5th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflection on Today's Gospel Reading (John 8:31-42) ~ for ~ Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent: ’The truth will make you free.’ (2024)

Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent

Gospel (Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa)

John 8:31-42

To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said:

‘If you make my word your home

you will indeed be my disciples,

you will learn the truth

and the truth will make you free.’

They answered, ‘We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

everyone who commits sin is a slave.

Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured,

but the son’s place is assured.

So if the Son makes you free,

you will be free indeed.

I know that you are descended from Abraham;

but in spite of that you want to kill me

because nothing I say has penetrated into you.

What I, for my part, speak of

is what I have seen with my Father;

but you, you put into action

the lessons learnt from your father.’

They repeated, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them:

‘If you were Abraham’s children,

you would do as Abraham did.

As it is, you want to kill me

when I tell you the truth

as I have learnt it from God;

that is not what Abraham did.

What you are doing is what your father does.’

‘We were not born of prostitution,’ they went on ‘we have one father: God.’ Jesus answered:

‘If God were your father, you would love me,

since I have come here from God;

yes, I have come from him;

not that I came because I chose,

no, I was sent, and by him.’

Gospel (USA)

John 8:31-42

If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”

They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father!” So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication. We have one Father, God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

Reflections (4)

(i) Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent

‘Freedom’ is very much a buzz word of our time. Freedom, as we know, can mean different things to different people. What one person’s exercise of what they consider to be their ‘freedom’ can result in slavery or oppression for someone else. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of freedom. He declares, ‘the truth will make you free’. A little further on in the gospel, Jesus will declare, ‘I am the truth’. Jesus declares himself to be the source of true freedom. As he says in our reading this morning, ‘If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’. It is Jesus who can free us from the enslavement of sin; through the gift of the Spirit, he can empower us to live as God wants us to live, to love as God loves, to be perfect as God is perfect. This is what Paul calls ‘the glorious freedom of the children of God’, the freedom to live in accordance with God’s purpose for our lives. This is authentic freedom, and Jesus, and the Spirit he pours into our hearts, is the source of such freedom. Saint Paul expresses this truth very simply, ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Corinthians 3:17).

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent

There have been many slogans relating to freedom down through the centuries. Perhaps the most notorious was the Nazi slogan ‘Work makes free’ that hung over the gates of the concentration camps. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus declares, ‘the truth will make you free’. A little later in John’s gospel Jesus will say of himself, ‘I am the truth’. Jesus, in other words, is declaring himself to be the source of true freedom. As he declares in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’. It is only through Jesus that we can enter into what St Paul calls ‘the glorious freedom of the children of God’. It is Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that he pours into our hearts, that frees us from sin and all that diminishes us, and empowers us to live as God intends us to live, in ways that correspond to what is best and deepest in us. As Paul declares in one of his letters, ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Cor 3:17), and in another letter he identifies ‘love’ as the primary fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). True freedom is the freedom to love, the freedom to give of ourselves to others as Jesus gave of himself to us. The truly free person is the one who is free to love as Jesus loves. This is the freedom that the Holy Spirit at work in our lives makes possible.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent

We have all been trying to terms with some painful truths about our church in the past while. The recent revelations have been very distressing for all of us who value and love the church. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus declares that ‘the truth will make you free’. Facing the truth is often painful but it can be liberating. What is sometimes put out as the truth is not always the full truth. One particular slant on an issue can easily be presented as the full truth. Full truth does not come our way easily; we have to keep on seeking the truth. Indeed, in some sense full truth is always beyond us. Yet, it is in honestly striving for truth that we attain as much of it as is humanly possible. In seeking the truth, we will be drawn to the person of Jesus because, as he declares in John’s gospel, ‘I am the truth’. In this morning’s reading from John’s gospel he states that if we make his word our home, we will learn the truth. The call to seek the truth today is a call, ultimately, to grow in our relationship with Jesus. That is a call we all need to heed in these times.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of himself as the source of true freedom. He says, ‘if you make my word your home... you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free’, and again, ‘if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’. Some people see religion and Christianity in particular as a threat to freedom, as undermining of human freedom. Yet Jesus declares in the gospel reading today that if we make his word our home we will be free. If we allow our lives to be shaped by the word of Jesus we will experience what Paul in his letter to the Romans calls ‘the glorious freedom of the children of God’. If we allow the Lord’s word to shape our lives we will begin to love one another as the Lord has loved us and, then, we will be truly free. In the teaching of Jesus and in the New Testament as a whole, the free person is the loving person, the person who is free to love as Jesus loved. Paul declares in his second letter to the Corinthians, ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’, and the fruit of the Spirit is love. Jesus was the freest person who ever lived because he was the most loving person, the fullest revelation of God’s love. He calls us to share in his freedom.

Fr Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

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