Easter and Freedom

"You can break a man's skull. You can arrest him. You can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here? [taps his head] How do you fight an idea?"
--Sextus (Ben-Hur)

Judge Nap reminds us that Easter is a time to celebrate freedom. Easter is the ultimate story of freedom versus force--the exercise of free will in the face of the worst aggression imaginable in order to reveal truth.

Central to the story is Christ's agony over moving forward with the process and its fateful consequences. We are told that his sweat poured out like blood as he prayed to the Father about the possibility of being granted a pass. Like all of us, Jesus loved life and was not enamored with surrendering his. However, he also understood the consequences of letting the specter of violent aggression influence his decision.

So he chose the path of the cross in order to do what he knew was right..

All other actors (Judas, Peter, the crowd, Pilate, the Roman soldiers, etc) made their choices as well.

Although not the centerpiece of the story, the role of government as the transmission mechanism of force in this case cannot be ignored. The mob could have killed Jesus directly. Instead, the crowd employed strong armed government agents to execute Him.

Instructive, it seems, as this is wholly consistent with how aggression is often legitimized today.

The truth that Christ revealed through his death and resurrection is that there is hope for the dead, and thus for the living, if people choose what is right even when facing the worst aggression imaginable.

In that way, Easter demonstrates that freedom triumphs over force.