The trouble with words is that they can mean so many different things, depending on who is using them. And the bigger and more important the word, the more this tends to be true. Take, for instance, the word "freedom," or "free." That is a very important word to North Americans — to most of the world, in fact — and it appears to have been a very important word to Jesus. But I really wonder if we're all talking about the same thing?

Jesus stated in John 8:32 that the truth would make us free. In a runaway consumer culture, it often seems as if nearly the opposite is intended. We often define freedom as escape from everyday reality and normal constraints. Take, for instance, the article I recently read about the launch of the world's biggest (so far!) cruise ship. "In the maritime machismo …