The Truth Will Set You Free

John 8: 31-42

Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. ³⁸ I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”

³⁹ “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If  God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.

The wrangling between Jesus and the Jews continues as the wall dividing them grows taller and thicker, leading soon to his condemnation and death.  We have a stunning picture of what stubbornness and closed-mindedness can do to relationships. Anger mounts and ears close tighter and tighter until there is no communication, and in the case of Jesus action, fatal action follows.

We might look at some of our own relationships where the battle lines, subtle or overt,  might exist and see if we can diffuse the situation before it goes too far.

And, we might look at our relationship with God to see of we are at odds with some of the things he is asking of us, or wants to do with us.  Are we hiding behind arguments to justify our unwillingness to change,as were the Jews? If so, we can use these last days of Lent to lower the barriers and humbly seek to bow to God's plan for us. There is no truth like God's truth and that is what will set us free.

Bro. Rene