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?

 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 the 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

In our current reading, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn feast commemorating the time when Israel wandered the wilderness of Sinai, and dwelt in tents or "tabernacles."   Jesus is engaged in a dialogue with the leadership, who by now plot against Him and have unsuccessfully sought to have Him arrested at the feast.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin.  Where I go you cannot come."  So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?"  And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."  Then they said to Him, "Who are You?"  And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.  I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  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'?"  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."  Here is a depth of understanding of our reality as human beings.  What is the true depth of freedom?  When Jesus compares a slave to a son, He is speaking about a kind of absolute identity.  When we choose to follow the love of God, we are "sons" by adoption and thereby heirs.  Following sin, on the other hand, takes us to a different place with which we have allied ourselves.  One road leads to love and correction; with the other, we cheat ourselves.

"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."  My study bible tells us that to be a child of Abraham, it is not enough to be simply related by blood.  Instead, true children of Abraham share Abraham's faith and virtue (Luke 3:8).  St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage that the Lord wanted to detach His listeners from racial pride and teach them to no longer place their hope of salvation in being of the race of Abraham's children by nature, but to come to faith of their own free will.  Their idea that being a descendant of Abraham was enough for salvation was in fact the very thing that prevented them from truly hearing and coming to Christ.

"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."  My study bible notes that proceeded here, as used by Jesus, doesn't refer to the Son coming eternally from the Father, but to Christ being sent from the Father to His Incarnation on earth.

"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 the 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."  If being a child of Abraham is based on sharing the attributes of Abraham (and particularly Abraham's love of God), then those who reject Christ share attributes of the one who hates God -- that is, the devil.  This would particularly be indicated in a hatred for truth.  Thereby they are called children of that father.

Christ offers us a rather stark choice.  But this choice is within us, and it begins, in Christ's words repeatedly throughout our recent readings, with the love of God.  Either the love of God is in the heart, He says, or it is not.  The love of God is mingled with a love of truth.  In yesterday's reading and commentary, we elaborated on Jesus' statement, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  Our freedom, in some sense, is to choose whom we love and thereby what we love.  In one way lies truth:  the kind of transcendent truth that can see us through all things, help us in all of our choices in life, teach us love and right relationship to the world, to ourselves, to God.  On the other hand is the rejection of such truth and such love, and this is what He is saying to the leadership.  He is telling them that what one loves and allies with creates identity.  If we are to be children of Abraham, then we must be "like Abraham."  We look to Abraham's love of God, his devotion and faith, his willingness to follow and to find the life directed by God, his endurance, his character, his own steadfast love (a form of "God-likeness").  To truly love God is to become more "like God," to share the attributes of God, to grow in that likeness.  But to reject truth is to become a slave of the one who hates truth, the "father of lies."  We must ask ourselves -- with experience -- where does life lead with a rejection of the love of God?  Have we experienced the kind of slavery Christ talks about?  Do we understand truth as a kind of absolute that is inseparable from love and what love teaches us?  Do we know freedom as the capacity to be free from sin?  Have we experienced a road where we find ourselves engaging in practices that are somehow self-destructive, belittling to what it means to be a human being, by engaging in damaging behavior?  Let us observe and understand the choice He always offers us, and the freedom He makes possible.