“….all persons held as slaves are, and henceforth shall be free.”

God uses certain people at particular moments to do extraordinary and courageous things whose ramifications cannot be seen at that time. Abraham Lincoln is one of those people.

On January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in the United States took effect. The scars of slavery are still evident, however, on this day almost 150 years ago liberty and justice began to be reestablished for a race of people once considered property. That emancipation should move us in deep ways.

Some will point out that the document had little legal impact on the institution of slavery. However, that we still look back to it 150 years later as a nation changing document reveals that it's impact went far beyond symbolism.

Lincoln was certainly not the first or greatest emancipator. God was the first through Moses and the Exodus and He was the greatest through His Son Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. All true emancipation begins in Jesus Christ.

The public ministry of Jesus opened with the sermon on the mount. He began His address with what are commonly called the beatitudes. Beatitudes are blessings. As part of them Jesus told us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed because they will be filled.

Righteousness has a personal and a universal understanding. We often default to the personal meaning of us behaving well. The universal idea is that of a world set right. We are to hunger and thirst for the world to be set right. In other words, we are to hunger and thirst for justice. When we are emancipated from sin and death by the great emancipator Jesus Christ, we long for all the oppressed to be free both in this world and the next.

It was, at least in part, a hunger and thirst for justice that motivated Lincoln to end slavery. He dreamed of a union where all people are free. As Christ's people we are to dream of a just society that brings glory to Christ.

In the midst of your holiday take time to reflect on the significance Lincoln's actions. Then ask yourself, does my life reflect a hunger and thirst for justice? Whose emancipation am I striving for?