Statue of Liberty

Many men were involved in the building of the statue.  A French man by the name of Edouard de Laboulaye suggested a monument to symbolize Liberty.  Frederick Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue and chose the site.  Bartholdi spent time and energy raising funds in the United States and in France to bring the plan to completion.  Alexandre Gustave Eiffel built the supporting framework.  The Statue was given to the U.S. from France as a token of friendship and of the liberty that citizens enjoy under a free form of government.  It was presented to the U.S. in Paris, July 4, 1884 and was officially dedicated in 1886.  The original name was “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

– Rewa Pressley, Matthews School, 6^th Grade

In March of 1985, mine was one of several excerpts printed in our hometown newspaper.  In addition to collecting money, my English class was studying and writing essays about the Statue of Liberty.  Highlighting its illustrious history, current issues, and ongoing significance, our Keep the Light project focused on the Statue’s restoration and preservation.       

It wasn’t until a few months ago though, while watching a Hallmark movie, that I thought about this newspaper clipping, tucked away in an old photo album.  The movie was based around “The New Colossus,” the poetic inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty, written by Emma Lazarus.  In part, it reads:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

As I continued to watch the movie, Jesus’s words from Matthew and Luke came to mind.  Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV records, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  And in Luke 4:18-19 NKJV He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

From the screen to the scriptures, an analogous concept started to form. 

The New Colossus—an invitation to physical freedom.

The New Testament—an invitation to spiritual freedom.

Many years after writing that paper on the Statue of Liberty, I finally got the chance to visit it.  As the ferry approached Liberty Island and the Statue grew closer and loomed larger, the experience became more and more amazing.  It was one thing to read about such an iconic American symbol in a history book, but it was quite another to actually see it up close, to live the liberty experience.  Proximity certainly changes perspective. 

Once we docked, though, our access to Lady Liberty was limited.  Due to some repairs, we couldn’t go in.  We still enjoyed our time there, but the experience wasn’t as full as we would’ve liked for it to be.

Through this port, the United States had received millions of people, foreigners seeking new freedoms unfound in their native lands.  Their names, too, were chronicled in the annals of Ellis Island’s archives. 

It wasn’t lost on me, however, that not all American families entered the United States this way.  Mine, for example, entered many years earlier by way of slave ship. 

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” – John 8:36 NKJV

Like the broken shackles of American slavery are symbolized at the feet of the Statue of Liberty, the shackles of mankind’s sin are realized at the foot of the Cross.  Whereas our physical freedoms are dependent upon the whims of men, our spiritual freedom was dependent upon the will of one man.   

Although I’m many years into the redemption experience, I find myself, at times, distant from the Cross.  No less redeemed, just more removed.  And not necessarily because of any willful disobedience to God’s Word, but because I’ve simply become too familiar with Jesus’s extraordinary sacrifice. 

I’m reminded that the Christian Statue of Liberty, the Cross, isn’t just freedom from sin or wrongdoing, it’s also freedom from self and wrong-thinking.  What’s holding you captive?  What shackles are keeping you from walking in God’s purpose for your life?  What do you need freedom from today?   Anxiety, depression, self-loathing, self-sufficiency, comparison, inadequacy? 

Any or all of the above?  If so, be encouraged, sis.  You’re not alone.  Thankfully, there’s room at the Cross for all of us.  And there’s no limitation to approaching and experiencing the Cross either.  Access to it is never restricted.    

But as much as liberty is “freedom from,” I’m also realizing that it is “freedom to.”  The Statue of Liberty symbolizes freedoms that we enjoy as American citizens under a constitutional government that protects us from oppression.  Unenslaved, we have the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness.  Conversely, the Cross of Christ realizes freedoms that we can richly enjoy as citizens of Heaven under a Kingdom government that delivers us from oppression.  Unenslaved, we have the right to pursue all things that pertain to life and godliness.  But to experience the Cross’s fullness, we have to stay close to it.  Remember, proximity changes perspective.   

Liberty, after all, is not an American ideology.  Before time had even begun, God had already decided on a cross as the means by which mankind would be liberated from sin and death (ref. Romans 8:2) to new life (ref. Romans 5:18).  On an Independence Day over 2000 years ago, it was given to Earth, from Heaven, as a token of friendship and freedom.  And when you and I accept His invitation, the Cross is officially dedicated and, without exclusion, our names are written in the Book of Life.  We’re no longer foreigners (ref. Ephesians 2) and Jesus’s Light can freely shine through us to the world. 

PRINCIPLE: Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. – Galatians 5:1 NKJV