The truth will make you free

Again he said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.’ Then the Jews said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’ They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all?* I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’ As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

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.’

- John 8:21-32

Jesus continues his teachings about himself from yesterday's readings. In this passage we are given the idea that in judgment he is entrusted by the Father to do the Father's will, to speak as he is taught, because he is true to the One who sent him, and the One who sent him is true.

In the epistle reading from Romans today, Paul writes of faith and justification, continuing his thoughts regarding righteousness, and how faith in Abraham was reckoned as righteousness. So also, Paul says, faith in Christ, in the words and truth of Christ, is reckoned as righteousness and justifies many who were condemned by the law.

This is the foundation, in these passages, for notions of faith and truth, and the opening up to the idea that by faith one is justified. It is a question of recognition, of knowing and loving the Father, that comes through this faith - and a willingness therefore to do the will of the Father. This love and faith is like that of Abraham, who recognized and loved what was good in his understanding and faith in the Father. This is a question of recognition, of the sheep knowing their shepherd, and in relationship maintaining that bond of faith with Father and Son, to both and through both.

I take comfort most of all in this bond of love and loyalty - of love reaching out not through law and condemnation but through an offer of love and relationship, and justification through relationship - and escape from sin.

We are told that many believed, whom I assume were drawn by love and took comfort also in these words and teachings.

‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’