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 readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  The events at this Feast begin with this reading.  Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke to the religious leaders in the temple 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."  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.   When Jesus says He is going away, He is referring to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  He speaks of the mysterious relationship between Father and Son, as He did in the reading from yesterday (see above), and which they -- the religious leaders -- cannot understand.  It is important to understand in this context that He is speaking of salvation through faith in His testimony.  They will not be able to follow Him (into His Ascension), and therefore will die in their sins -- meaning with the worldly mindset they retain which refuses His testimony.  They are unable to grasp the truth given to Christ to speak to the world which He heard from the Father.  If we listen carefully, we understand Christ's attempts here are for the salvation of all, and especially for those to whom He speaks which include the leadership and also those others who listen in the temple treasury.  At His trials in the Sanhedrin and before Pilate, He will say next to nothing, except to confirm His identity as Son, for which testimony He will be put to death (Matthew 26:62-65, Mark 14:61-63, Luke 22:67-71).

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 has the double meaning of being nailed to the Cross and also of being exalted by His Father upon the completion of His work.  Jesus continually returns to the unity of the relationship between Father and Son, emphasizing that He is in His Incarnation a revelation of the Father to the world.  Note that John tells us that many believed in Him.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."  My study bible comments that Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples; this word in Greek (μαθηταί/mathetai) means "learners."    To abide in Christ's word is the responsibility of all believers, my study bible adds, and not simply of the clergy or an elite class of zealots.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."   A note tells us that the truth refers both to the virtue of truth, and even more importantly, to Christ Himself (14:6).  To be free is to have freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies, my study bible says, as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death.

Because of Christ's words, notions and truth and freedom remain to us inextricably linked.  It's impossible to say how much influence this final statement of Jesus as He taught in the treasury has had on culture -- and remains so today.  Perhaps there are those who really don't know where such an idea became linked, and certainly within the Jewish tradition of law this understanding is also embedded.  Ironically, in Jesus' case, the whole discussion at the Feast of Tabernacles has centered around witnessing and Jesus' testimony as to His own identity and authority.  Indeed, the Gospels attach great importance to the idea that at Jesus' trial, false witnesses were called who contradicted one another (Mark 14:55-59).  But if we get into the deeper personal issues of Christ's statement about the link between truth and freedom, things sometimes get a little trickier.  On a grand scale, the notion that we can manipulate events through media and publicity -- even for a good cause -- always seems to come up.  Inevitably, lies and half-truths damage a noble purpose.  Manipulation is a tool of the "evil one."  Christ makes this perfectly clear by His own conduct, and particularly in His testimony in today's reading.  Whatever the Father gives Him to speak to the world, He speaks, and He will face the consequences.  When Jesus speaks of the "pure in heart" in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:8), He is speaking of those for whom purity is the fullness of who they are.  In other words, to use a popular expression, "what you see is what you get."  Another way this notion of purity is translated is by the word "simple," meaning unadulterated, without contradictory purpose of intention, not double-minded.  This is the term used when Jesus directs His apostles to be "wise as serpents and simple as doves" (Matthew 10:16).  Jesus' greatest criticism and condemnation of the leadership is their hypocrisy (Matthew 23:13-39).   His praise is high indeed for Nathanael, the man of great directness, when He calls him, "An Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit" (also translated as "no guile"; see 1:45-47).   For the truth to set us free, it must act against ignorance -- what John's Gospel calls the darkness of spiritual lies and deceit, that which masks something to which we are entitled as human beings, and for which Christ comes into the world as Liberator and Deliverer.  It is His truth that sets us free; and moreover, as my study bible says, He is the Person who is Truth, and through Him is revealed to us the truth of God the Father and our own place in the universe.  That place is in relation and communion.  Throughout the Gospels, we are given spiritual battle as that which is waged against the one who would blind us, oppress us in slavery, grinding onerous labor, and pain.  Those who are liberated through exorcism are oppressed by demons who torment them and seek to destroy them.  The truth of Christ that sets us free is the understanding that God loves us so much that He sent His Son who will die for us, in order that we may have life, and that life in abundance.  But when we embrace this truth, it is not the promise of an easy or simple life.  Rather, we enter into a battleground and take up sides through our choices.  To follow Him may require tribulation, but also gives us freedom, peace, and joy.  The question really is whether we are prepared to take up that discipleship, to work the works of faith.  How do we do that?  As He abides in the Father and gives us the word given to Him by the Father,  so we are to abide in His word.  We are to live and cherish the truth He gives us, for it is the key to our own freedom.  Are we ready?  Lent is the time when we get down to basics, and learn who we are.  We seek to face our own darkness, and cast it off for His truth.  In the Gospels, there is one story of particular cruelty through demonic possession, of a young boy who's often cast into fire.  When the disciples struggle to cast it out, Jesus finally explains, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29).  These practices of prayer and fasting are designed to do one thing, to shore up and build our faith.  They are the traditional practices of Lent throughout the historical Church.  Let us remember at this time what these tools are for:  there are to help to make us free, to set us down where we focus on truth and cut out all the extraneous business of life that takes up our time, clogs our thinking, keeps us distracted.  Let us get down to that truth and the business of our freedom, as we seek to more fully abide in Him.