Juneteenth
Written by Harrison Smith. Republished June 2020.
How can a slave know that he is free if he doesn’t believe he is free? But how would a slave believe he is free if he did not hear that he is free? And how would he hear that he is free if someone did not tell him?
For two and a half years the slaves in Texas did not know that they were free. For two and a half years these men and women, who were declared free by President Abraham Lincoln’s enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation, did not believe that they were free. For two and a half years, brothers and sisters did not hear of their freedom and an abolished system of race-based chattel slavery remained because someone did not tell them.
How can a slave know that he is free if he doesn’t believe he is free?
This Sunday is Juneteenth. It is an annual holiday celebrated by African Americans and others to commemorate June 19, 1865 when the slaves in Galveston, Texas finally heard that the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves. It is a day that Black communities across the nation—especially in Texas—celebrate freedom in America. While the recent racial tensions remain at center stage, Juneteenth is a day that men and women of different backgrounds can unite to celebrate freedom and progress.
As a Black Texan, I celebrate Juneteenth with cultural pride and humble reverence. In the company of generations from a shared cultural experience, we lift our voices in honor of our ancestors who labored toward freedom and in celebration of the triumphs of African Americans born out of freedom—our scientific ingenuity, artistic innovation, cultural icons, and business and political pioneers.
As a Black lawyer, Juneteenth reminds me to keep seeking justice and correcting oppression in step with my fellow alumni of the first historically Black law school, which opened in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation to train lawyers committed to securing and protecting the newly established rights of African Americans.
As a Black partner at The Paradox Church, it is my great joy to share and intertwine my culture and my heritage in edification of a Gospel-centered community of light pursuing racial reconciliation. I celebrate Juneteenth because it commemorates the day that freed me to be a Black Texan, lawyer, and partner at The Paradox Church.
Juneteenth is a day to jubilantly celebrate freedom! And, Juneteenth is a day that teaches us all something important about freedom: freedom means nothing unless we know that we are free.
In Jesus Christ, the shackles of our servitude to sin and death have been broken, and we no longer must bow to and serve the pleasures of Satan.
For the Christian, Juneteenth is more than just a holiday for our Black brothers and sisters. Juneteenth is a reminder of our common emancipation in Jesus Christ, who abolished sin and freed us from the chains of its rule by His work on the cross. Juneteenth is a reminder that Jesus Christ proclaimed our emancipation when He said, “It is finished” on the cross (Jn. 19:30). And it reminds us that we once walked as slaves because we did not know, believe or hear that we were free, because no one told us we were free in Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, let Juneteenth remind us that we have received the Good News of great joy that Jesus Christ has set us free, never to be enslaved again (Gal. 5:1). In Jesus Christ, the shackles of our servitude to sin and death have been broken, and we no longer must bow to and serve the pleasures of Satan (Rom. 6).
In Jesus Christ, we are free from rage, anger, lust, idolatry, jealousy, addiction, guilt, shame, and any other deviances that follow us around. On the cross, Christ destroyed the institution that abridged our freedom—sin and death are no more. We are no longer slaves of rebellion. We have been set free, so we are free indeed (Jn. 8:36). So walk as free men and women!
Juneteenth also is a call for the Christian to mission. Knowledge of freedom demands believing in freedom, which requires hearing about freedom, which implies telling about freedom. Yet, no one can tell another about freedom unless they are sent. Jesus Christ has sent all who know and believe in Him to share the Gospel with all nations (Mt. 28:19), and to proclaim liberty to the captives, and set at liberty those who are oppressed (Is. 61:4, Luke 4:18). We must go and share the Gospel of emancipation, that those still living as slaves would hear, believe, and know that they are free in Jesus Christ.
This Juneteenth join the thousands of people who will come together all across Fort Worth to jubilantly celebrate Juneteenth! And, join me in remembering that Jesus Christ is our emancipation from the slavery of sin, bringing us into an eternal freedom. Together, let us herald the grace-filled, freedom-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that no one would go another day without hearing the Good News of great joy that Jesus Christ has set them free!