One of my favorite scenes in any movie is at the end of Braveheart, when William Wallace has been undergoing torture. The torturer has kept telling him that if he’ll only say “mercy,” and kiss the emblem representing the authority of the King of England, he’ll be given a swift death. The suffering will end. But he refuses, and goes through one torture after another. Finally, at the very end of his strength and ability to endure, he gathers his last remaining breath. The torturer seeing him preparing to speak, tells everyone to be silent. “The prisoner wishes to speak,” he says, assuming that he’s going to finally beg for mercy. But instead of asking for mercy, with his last breath he yells, “freedom!”

Part of why I love this scene is that it is so reminiscent of the descriptions of torture we read about in the lives of the saints. It provides a realistic depiction of what those scenes of Christian martyrdoms would have looked and sounded like. But I also love it just because of William Wallace’s uncompromising devotion to freedom. He’d rather die than give up his hope for the freedom of the Scottish people. As he yells “freedom!”, the faces of the onlookers show that they are astounded by the strength and spirit of this man, and his stubborn refusal to compromise in any way.

In fact, this depiction of William Wallace’s passion points to the infinitely more significant passion of Christ. Christ also died refusing to compromise with evil, but his refusal actually overcame all evil. He died for freedom, not just freedom of the Scots from the tyranny of the English, but for the freedom of every human being from sin. He died not just for a lofty principle, but out of perfect love for each of us personally.

St. Paul speaks about the freedom that Jesus won for us in today’s Epistle reading. He says that instead of being slaves of sin, we are to become slaves or righteousness. When we do, we will experience true freedom. Slaves of righteousness are totally free. Slaves of God are free from every constraint, every bondage, every oppression and tyranny. Slaves of God are always voluntary slaves - God will not enslave us. He will only accept our voluntary obedience. When we put ourselves in obedience to Him, He becomes our freedom fighter, our deliverer, and sets us free from the tyranny of sin, the tyranny of the world, the flesh, the devil.

Civil liberties are good, as far as they go. But we can have civil liberties and still be the slaves of sin. Christ desires our spiritual freedom, which is not freedom from truth, freedom from morality, or freedom to do anything we please. Rather, it’s freedom from the control of sinful passions. It’s freedom from the influence of the devil. It’s freedom to follow Christ, to love Him with all our hearts, and to love one another.

Jesus, and He alone, has the authority to grant this freedom. No earthly power has the authority. Today’s Gospel talks about the absolute authority that Jesus has. The centurion has faith in the authority of Christ to heal his servant even from a distance, and it happens. The Lord also has authority to grant us our freedom, and He comes to us for this purpose. As it says in Galatians, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Freedom exists when there is power present to prevent a tyrant from taking over. Proverbs 20:8 says, “When a righteous king sits upon the throne, no evil thing can oppose his presence.” Jesus is the King. We must enthrone him in our hearts to experience real freedom. Then no enemy can oppose us when Christ is our king. It is up to us to make him our king. Will we invite the legitimate King to come and reign? Will we love freedom enough to turn away from every false king?

We are constantly enticed to go back to slavery. The Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt; but no sooner had they escaped, than they were complaining about their hunger in the wilderness, and longing to go back to where their bellies were full. They had trouble loving freedom more than their stomachs.

Similarly, in Braveheart, the nobles were enticed and corrupted by Edward Longshanks, the crafty King of England. He promised them titles and lands and money in return for swearing allegiance to him. He bought them off one by one so the Scots wouldn’t have enough manpower to revolt. One of the nobles, Robert Bruce (senior) told his son, Robert “the Bruce,” that every man compromises, every man betrays. He effectively told him to despair. To lose hope in the possibility of real freedom, and to accept the tyranny of this world. To make friends with the devil, as it were.

William Wallace stands for freedom at any cost. He’s willing to give his life for the freedom of his people. He cannot be bought or bribed. He won’t compromise with evil. His character provides an image of the man or woman who wants freedom from the tyranny of sin more than anything in this world, and cries out to Jesus for help day and night. Whenever we pray, from our hearts, the words “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me,” we’re like William Wallace on the platform refusing to give in or renounce his principles, and instead yelling “freedom!”

When we struggle to do the will of God, we stand against the tyranny of evil. And when in Christ’s name we resist the devil, as St. Peter says, he will flee from us. The name of Christ has authority. He is the only legitimate heir of the throne of our hearts, and the devil knows it. Like the centurion, we can have faith that if Christ only speaks the word, our enemies will be banished, and our hearts set free.

So may we enthrone Christ there, in our hearts. And may we refuse accept Satan’s bribes or to compromise with him. Let true freedom be our deepest desire and our constant request from the Lord, knowing that nothing can oppose His authority in our life, when we make Him our King. Amen.