1 Maccabees 8:17-22: a reflection

17So Judas chose Eupolemus the son of John, the son of Accos, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome, to establish friendship and alliance with them, 18and that they should free the yoke from themselves; for they saw that the kingdom of the Greeks kept Israel in bondage. 19Then they went to Rome, a very long journey, and they entered into the senate house, and said, 20“Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, and his kindred, and the people of the Jews, have sent us to you, to make an alliance and peace with you, and that we might be registered as your allies and friends.” 21This thing was pleasing to them. 22This is the copy of the writing which they wrote back again on tables of brass, and sent to Jerusalem, that it might be with them there for a memorial of peace and alliance:

Longing to be free from the oppressive yoke under which his people labored, Judas Maccabeus sends envoys on the long journey to Rome to seek an alliance and, ultimately, freedom. They saw, the text says, that the kingdom of the Greeks kept Israel in bondage, and they wanted to be free of it. The deep desire driving the mission was freedom, release from a yoke that weighed on the whole people.

Notice the longing at the heart of this: to be free from bondage. Judas and his people were under an oppressive power, held in a bondage they longed to escape, and that longing drove them to great lengths, a long and difficult journey, to seek deliverance. The desire for freedom, for release from what enslaves and oppresses, is one of the deepest human longings, and it drives people to seek help wherever it might be found.

That longing for freedom points to something deeper than any political bondage. We are, all of us, held under a yoke we cannot break by ourselves, the bondage of sin, from which we long, whether we name it or not, to be free. And where Judas's people sought an earthly alliance for an earthly freedom, God has provided a deliverer for our deepest bondage: Christ, who came to set the captives free. The longing to be free, which drove Judas to Rome, is finally answered in Christ, who breaks the yoke of sin. If you long to be free from what enslaves you, look to the one who came to set captives free. He breaks the yoke no earthly alliance could.

Lord, Judas longed to free his people from bondage and went to great lengths to seek their deliverance. That longing to be free points to a deeper bondage, the yoke of sin, from which I too long to be free. Thank you that you have provided a deliverer for my deepest bondage: Christ, who came to set the captives free. Where earthly alliances could never reach, he breaks the yoke of sin. When I long to be free from what enslaves me, help me look to him, who came to set captives free, and to receive the freedom only he can give.