"About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, James and John with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem" (Luke 9.28-31).

One of the great events in the Old Testament was the Exodus -- the intervention of God in the lives of his covenant people to provide for them departure from Egyptian bondage.

Throughout Luke's gospel story of Jesus, the theme of Exodus resonates, most poignantly on the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses, leader of the Exodus, appears with Elijah to talk with Jesus about his own departure.

In Luke, the cross serves as a kind of second Exodus, not from the tyrrany of ruthless political rule but from the tyranny of bondage to sin.

Today is our nation's Independence Day, a day our nation pauses from the routine to recount the sacrifices and the blessing of freedom brought about by those who paid the ultimate price.

But this morning, my mind is fixed, not on a military battlefield but on a spiritual battlefield, the cross, where Jesus secured the ultimate freedom for those held captive to sin and Satan.

Why not today, in the midst of the cookouts and fireworks, pause to thank God for the ultimate price paid by Jesus to secure our own Exodus.