Therefore 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

In our current readings, Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tabernacles.  He has been sparring with the leadership in the temple, who have unsuccessfully sought to arrest Him.  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.  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."   Once again, John's Gospel moves us in understanding, through Christ's words, from the commonplace to the transcendent meanings that Christ gives.  These things are not separate from one another, but exist together, and both are part and parcel of our own existence.  My study bible explains that what Jesus teaches is that to be a child of Abraham it is not enough to simply be related through blood.  Instead, Abraham's true children share both his faith and his virtue (Luke 3:8).   My study bible adds that St. John Chrysostom teaches regarding this passage that Christ wanted to detach them from racial pride and to teach them no longer to place their hope of salvation by being in the race of Abraham's children by nature.  Rather, He calls all to come to faith through free will.  The idea that being a descendant of Abraham was sufficient for salvation is the very thing that prevents them from coming to Christ.

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."   Proceeded here refers not to Christ's existence as eternal Son, but rather to Christ being sent from the Father to His Incarnation.   Once again, Jesus expands understanding to a spiritual reality that permeates our world.  He explains here that just as being a child of Abraham is based on sharing Abraham's attributes (see previous verses in today's reading, above), those who reject Christ share the attributes of the devil who rejects God's teaching (in particular, my study bible notes, this includes a hatred for truth);  in this way they are called the devil's children.

We have an important concept given in today's reading that to do is to be.  In other words, we might say that the choices we make, the things we do, create identity for us.  Those who are "like Abraham" are children of Abraham in this sense.  Those who seek to fulfill our creation in the image and likeness of God are "children of God."  This applies to each one of us, and if we take it seriously, then we see the essential importance of our choices and decisions.  We can no longer rely upon family inheritance, a name, even the nominal title of "Christian" to truly define ourselves, unless our behavior and our choices express a kind of loyalty to Christ that He asks of us.  This is consistent with the emphasis on a love of truth that is expressed throughout John's Gospel, and is tied closely to concepts of justice that we are given.  Christ's justice is one that includes a transcendent reality that permeates our own lives:  that of the spiritual truth to which we are interconnected as beings who  consist of body, soul, and spirit.  We might reject spiritual truth for ourselves, but to dwell merely as material beings is a way of cutting off an inextricable part of ourselves, of living as less than whole.   Christ gives us a picture in which our choices also reflect a spiritual reality, a kind of loyalty or its opposite:  rejection of God's truth.  And what is God's truth?  Let us recall that as Jesus has presented the truth that makes us free, it is inseparable from righteousness and from true justice, righteous judgment.  To seek the truth in a court case is to seek to be fair and just.  In Jesus' perspective, this honest search for truth includes a capacity for mercy, for the wisdom of second chances and the worthiness of human beings, for an honest assessment of character -- including potential -- rather than merely a judgment based upon appearance.  This is God's way, it is Abraham's way.  It is a way of faith that is based on loyalty to God who is love (1 John 1:4-7).  And therein lies another key to Christ's righteous judgment and justice.  What we worship in fact -- and not just in name -- we will become.  This is why Jesus makes startling pronunciations, hard for us to accept still today, such as, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:37).  It is because our own loyalties will determine our identity, and who we are as persons created by God is so important that it cannot be a matter left up to genetic or material inheritance, a nominal group or family name, or other ties that label us in a worldly way.  Our choices matter.  What we choose to love matters.  And most importantly, our own awareness of how we are choosing matters -- because these men whom Jesus faces in today's reading are the most outwardly "perfect" and virtuous in Israel, and yet, their reliance solely on their place and defense of their threatened positions allows them to forego righteousness, even the concepts of justice present in their own law when they judge Jesus (7:51).  They are willing to forego a deep search for truth in their judgment, and in Jesus' words, this is what makes them children of "your father the devil."  In their rejection of love of truth, they do the desires of the one who rejects spiritual truth, the one who loves lies.  As we have observed all throughout chapter 8 of John's Gospel, these concepts are all tied to true righteousness, to justice.  Christ takes us beyond appearances and nominal loyalties.  He takes us beyond our labels, even those of which church group we belong to, which denomination, which spiritual inheritance we claim.  He asks us to look at each choice, to live an active love of God, to search the heart, and to forego judgment purely based upon appearance.  That is, beyond "worldly judgment."  This is where righteousness lives, and it is where God calls us to be, so that we are truly God's children, because it is all too easy to fool ourselves or to be misled, especially by our own passions.  Jesus goes so far in today's reading as to speak of the desires of those whom He calls the devil's children.   It is a kind of warning to us to be aware of our own motivations and desires, and what takes top priority.  He teaches, in a strong warning, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."  These warnings are meant to teach us about the heart, what we live within ourselves.  They are not about rules we memorize, but rather about loyalties in the heart, about what we love most, about an active love made real and true in prayer where we truly reveal who we are and seek to know how to choose from the One to whom our deepest loyalty belongs.  That is the place where we are indeed most free, where every other allegiance or persuasion can be cast away in the light that teaches us where love is, where our true strengths are, and who we really are.  We are most free when we are in that place with the One who will not lie to us, and in whom we can put our trust.