A Remarkably Free Man
— First Presbyterian Church,
Fort Collins, 2016

Sermon at First Presbyterian Church, Fort Collins, September 4, 2016.

53 minutes, 42 seconds. Online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/178136

Humans cherish freedom. Americans live in "the land of the free and the home of the brave." College students, on leaving home, are free to do their thing. Many who consider themselves uninterested in religion are keenly interested in being free. Jesus, as recounted in the gospels, is a remarkably free man. Though a Galilean peasant, he moved freely among high and lower levels of social status, quick to be forthright and to cut to the quick in criticism. He revised and transformed both Hebrew and Greek thought, founded a great world faith, and is worshipped by billions of persons. He challenged Herod and the Roman tyranny of his day, also the Hebrew Scriptures and religious authorities. He was little concerned for his own physical needs, health, welfare, or security, though showing great compassion for others in need. He went to his death, afraid, a prisoner, yet freely, under the authority of his divine calling. His followers have in him a model for more genuine human freedom.