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

They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"

Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."

They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father." Then 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 proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

- John 8:33-47

Jesus continues His dialogue in the temple. He is teaching at the Festival of Tabernacles, and has taught that He is the light of the world. He has repeatedly taught of His nature that is united with the Father, from whence He comes and to whom He will return. In yesterday's reading, we learned that there are those who have come to believe in Him as He taught. He told them that they must abide in His word. He said, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?" Of course, the leadership continues to defy all understanding of Jesus' words and teaching. They answer seeking to repudiate Him.

Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father." My study bible asks the question, "Who are the true children of Abraham?" Those who would be Abraham's children must do as Abraham did. Jesus makes it clear that, as He is united with and will return to the Father, those who remain with Him will also live in the house forever. The Son therefore has the power to make free. But to recognize and embrace the Son, one must truly have the love of the Father. Jesus makes it clear here that He believes their "father" is evil, or perhaps more closely, we might say, the evil one. My study bible says, "There is no middle ground."

They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father." Again, this is an affirmation of the difference between one sort of way of thinking and another. Do they have the love of God in them? Or is their pride in their identity what suffices for them, a kind of arrogance that creates blindness to what is among them, that keeps from from being what Abraham was? Who is their father?

Then 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 proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God." And again, Jesus affirms, the power of the Father is in the love of the Father in each of us. With this love, one is able to hear and understand the reality of the Father's presence in Him and in His words. Why can they not hear though He tells the truth? To be firmly in the grasp of delusion and lies is to be in the hands of the one who "speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." Those who are of God can respond to God's presence and truth.

How do we respond to this text? Do we understand what it is to have the love of God in us first, before all things? Can we respond to others and listen in love? How far does our own pride take us, our own delusion in a secure place, which, in our arrogance, we think we are given not through our own understanding and reception but rather because we rest in pride, such as may come from association as with an ancestor? This is a very powerful piece of preaching Jesus does, clearly delineating the difference between a living faith, a life of truth, and the arrogance with which we may delude ourselves into thinking we are the elect. Discipleship is a constant ability to listen and hear and grow, and not to rest secure in the status of anything but real personal discipleship, a heart open to God who is love, and leads us into life. This is what He teaches; otherwise we delude ourselves and we are lost to a lie.