The truth will make you free

Wednesday: John 8.31-42

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’

They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.

'The truth will set you free'.

Yet, we so often react badly to the truth - especially when it surprises us, or turns our view of somebody upside down, or teaches us something about ourselves that we didn't realise, or want to realise, we needed to learn.

'Truth hurts', as the saying goes...
Yet, it's true. Even if painful, finding out the truth does, eventually, give a 'new lease of life'...having a better understanding of ourselves, and of those who we find in the world, is always, I think, going to lead towards freedom, however painful the path there might be.

Through God, we can explore the truth about ourselves. This won't always be pleasant to discover. However, it will always lead to freedom, and deeper relationships.



Today, as the church commemorates F.D. Maurice, a 19th century priest and professor of moral theology at Cambridge, I find myself reflecting on the truth of his statement:

'The Lord's Prayer may be committed to memory quickly, but it is slowly learnt by heart.'



♫ What about this music choice? People are feeling lost and disoriented and scared at the moment; it can be healthy to acknowledge the pain, to sit with it for a time, and then go about as before (it's keeping it bottled up, or dwelling on it continuously, that can be far more unhealthy)
REM - Everybody hurts