Last week, I came across the name of Harriet Tubman for the first time. Sadly, she was in the news because the former administration’s plan to print her picture in a new $20 bill design (to replace the picture of Andrew Jackson) was dropped by the current administration. I do not wish to enter into the politics of this issue. But looking into who Harriet Tubman was proved to be an interesting read.
Ms. Tubman was a former slave who became an abolitionist, and is particularly remembered as one of the “conductors” in what came to be called the “Underground Railroad.” Accounts say that in this role she was instrumental in working to secure the freedom of at least 300 slaves. She worked also with the Union army as an armed scout and a spy. It is even said that she was the first woman to lead a raid on Confederate plantations in order to free their slaves.
There are quite a number of noteworthy quotes from Ms. Tubman. I share a couple of them here that have to do with social freedom, but which also have relevance to the kind of freedom Christ offers to all people.
“I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” Ms. Tubman identifies a sad truth. Many people may become so comfortable in their bondage that they wouldn’t even be aware of it, or would refuse to embrace a new life. I am reminded of the image of a prisoner choosing to remain inside a cell even though the door has been unlocked and left open. In order to be truly free, one first needs to acknowledge the sorry condition of bondage that one is in.
“If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
The Lord used Moses to liberate the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. But as they moved toward the promised land of Canaan, the demands and challenges of freedom began to bear upon them. They began to imagine Egypt to be paradise and insisted that they go back … to Egypt, to slavery.
Freedom does place upon us the responsibility to keep moving away from the things that would entrap us and enslave us all over again. Scripture makes clear that Christ liberates from the bondage of sin those who put their trust in him. But sin will not stop pursuing us. We must remain vigilant. We must take it upon ourselves to keep going—with the Lord’s help, of course. The apostle Paul writes: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5.1 NET).
—Keith Y. Jainga