"Otis works as a glue dipper in a furniture factory Monday through Friday and drinks all weekend. After a binge, Otis will usually lock himself in the town jail until he is sober. He has a key to the front door of the courthouse and the cell keys are hung on a nail near the cells (presumably, to accommodate Otis)."The typical weekend has Otis in jail with the key to the cell within reach. He enters the jail, locks himself in, then rehangs the key conveniently so freedom is easily obtained. When he becomes interested in other matters, Otis merely reaches for the key, unlocks the cell, and meanders forth at will. Otis is in jail, but has liberty!
Why bother? Why incarcerate a person who is harmless? Why does Otis cage himself? Perhaps it's for safety. Not to protect others from Otis, but jail is a safe haven for him! Maybe he's out of marital danger by staying clear of Mrs. Campbell when he's incapacitated. Otis is in a jail of his own making, but yet is as free than a bird!
If Andy was cautious, he would lock Otis in and hang the key far out of reach! If Andy did that, Otis's liberty would be forcibly ended. Rather than free, Otis would be subdued. It is likely that he would yearn for freedom and resent being imprisoned. In both cases, Otis is in jail. In his safe space, he has the key to freedom. He's in control of where he is. On the weekends, his desire is to be in jail!
If Andy has the key, Otis is still in jail, but it's no longer his safe space; it's prison.
In the former case, he's free to leave, but willingly stays. In the latter case he's incarcerated, and surely wants to leave. Because of who controls the key is the difference between a safe haven and prison. He has bars either way, but in one case, the bars are his idea, and in the other, it's Andy's!
Freedom is when people have the liberty to control their own destiny. That's a basic need. No sane person wants for others to regulate them (excluding brain-washed socialists), but are delighted to regulate themselves when the situation arises.
I'm a proponent of freedom and I hate regulation. However, for my own safety, I do things voluntarily, whereas others are forced to comply. For instance, I started wearing seat belts while driving before it became mandatory. I made myself safe at my own volition and never had to forfeit my liberty by awaiting laws which coerce!
Christians have liberty too!
Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."This is the same concept as Otis in jail. With the key out of reach and the cell locked, Otis is in bondage. With the key within reach, Otis has liberty, although in both situations, Otis is behind bars!
The jail cell symbolizes Mosaic Law. It has bars and those who live under The Law reside in that jail. They are in bondage to the jailer. They believe the jailer is God (whom Andy symbolizes), but it's really an inept pretender for sheriff named Satan (symbolized by Barney, assuming Barney is in charge that weekend). Whereas, Andy is gracious and allows Otis liberty, it seems that Barney, when acting as sheriff, keeps the key but tells Otis he's not really locked in!
With our new person-hood in Christ, works of The Law are still there. We follow the ones that are God's Laws. However, we carry our own key.We still reside within The Law, but we don't have to! We can walk away anytime, just as Otis could, but we choose to abide safely with God's regulations. We still are lawful, but we're at liberty to be unlawful. We reside in the law because we feel safe there and it pleases God. We show him that we love him by obeying his commands, even when we don't have to out of fear of punishment.
Because we have liberty and freely obey God's will, we are content in our self-made jail. It's comfortable there and we are near the one who truly loves us (Andy being symbolic). We stay in jail because we love the jailer, but it's not really jail (as Otis's is not) because we have access to freedom since the key is always there where we can reach it!
Having our own key allows us to choose whether we obey God's commands or not. His desire is that we do, but his grace (like Andy's) doesn't insist that we obey when our heart is not in it! They key is in our hands and we show our love when we remain within the protection of the Law.
We have a friend in Jesus (as did Otis with Andy). He stands right outside The Law, not requiring it for us to be safe, but commanding that we obey it out of love for him. Andy stood outside the cell by Otis. The cell wasn't locked. Otis stayed in the cell because he loved and respected Andy. It wasn't bars that coerced him, but love that encouraged him. Andy was the "key" for having the desire to stay in a sanctified place, and Jesus is the key for our desiring to be sanctified!
What if Otis had left the jail? Andy would have followed and encouraged him to return. "Otis, we love you here and it's safe inside. As long as you're here, I can protect you." Otis is able to leave, but out of love and respect for Andy, and using wisdom, he will return to his cell. Andy trusts him to do that all the time!
The cell with Andy as it's keeper sets Otis apart from the world. He is safe while he is inside, away from the dangers to which he may expose himself. With sanctification, we are set apart with God as the keeper of the key, but God hangs that key within our reach! Sanctification is the hedge that God puts around us to protect and shield us. It's not a hedge with bars like a jail, but is a spiritual hedge. There are no bars; it's merely that our "jailer" is not a jailer at all, but is a Helper.
(To understand how God works, read the Book of Job. It's symbolic of "salvation" and is about the hedge with which God shields Job. Job always has the freedom to leave the protective hedge, but he stays there out of love for God, although the rewards for leaving seem desirable!)
Of course, Otis had no helper to assist him in jail, but we have that advantage. Our jail is no jail, but we are enclosed within bars of love. It restrains us, but gives us the liberty to deviate from God's will. While we have liberty, it's love that keeps us, not coercion. That's freedom. We obey out of our own desire, and God doesn't have to be a jailer. Now that's what I call the Law of Christ!
Otis stayed incarcerated to keep him safe from inebriation. He was helping himself while preventing others harm. We set ourselves apart through the Spirit and the justice we fulfill is loving one another. That's the Law of Christ!
Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.The key to liberty is loving God and others. We obey the commandments because we do it out of love. God's plan is one of grace and by grace, he's not a jailer, he's a protector! (Andy wasn't much of a jailer either, come to think of it. He was a protector!)
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