So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
There was a farmer who had a large vineyard, and to maintain the vineyard he took on a number of slaves. He provided from them out of the produce of the vineyard, and he appointed some of them to be leaders and rulers over the others, so that they could manage the vineyard without his oversight.
Then one day, the farmer went away on a journey. He was delayed on business and did not return home. Indeed, he was away for many months, and then eventually, for may years. Although he sent messages to his slaves, sometimes to the leaders and sometimes to all of them, he himself did not return.
Around this time, there were two slaves who were born on the farm, and who grew up to be workers on the estate. As they grew older, each of them decided that he wanted to be free and set about trying to earn his freedom.
One of the slaves began to work long hours, and to try and become the best worker on the vineyard. He took extra shifts, which won him a lot of support from his managers and from his fellow slaves. He trained himself daily to work harder and longer than anyone else. After several years of this, he came to be known as the best slave on the vineyard.
The other slave took a different approach. Instead of simply throwing himself into his work, he asked some of the other slaves to tell him about when the master was with them. He asked what the master had liked, what his priorities were, what instructions he had left behind. He began to see that some of the things that the master had considered important were being neglected and so he started to do these things himself. While he continued to finish the work he was given, it was in these extra tasks that he really invested himself.
The first slave, seeing the recognition that his hard work had brought him, went to the steward of the farm - the head slave who had been appointed to oversee the work - and asked for his freedom. The steward recognised the slave's work, and reasoned that if the master were present, he would free the slave as a reward, so he released him. This slave, now being free, left the farm and brought for himself a house nearby and planted his own vineyard on the edge of his masters farm. He grew crops there and provided for himself.
The other slave, realising that he belonged to the farmer and only to him, did not go to the steward. Instead, he wrote to his master, telling him about the work that he had done and asking for his freedom. As he waited for the master to return, he continued to work and invested himself in the same tasks his master had valued.
Then suddenly the master came home from his voyage and called all of his slaves together to account for what they had done. Seeing that one of his slaves was missing, he asked after him and was told that the slave had been freed and was not living on a neighbouring estate.
Furious, the master demanded that the slave be arrested and brought to him because he had never permitted him to be freed. So this man was once again made a slave and was punished for running away. All of the property which he had earned for himself was also taken.
But then the master asked about the slave who had written to him. This slave was brought before him, and the steward reported on the work that he had continued to do ever since his letter. Pleased with the work of this slave, the master freed him and, as a reward, he gave him the property of the other slave.
In John 8:35-38, Jesus warns us about the slavery that comes with sin. He tells us that sinning is obedience to sin, and that if we continue in this way, we will earn a sinner's reward. But Jesus also proclaims the answer to this state of slavery - slaves are only temporary members of the household, but the father's heir is a permanent member. So the slave who is freed by the son, will truly be free.
In this parable, I have tried to show the mistake of trying to earn freedom without relying on the one who has the authority to free us. We can make ourselves feel free, but unless we receive the son's freedom, the exit is only temporary. It is only through Christ's sacrifice that we can find true freedom.
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