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

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. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.’

- John 8:33-47

Jesus continues his sermon, preaching and teaching and responding to questions in the temple. This speech is occurring at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths. See the readings from the past several days to follow what has happened, Jesus' teaching, and the questioning of those who have sought to arrest him (My time has not yet fully come, The glory of God, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, Go your way, I am the light of the world, and You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free).

Jesus has just finished making his extraordinary, memorable statement: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (see yesterday's reading for the full context). Those who wish to accuse him cannot understand what he is talking about, and they don't accept his identity that he continues proclaiming to them, of his relationship to the Father as Son. 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." Jesus has continually been speaking of relationship - of his relationship to the Father, and in turn, what kind of relationship this should convey to his audience with Jesus. Jesus has said "I am the light of the world," and in this teaching we are to understand this "light" as a factor of grace, an image of relationship that transcends all things, transfigures all things, and extends through all things - realized by those who can receive it. While his seeming persecutors wish to claim they are free, and have always been free, because they are descendants of Abraham, Jesus is pointing to a different transcendent spiritual relationship that confers freedom. St. John Chrysostom, in his commentary on John's gospel, writes (according to my study bible): "[Jesus] wished to detach them from this racial pride and to deflate their excessive conceit, and to persuade them no longer to place their hope of salvation in Abraham, or in nobility of race according to nature, but in that according to free will. For, this was the thing that prevented them from coming to Christ; namely, they thought their descent from Abraham sufficed for their salvation."

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." Again, there is the important notion here of relationship, relatedness - the truth that makes free is a light that extends through relatedness, and to paraphrase Chrysostom, through the free will. Jesus says they must do as Abraham did, who had a light in his heart, a place for the words of truth taught to him that came from the Father. Again, as we have said from the previous several readings, Jesus' choice is always to validate Jewish spiritual reality and heritage: he is asking them to be like Abraham, to be his true children, and do as he did.

They said to him, "We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself." An important answer: they understand where he is going in his talk and what he is saying, that God himself is the Father from whom they inherit spiritual values and teaching. 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. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." Again, we must remember the words of "light" and relationship. Jesus has said, in yesterday's reading, that "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." In this passage, he contrasts "the one who is true" with the one who "does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him"... who was "a murderer from the beginning," and "when he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." We return again to themes of relationship: to what do we respond? To whom do we respond? What do we worship? Whom do we accept? This is an important lesson, not just in faith, but in all of our relationships, and all our dealings in life. We must be discerning, we must understand what we hold dear in our hearts and choose. The nature of truth is a reality we choose to hold and love as our greatest treasure or not. All of our notions of truth are inseparable from that which we choose to worship, the Father of whom Jesus is speaking and the nature shared in that relationship to Son.

But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God." Again, the relationship in truth confers notions of truth - how do we hear? How do we judge? Jesus tells the truth about himself, that much we can give him. Otherwise, we have to question his mental state. Is he deluded? Or does his presence confer something powerful to his audience and to those who hear? The light that penetrates from the Father is all in all, it is received in our hearts. Jesus speaks about the "father of lies" as that source that stands in the way of spiritual hearing. This is not just about one people or another, but about all of us. Freedom in spiritual terms is the freedom from lies and conceit that stand in the way of that truth and its receipt. It doesn't matter which time or place we describe: there is a nature of love and truth, and there is that which wishes to tear it down to serve its own purposes. There is love in this light, and there is that which teaches us to hide from it, to perpetuate the lies of self-delusion, be they harmful to us by keeping us away from that love or towering in their conceit. Love is all in all, and truth is inseparable from that love. From what do we learn how to value who we are? What gives us false pride? To what do we cling that teaches us that we are irredeemably sinful, or of little value? What gives us false judgment of others or of ourselves? Or keeps us from our true spiritual inheritance? This is the slavery of sin. What or whose purpose does it serve? Anything that stands in the way of this light from the Father is telling us a lie, giving us a false prop in life. And for this, we need discernment, we need humility and the desire for spiritual freedom. Our natural place is in that love, to which he seeks to restore us.