Today's the day when in 2003 Keiko died. You are probably thinking, who on earth is Keiko? Well Keiko is the orca, or killer whale, who starred in the film Free Willy. In case your memory of the movie has got a bit hazy, let me remind you of the bare bones: whale gets separated from parents and ends up in captivity; delinquent kid teaches whale tricks; whale won't perform in front of audience so owner plans to kill whale for insurance money; kid must free whale before he cops it. I won't spoil the end of the story…but you can probably make it up yourself from there!
In real life Keiko had been captured off the coast of Iceland in 1979. He had been taught some tricks and passed between different amusement parks. Following the film there was a campaign to return him to the wild and eventually he was released in the sea off Iceland and ended his days in the freedom of the ocean once again.
There's a longing in the human heart for freedom too. To be free to become the people we were made to be. To be free from the false limitations other people put on us. To be free from the power of the past to control who we are. In John's gospel Jesus promises us that true freedom in life comes from him; this is what he says:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment