christianity is that there is a point to our lives which we are striving towards, though we may fail to explain pain and suffering now
3.3. We should have a freedom and happiness that would make no sense if God did not exist
3.4. We are to take on the life of Christ as He was crucified and thus be able to participate in fellowship with God (for which we were created)
3.5. We need to be liberated from whatever holds us captive if we are to speak with conviction of freedom
3.5.1. the power of witnessing/testimony lies in our own liberation and experience of freedom
3.6. Jesus offers us a freedom from all that oppresses humanity
3.6.1. We are not free from literal oppression but our faith in Christ allows us to see suffering with strength and joy instead of fear and hopelessness
3.7. Liberation theology is not just reducing freedom to an interior state or political programme
3.7.1. REAL freedom from sin, etc.
4. 2. Jesus did not use the freedom of the marketplace.
4.1. Jesus' freedom was radical and more than what Judas ever imagined (a mere reshuffling of political leaders)
4.1.1. more than relief but release
4.1.2. Foucault: more than a myth of emancipation but a practice of freedom
4.2. Jesus talked about a freedom which demanded the transformation of what it means for us to be alive.
4.2.1. The last supper invites us to deeper freedoms, the freedom of spontaneity, and the freedom of giving away our lives in our capacity to do good
4.2.2. The Last supper is where Jesus inaugurated a radical form of freedom
4.3. Freedom of the marketplace: to choose between alternatives
4.3.1. "Pepsi or Coca-Cola"?
4.3.2. our choices can be more complex in the modern times yet also very limited -- depends on our personal contexts and backgrounds
4.3.3. Choosing is more than just hovering between alternatives -- with God's grace invigorating our imagination, we can choose creatively, opening up possibilities of which we have never dreamed; we can grasp our fate and make it a blessing
4.3.4. if life were just a choosing between alternatives, life would just be one choice after the other with no real consequences except to stumble to confession and start over
4.3.4.1. we make sense of our lives by finding a story to tell of them
4.3.4.2. the story that we tell shows who we are
4.3.4.3. we make decisions based on who we are and who we're trying to be, not just what we're trying to do
4.3.4.4. sometimes we avoid responsibility by treating our options as mere alternatives without being informed by our values and convictions
4.3.5. bears the assumption that the more choices one has, the freer one is
4.3.5.1. the freedom of spontaneity is the other way around -- there are just a few deep and fundamental choices to be made -- concerned with being free and happy with God
4.4. Choosing is a hard but necessary part of becoming free
4.5. Freedom entails awareness of the opposition to help inform our own stand and learn from them
4.5.1. If we are attentive to the truth of what they say, that can only help us to see more clearly the truth of what we believe