Tuesday Read: Harriet Tubman and Courageous Obedience
Harriet Tubman died March 10, 1913, in Auburn, New York. Born into slavery around 1822, she escaped in 1849 and then made approximately 13 missions back into slave states, rescuing around 70 enslaved people through the Underground Railroad. She later served as a scout, spy, and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War. Despite a bounty on her head and constant danger, she never lost a passenger on the Underground Railroad.
Tubman's courage came from deep faith. She carried a Bible, prayed constantly, and believed God guided her missions. She claimed to have visions and revelations that warned her of danger and directed her paths. Whether these were divine communications or the hypervigilance of someone whose life depended on reading situations accurately doesn't diminish her conviction that God was with her in dangerous work.
Her most famous statement captures her philosophy: "I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves." This highlights a profound truth - some people are so accustomed to bondage that they can't imagine freedom. They've internalized their oppression, accepted their chains, made peace with captivity. Offering them liberation threatens their understanding of reality.
Jesus came "to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free" (Luke 4:18). But many he offered freedom to rejected it. The rich young ruler walked away sad because he couldn't release his wealth (Mark 10:22). The religious leaders refused his liberation because it threatened their power structures. The crowds wanted a political messiah who would free them from Rome but rejected the spiritual Messiah who offered freedom from sin.
You're probably enslaved to something you don't recognize as bondage - approval of others, pursuit of comfort, need for control, desire for security. These feel normal, even good. You've arranged your life around them, made decisions based on them, sacrificed for them. The thought of freedom from them feels threatening rather than liberating because they've become familiar chains.
Paul wrote: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). Freedom isn't just positional (declared free in Christ) but practical (actually living free from enslaving patterns, thoughts, and behaviors). Christ freed you, but you can choose to remain in bondage to sin, fear, or whatever controls you.
Tubman risked her life to free people who didn't always want freedom. Jesus died to free people who often reject the liberation he offers. Both understood that real love sometimes means offering freedom people aren't ready to receive, speaking truth people don't want to hear, and staying committed even when rejected. The question isn't whether to offer freedom but whether you'll receive it when offered to you.
What bondage have you made peace with? What chains feel so normal you don't recognize them as slavery? What would it mean to accept the freedom Christ offers in that area of your life? Freedom is available. The question is whether you want it badly enough to leave familiar bondage behind.
