If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free

 Then 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." 

- John 8:21-32

In our current reading, Jesus is in Jerusalem at the autumn festival the Feast of Tabernacles, in the last year of His life.   The people are divided about Him, and the leadership plots against Him.  The Gospel reports His ongoing encounters with the leadership.  Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.  It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.  I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."  Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"  Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."  These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

Then 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."  Jesus is referring to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven when He speaks of going away.  He is warning them that His time for "exodus," for the end of His mission, is coming, and that they have little time left with Him.

 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.  My study bible says that lift up here has the double meaning of being nailed to the Cross and also of being exalted by His Father upon the completion of His work.

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." If we abide in His word, we are disciples -- that is, learners.  To abide in Christ's word is the responsibility of all believers, says my study bible, not just the clergy or an elite class of zealots.   The truth, it says, refers both to the virtue of truth, and more importantly, to Christ Himself (see John 14:6).  Being free is the freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies.  It also includes freedom from the bondage of sin and death. 

Truth and freedom are important concepts for the modern world, particularly in our own sense of political freedom and freedom of expression of the truth.  But there are other, deeper ways, in which truth and freedom teach us something about faith and identity.  Christ spends so much time on this crucial relationship to the Father.  In John chapter 14, right after He tells His disciples that He is the way, the truth, and the life (v. 6), He says, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him (v. 7)."  His identity, as He has told the leadership in the temple so many times in recent readings, is ultimately bound with the Father's.  Although they are two separate beings, they are inseparable in their divine nature and in divine will.  The Incarnation gives us the story of Jesus Christ, fully human and fully God.  That is, He is one who merges His human will to the divine will as Son.  This union of the human and divine is what is called in theology "hypostasis."  It serves as the image or aim of those who would be Christ's disciples and abide in His word.  That is, we also seek a union with Christ in terms of our own growth as persons, and our understanding of ourselves, our identity.  St. Athanasius, among others, told us, "God became man so that man could become God."  That is, by abiding in Him, we too hope for the qualities of God-likeness.  (St. Paul elaborates on the fruits of the spirit as character traits that grow in us through faith:  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).  But when Christ speaks of truth and of freedom, He is also alluding to the identity of the self that He offers in discipleship.  This is something very important for us to understand and to take to heart in terms of our own knowledge of what truth and freedom are all about.  The freedom and the truth He offers is precisely this capacity to grow in His likeness, to walk in His word and to change the very reality of the self in so doing.  The divine energy or mercy of God is at work in us in discipleship.  He makes it possible for us to participate in the kingdom of God even as we live in this world.  Our very freedom and truth exist within this call to true selfhood, to true identity.  In discipleship to Christ, we may find ourselves changing drastically, sometimes surprisingly -- although it is a lifelong walk in which we find growth and transformation all along the way.  Sometimes the changes are subtle and they may be years and years in coming, but this does not lessen the surprise.  We should also remember that the word in Greek for repentance literally means "change of mind."  In this is our freedom, also.  We have the freedom to change our minds.  Ultimately, it is His truth and His freedom that is on offer.  They are the gifts to us that we aspire to "abide in," to come to terms with, to allow to change us, like the leaven that leavens the whole of the meal in Jesus' parable of the Kingdom (see Matthew 13:33).  We might discover that new values start to appeal to us, or our friends think we've changed.  With God's help, old habits that harm the self are broken, and new habits acquired.  There is no telling how deep this may go, for the barriers to God do not exist within us, except the ones we put up ourselves.  It is in this freedom and this truth that we are ultimately free to make choices, to ally with His truth, to be the ones He calls us to be, and to reflect His light into the world.  Do you have the courage to accept it?  Many people go into the world seeking only affirmation of what they already know or believe.  But for the disciple, faith is always a journey, and He offers the constant goal of "becoming."