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 recent readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in Jerusalem, an eight-day autumn festival.  It is the final year of His earthly life.  At this festival there were many commemorations and special rites, which form the backdrop to Jesus' teachings about Himself.  On Saturday, we read that during the eighth and final day of the Festival, when the great lamps were lit at night in the outer courtyard, illuminating all of Jerusalem,  Jesus spoke to the people 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.  Jesus says He is going away, in a reference to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  We observe the confusion in His audience, the their possible explanations for His words.  But with Jesus, everything ties back to His relationship to the Father, which they did not understand. 

 

 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.  Again, everything ties to the Father for the Son, Jesus Christ.  Lift up has the double meaning of being nailed to the Cross, and being exalted by the Father upon completion of His word, my study Bible says.  It's interesting that at this juncture, many believed in Him. For among the Pharisees is Nicodemus, the one to whom He first spoke of the time He will be lifted up (John 3:14)

 

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."  My study Bible points out that Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples; the Greek word translated as "disciples" literally means "learners."  To abide in His word, according to what He says here, the responsibility of all believers -- not simply the clergy or an elite class of zealots.  

 

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."   The truth is a reference both to the virtue of truth, and more importantly, to Christ Himself, my study Bible tells us (John 14:6).  To be free here is the freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies -- as well as the bondage from sin and death.

 

Jesus says, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  What is the freedom which Christ proclaims here?  We usually think of freedom in terms of political or social liberation to do the things we desire, the things we believe will make us happy.  But Christ offers freedom in an entirely different dimension, and one that affects the whole of our lives.  First we must consider Christ's repeated understanding of honor, and His condemnation of the religious leaders in that they seek the "honor of men" rather than the "honor of God."  In a dispute prior to the one we're reading about in chapter 8 (taking place at the Feast of Tabernacles), Jesus has asked them, "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?" (John 5:44).  St. John will emphasize the same contradictions in chapter 12.  The Gospel tells us that "nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43).  So, in His teachings, we must first recognize the difference between seeking the world's praise and God's praise; we must determine from where (and from whom) our honor comes.  This beginning serves as liberation in myriad ways, for in it we are free to follow Christ, who has been sent by the Father to salvage and heal our lives in this sense.  We are free to find the "honor that comes from the only God" and find the joy which Jesus promises lies therein.  At the Last Supper, Jesus will teach, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11).  So, in the here and now, we are liberated through Christ's word and teachings, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and even the leading of the Father (Matthew 16:17; John 6:44-45).  In this sense we are freed from the limitations the world would impose upon the reality of God's promise for us, especially the ignorance of what it is to grow in God's likeness.  That path for each one of us is going to be unique, and only the One who will judge can help us with that, for it is only Christ who knows us deeply and thoroughly enough to lead us.  We cannot see this path for ourselves, and "the world" cannot know it.  This is what salvation is, liberation by and for that truth.  In many other ways also, Christ is Deliverer and Liberator.  He can free us from our sins and offer us the salvation of moving forward from them.  And in His Cross, in the Holy Communion offered to us, is even liberation from death, and an entire communion of saints in which we may also participate.  Let us note that when Christ speaks to the rich young ruler, teaching him to sell what he has, and to come and follow Him, this is also liberation from the things that tie him to a particular way of life and identification, so that he may be set free to truly follow God not simply in a legalistic sense, but in all the ways that Christ can offer, including the everlasting life the man asked for (Matthew 19:16–30; Mark 10:17–31; Luke 18:18–30).  Ultimately, Christ Himself is our truth, and it is the fullness of union -- in the wedding feast of our Bridegroom and the Church -- that takes us to the abundant life He promises.  But we need His truth, and the freedom it gives us, to get there. We need the confidence, healing, and strength we find in Him. 

 

 

 

 

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 Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn festival.  It is now the final year of His worldly life as Jesus.  He has been in disputes with the religious leaders in Jerusalem, who have unsuccessfully sought to have Him arrested at this feast.  Yesterday we read that Jesus replied again to the religious leaders, "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."  Christ's response builds on His words from yesterday's reading (above), "If you abide in My word,  you are my disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

 "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."  My study Bible tells us that to be a child of Abraham, it is not enough to be simply related by blood.  Abraham's true children, by contrast, are those who share his faith and virtue (Luke 3:8).  According to St. John Chrysostom, it notes, our Lord wanted to detach these men from racial pride and teach them no longer to put hope of salvation in being of the race of Abraham's children by nature, but to come to faith by their own free will.  Their notion that being a descendant of Abraham was enough for salvation was in fact the very thing that prevented them from coming to Christ.  

 

 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."  Proceeded, according to my study Bible, refers not 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 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."  Just as being a child of Abraham is based on sharing the attributes of Abraham, so it is also that those who reject Christ share the same attributes as the devil (in particular, a hatred for truth).  Therefore, my study Bible explains, they are rightly called in this sense of attributes the devil's children.  

 

 Jesus says, "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."  These words really do give us pause.  As modern citizens of a very modern world, we in the West, in particular, might consider how important that notion of freedom is to our cultures and communities, and then seek what it is that Jesus had in mind when He taught these words two thousand years ago.  While freedom for us may mean that we have the freedom to do or say just about anything, freedom in the sense that Christ is using this teaching here means something else ("If you abide in My word,  you are my disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.")  Jesus expands on what freedom means here by giving us an ever deeper context to His words.  He says that "whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."  So, He is contrasting freedom and slavery.  In Christ's time, slavery was common.  Often people became slaves because their people had been conquered in war, and so they were a subject people.  Still others were slaves due to debt, or perhaps they had been born into slavery.  Slaves were subject to being bought and sold by their masters, and so in this sense, they were not free.  In this sense, Christ says something quite commonly understood when He tells these leaders that "a slave does not abide in the house forever."  A slave also has a master, and so we must understand in what sense committing sin effectively makes someone a slave.  It follows that sin takes on characteristics of a master, commanding and imposing a will upon another.  So, we might understand, sin is a product of a prompting, a desire that takes us away from the freedom found in God, in the Son who can make us free indeed.  St. Augustine points out that the way that "freedom" is used here in the Greek is a verb; that is, this refers to being made free, liberated.   To be free, then, in this sense in which this word appears in the Gospel, is to be made free, saved, released from slavery, from bondage.  And sin cannot set us free nor liberate; only Christ can do that, and only the truth in Christ can give us that kind of liberation. Only Christ the Son can make us free to remain in the master's home.   Just as God showed their Hebrew ancestors freedom from slavery in Egypt, so Christ comes declaring His doctrine of worship in spirit and in truth.  Therefore what Jesus implies here is that to commit sin is to follow a kind of command or will that does not come from the Son, and is not part of the love that gives us grace and truth.  The impulse to sin does not come from a loving master who makes free, but a cruel one which entangles and enslaves more deeply, even to a kind of compulsion or addiction.  Jesus says elsewhere, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).  So there is a choice of which master we would rather serve:  the one who makes free and makes us a home in His house, or the one that would enslave us in hell.  Jesus speaks quite clearly of how we human beings take on the character or attributes of that which we serve.  Is it love or hate we wish to serve?  Truth or lies?  Grace and truth, or condemnation and blindness?  The mercy of God's love is the liberation the Son brings to us; running away from God means turning to a cruel master.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 recent readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, an eight-day autumn harvest festival which commemorates the time when Israel dwelt in tabernacles, or tents, following Moses.  It is the great and final day of the feast.  It is also the final year of Jesus' earthly life.  On Saturday we read that Jesus spoke to religious leaders 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.  My study Bible comments that going away here refers to Christ's death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  Note how Jesus once again ties everything in to His communion with the Father.  All things come from God the Father:  "He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."  That includes the identity of Christ from the One who sent Him, and all the things Jesus speaks to the world.

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.   Lift up, as used here by Christ, has the double meaning of being nailed to the Cross, and also of being exalted by the Father upon completion of His work.  

 

 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."  My study Bible says that Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples.  "Disciple" is the Greek word μαθητής/mathetes, which literally means "learner."  He expects those who follow Him to be learners.  To abide in His word, my study Bible continues, is the responsibility of all believers -- not simply of the clergy or of an elite class of zealots, but all who believe.

 

 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  My study Bible explains that the truth refers both to the virtue of truth, and even more importantly, to Christ Himself (John 14:6).  To be free refers to freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies, as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death. 

What does it mean to be free?  To some people, freedom means freedom from something.  Some may want to be free of financial debts, or possibly a difficult circumstance one wants to escape.  Some may want a kind of spiritual freedom in the sense of doing what pleases them, or what they think is right on their terms.  For others, there is emotional freedom, such as freedom from worry, or freedom from sorrow.  And there is also physical freedom from things:  freedom from pain, freedom from social or political circumstances, freedom from authority with the power to punish or imprison.  There are other kinds of freedom that people desire as well; this is from to do things.   As opposed to freedom from something, one may desire freedom to go to the beach, to smoke cigarettes (or other substances), to shout in a movie theater, to buy a car or build a swimming pool, to go take a walk when we need a break, even to breathe fresh air.  But the kind of freedom which Jesus offers here is the truth in an absolute and even relative sense (relative to our present circumstances, for example), but His truth also includes Himself, everything that is in His being which He offers and freely shares with us.  This is a freedom that goes far deeper than an immediate desire for freedom to or freedom from something.  This is the root of all freedom which asks us the question about what we do with freedom, how we use it, how we take it and explore it, how we think of it or even understand it.  This deep-rooted place of freedom is the place where Christ offers us both "freedom to" and "freedom from," for it is the place of the deep truth which is reality, and offers us what will correct not only what ails us but also offer to us what we need.  It is a truth that teaches us what our best use for freedom is, and how to live that freedom in the best way possible.  It will throw out what is extraneous by getting us down to the nitty-gritty of where our identity is, what truths are that we need to embrace, and what delusions and personal handicaps we need to discard to find who we are.  This kind of freedom roots us in the place where our values can be restored, made whole, and revivified when our dreams are cast down, or our own disillusion gets the better of us.  It will teach us which false gods we worship, and be there when their feet of clay are exposed, and we need direction.  It will make out of us "learners" -- that is, disciples, so that we may find what is worthwhile and not waste our time on what is not.  Christ's truth, therefore, offers us a freedom which cannot be found anywhere else, because His truth is the light of life.  It is therefore the light of this world, where darkness can so easily obscure our best path, because we don't of ourselves have the capacity to know what Christ can reveal and give to us.  For this reason we must all be "learners," and walk the path of the truth He offers, which makes us truly free.

 

 

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  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 present readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem in the final year of His earthly life; it is the last and great day of that eight-day feast.  This is a day on which great lamps were lit that illumined the city of Jerusalem.  Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees yet 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  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.  My study Bible comments that going away is a reference to Jesus' death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  As Jesus has been making so many references to justice and judgment, we are presented with this clear note of what is to come, and the shadow of the Cross.  Let us note that He is still trying to save them; He warns them about where they are headed and what His mission is.  And once again, Jesus returns to His relationship to the Father, which is the source of all He does, what He teaches, and His identity as Son.

 

 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.   Here is Jesus' clear reference to the Cross; my study Bible explains that lift up has the double meaning of being nailed to the Cross and of being exalted by His Father upon the completion of His work.  Let us note also that John tells us at this juncture 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 on this verse that Jesus expects all who follow Him to be disciples, that is, learners (this is the literal meaning of the word for disciples in Greek).  To abide in His word is the responsibility of all believers, not only of the clergy or of an elite class of zealots.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  My study Bible tells us that the truth is a reference both to the virtue of truth and, even more importantly, to Christ Himself (see John 14:6).  To be free refers to the freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies, as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death.

"What is truth?" is the question that Pontius Pilate will ask Jesus in John's reporting of events (see John 18:28-40).  So the theme of justice, judgment, and truth is one that profoundly influences this Gospel, one upon which its events and the reporting of Christ's life continuously hover.  Jesus says to Pilate, "Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice," to which Pilate replies with his question.  So truth takes on different shapes and fills different "places" here in John's Gospel and in the words of Jesus.  In yesterday's reading, focused specifically on the symbolism and quality of "light," we read of the different meanings of light fulfilled in Christ that we read in the Scriptures:  the Father is light (John 1:4-9), light also may be reflected and shone to others through Christ's followers and those who love God (Matthew 5:14).  Here, we may also begin to ask Pilate's question, "What is truth?" as Jesus teaches, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  We can infer that to abide in Christ's word and teachings is to come to know the truth.  In our own experience of our faith, the deeper we come to rest in Christ's words and teachings, the longer we proceed through our lives, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, so to speak, we may find that the more we come to know Christ more deeply, so we also come to discover ourselves more deeply.  All of this covers the understanding of truth:  the things we learn about Christ and from Christ, the things we learn about ourselves, the ways in which spiritual experience in this tradition can inform and teach us about life, especially through a deepening of our prayer lives.  Truth applies directly to Christ Himself, as He teaches, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), and as He is also our way, or road, to the Father.  Moreover, this concept of truth seems to apply to the Kingdom itself, when Jesus says to Pilate, "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice."  It implies that participation in this Kingdom means entry into, and a kind of birth from, this truth which He brings to the world, manifest in Himself and in His word, and which operates as a kind of gateway to freedom.  It is not a freedom in some conventional or political sense that implies an open space without rule or order.  Rather, it is, as my study Bible explains it, freedom from the darkness of chaos and confusion, the evil that looks good but does us harm.  It is the freedom to declare oneself not a slave to the crowds, to judgment merely by appearance, to the conventional hatreds and prejudices we might find around ourselves.  It is freedom from merely seeking the "praise of men" and freedom to seek the praise of God (John 12:43).  It is the truth  of the early martyrs which enabled young women to declare they had the freedom not to marry if it endangered their souls, and loyal and decorated Roman soldiers to chose not to worship Caesar.  It is the faith that moved those who were slaves even in the ancient world to know that, nevertheless, their soul belonged to God.  It is the freedom that gives us courage to live our lives as best we can.  It is the freedom to choose the allegiance of our hearts and souls to love what is truly good, and to love the God who loves us.   This is the journey of faith, and the journey of truth.  It is the salvation we work out by working the work of God, the work of faith (John 6:28-29).  He is the truth that leads us along the way, and sets us free from that which would keep us bound to whatever gets in the way.  And that is freedom indeed.

 

 

 

 

Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple

 

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

 

- Luke 14:25–35 

 

On Saturday we read that Jesus was casting out a demon, and it was mute.  So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.  But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.  But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.  If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?  Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they will be your judges.  But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.  But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters."

 

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."  My study Bible comments that this command to hate one's relations and one's own life isn't to be taken literally.  Instead, we are to hate the way our relationships with others can hinder our total dedication to the Kingdom of God, which takes precedence even over family ties.  

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  Jesus repeats a statement we've read in Luke 9:23, something He said immediately after Peter's confession of faith, and in the context of His first warning to the disciples that He will suffer, be killed, and raised the third day.  My study bible asks us to observe that, first, each person must take up his own cross.  It says that the burden for each one in this world is different from person to person, and each has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for one's own salvation and the salvation of those around oneself.  Second, in 9:23, Jesus states that one's cross is to be taken up daily.  This commitment is not a one-time event.  To come after Christ and be His disciple means the continual practice of faith and obedience, even to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world -- and even to the point of separation from loved ones.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."  My study Bible cites 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, an elaboration by St. Paul on this concept of building a structure properly upon what is first a proper foundation.  Each one's structure will reveal through its endurance, or lack of it, the proper work that has gone into the "tower" that is our lives.  Here, Jesus asks us to count the cost of discipleship, as those who plan well before starting out upon a project of any kind.  Our foundation is Christ, and that must remain our "bottom line" through all things, forsaking whatever is necessary in order to remain securely in that foundation.

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Jesus uses the analogy of salt in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13), again to illustrate the importance of endurance in discipleship.  My study Bible comments that salt illustrates the role of disciples in society.  Because of its preservative powers, its necessity for life, and its ability to give flavor, salt had both religious and sacrificial significance (Leviticus 2:13; see also Numbers 18:19, 2 Chronicles 13:5).   These references from the Old Testament teach us that salt was significant in terms of covenant.  To eat salt with someone meant to be bound together in loyalty.  As the "salt of the earth" (the phrase used in the Sermon on the Mount) my study Bible says, Christians are preservers of God's covenant, and give true flavor to the world.  In terms of the context here, Jesus is emphasizing our covenant as disciples, our endurance through all things in following Christ.

Jesus reminds us of the importance of counting the cost before setting out on a journey, or beginning a project of any kind, entering into battle.  One must seek to estimate what one will need to pay, or purchase, the labor and effort required, all the sacrifices that are necessary to do a complete job or see things through to the end.  He is reminding us, as His followers, that with Him it's all or nothing.  There is no lukewarm that is acceptable (see Revelation 3:14-22 for an assessment of a lukewarm church).  He is the foundation, and must remain the foundation.  When we put our faith in something else first, He will tear that down.  It will not endure.  We will all be refined in a furnace, as purified gold.  In Matthew's Gospel, we're reminded a couple of times that "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22, 24:13).  Such words, on my part, seem terribly dire and dour.  But, on the other hand, for those who go through that fire and must make hard choices between where their faith leads them and where worldly attachments demand something else, the difficulties finally add up, in the end, to a liberation.  For it is in the truth of Christ that we really do find our freedom (John 8:31-32).  The world will draw us into a million different musts and have-to's.  You "must have" this type of house or clothing.  You "have to" do this because someone else has asked you to, or expects you to.  You "must" believe this because everybody seems to be saying it.  You "have to" join this group because that looks like the currently fashionable thing to do, at least among the au courant.  But Christ really doesn't ask us to do any of those things.  He doesn't demand that we become relevant to a set of values or circumstances that have nothing to do with our faith, and the genuine heart that is His refined gold and precious to Him.  Christ does not ask that we become caught up in the "right" appearances for the "right" people who will approve of whatever those things might mean about us in some social sense or to some group or community.  No, He is the foundation of our lives, and the currency we need to maintain that foundation is humility -- not faith in appearances and the judgment of the social world.  It really doesn't matter whether those approved signals to the world are million dollar homes and designer label shoes, or the right political slogan of any stripe, or even a drab and mournful appearance to show we are sufficiently deprived and aggrieved to gain a special status.  None of these things are meant to be pleasing to Christ first.  We often might find we are called instead to retire from that oh-so-necessary public face to find where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do.  It might be quiet prayer we need, not only for ourselves but for others around ourselves, for our relationships with people and with things.  We might need a reset of the way in which we look at and live in the world.  But any way you look at it, Christ's power -- although it might separate us from what we think we need and love -- is going to liberate us.  It is going to free us from delusions about what we must have that we don't really need and might not be good for us.  It is going to free us from false claims on our attention, and it's going to free us from deceptive rhetoric that does not really lead to freedom but to slavery.  If we want to know how to truly be free, then we must find a way to let go of everything else first, and focus on what really matters, and where our heart and treasure have to be in life.  We might just find it's what we give that makes us who we are, not what we get -- and sometimes that includes what we give up, including our false notions about ourselves and others.   But as Christ tells us, each one must bear one's own cross.  This is not a one-size-fits-all kind of movement, this work of discipleship.  It is a powerful pull into our own things we need to work on, and our own places we need to go in order to follow Him and find the refinement of the fire of grace, the energies of God.  And in this statement about one's own cross, we also find tremendous liberation.  For no two of us need be alike, and each journey is tailored for the unique creation that is the evidence of the Spirit's work.  There are no cookie-cutter saints, but each one is drawn in powerful lines, whether that be a woman of the fifth century who used her wealth to express her love of God, or a man who struggled in his poverty to remain true to Christ in the twentieth.  We each have a cross to bear and a foundation to build on.  But each of those, our cross and our foundation, are ultimately liberating.  Grace builds on what is potential within us, things which lie dormant but are called out through the work of experience and living our faith.  We're like statues carved out of marble or some other beautiful stone, in which the carver continually discovers what is truly there.  Are you ready for that struggle?  Can you count the cost?   St. Paul wrote to the Philippians to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."  Each one's picture will look different, but each journey of faith is one ultimately of the freedom of Christ's grounding truth and the surety of gold.  This is the discipleship we work out along the way.

I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter

 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known.  And he said, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  Others said, "It is Elijah."  And others said, "It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets."  But when Herod heard, he said, "This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!"  For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her.  Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him.  And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.  And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, "Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you."  He also swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom."  So she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?"  And she said, "The head of John the Baptist!"  Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."  And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.  Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought.  And he went and beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.  When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

- Mark 6:13-29

 Yesterday we read that Jesus went out from Capernaum and came to His own country of Nazareth, and His disciples followed Him.  And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue.  And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things?  And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!  Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?  And are not His sisters here with us?"  So they were offended at Him.  But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."  Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He marveled because of their unbelief.  Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.  And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.  He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts -- but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.  Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.  And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.  Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!"  So they went out and preached that people should repent.  And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.  This final verse from yesterday's reading reminds us that Jesus has sent out the apostles on their first mission.  Its success tells us that Christ's name is spreading among the people.

Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known.  And he said, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  Others said, "It is Elijah."  And others said, "It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets."  But when Herod heard, he said, "This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!"  My study bible points out that Herod actually fears John more dead than alive.  At this point, hearing news about Jesus' disciples, Herod decides that John has risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.  Herod is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great who slew the infants in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16).  He's popularly called king, but he's technically the governor (tetrarch) of the territory which included Galilee under the Romans.   The text also gives us popular reactions of the people to Jesus, so we have a sense of the atmosphere created by His mission.  Elijah was expected to return and work signs before the second coming of the Lord (Malachi 4:5).  The Prophet is interpreted by some to be a reference to the Messiah, foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15).  Others understand it to mean that a new prophet had arisen. 

For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her.  Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him.  And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.   Mark gives us the background of Herod's encounters with John the Baptist in a flashback, explaining Herod's current unease at the effects of Jesus' ministry, and why he would think that John had risen from the dead.  John had been put into prison because he publicly opposed Herod's marriage to Herodias.  She had been married to his brother Philip, and his brother was still living, so the marriage was in violation of Jewish law.  My study bible suggests that the fact that Herod, with his wealth and soldiers, feared John, a man who lived in poverty and was clothed in camel's hair (1:6), is a testament both to the power of personal holiness and integrity, and also to the people's perception of John, for they held him in the highest esteem (11:32). 

Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.  And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, "Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you."  He also swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom."  So she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?"  And she said, "The head of John the Baptist!"  Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."  And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.  Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought.  And he went and beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.  When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb. The Gospel gives us a picture of the court of Herod, and the ruling house of those who governed.   Herod the Great, the father of Herod Antipas, was one of the most renowned rulers of the ancient world.  He was also known as Herod the Builder.  His greatest achievement was the majestic restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem.   But he was also known -- in a world where power was used brutally -- as an exceptionally cruel ruler.  

In the Gospels, the state power is always in conflict with the power of holiness.  Material expediency isn't what is important to Christ; His mission is the fulfillment of the will of God the Father, and His method is love and compassion.  He does not amass an army to do His bidding.  John the Baptist also, as an example of holy power, acts as a prophet, speaking up for religious tradition of the Jews when violated by Herod.  The whole tone of the house of Herod can be seen in this episode recounted in which Herodias' daughter danced for all those present, and was taught by her mother to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.  For contemporary hearers, it no doubt gave a sense of the great impropriety of asking a daughter to dance in front of strangers, and teaching and celebrating immodest behavior on her part.  It gives us a good picture of the lust for power and rage present in Herodias, and what the king himself is willing to sacrifice simply because he'd made an oath.  The text tells us explicitly that Herod was aware that John was a just and holy man, that he had earlier sought to protect John, and was "exceedingly sorry" to carry out the execution -- but does so anyway.  We contrast the environment of the house of Herod and Herodias with the moral rectitude of John the Baptist.  He's an example of what is now popularly called "speaking truth to power."   He was also speaking for the Jewish people when doing so.  Although the family of Herod the Great were nominally Jewish and made a show of celebrating Jewish religious holidays, they ruled under Rome.  Most of those attending his party are also most likely Jewish, various men of importance in the region and those who are allied with him.  Hidden in the story therefore is an important implied question:  What does it mean to be a Jew?  While most of us today reading this Gospel text may not find that question uppermost in our minds, it nevertheless by just the same token asks us, "What does it mean to be a Christian?"   Both can be summed up by asking us what it means to follow the path to God.  Most ancient commentators focus on the slippery slope of the passions on display in this story:  the persuasion of immodesty for a daughter, the rage and lust for power of the mother, Herod's vain swearing of an oath in front of all -- and his inability to turn back from it.  (We compare this to David's gratitude that he did not fulfill a foolish oath; see 1 Samuel 25:21-35.)   Herod's fears reveal much about his guilt, but he lacks repentance. Historically, Herod and Herodias, for all their ambition, came only to exile. Others focus, by contrast, on the true freedom of John the Baptist.  Tertullian writes, "Set aside for a moment the term 'prison.' Just call it a temporary retirement. Even though the body is imprisoned, even though the flesh is confined, everything still remains open to the spirit. Walk back and forth, my spirit, not thinking of shady walks or long cloisters, but of the road that leads directly to God. As often as you shall walk in this way in the spirit, so often shall you find yourself not in prison."  While Herod and those around him are slaves to their passions, it is John the Baptist who remains free, even in martyrdom.   It is a crucial perspective to add to our modern lives.  What are we free for?  What claims us?  What enslaves us?  What would we exchange for our own integrity in the love of God?  How free are we to live our faith?   These are all important questions whenever we have choices to make, and need to consider goals for our life.   Lent is precisely the time to examine motivations, and develop our capacity for saying no to things that won't lead us where we want to go.

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.  It is the final year of His life.  In yesterday's reading, He said, "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 that He is going away, He refers to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  He refers here to His role as Judge, as Son, as the One who reflects the Father in the world and will return to the Father when His time has come.  In all ways, we can understand Jesus' attempt to save even those who do not want to hear Him.

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 notes that lift up as Jesus uses it here has the double meaning of being nailed to the Cross and of being exalted by His Father upon the completion of His work.  Jesus always returns to the basic source of all of His ministry:  His union with the Father.  It is important that the Gospel tells us that 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."  We are all expected to be disciples.  In the Greek, that's a word that means "learners."  We are to be learners of His life and His way, to imitate Him in our own lives, to "follow Him."  To abide in His word, my study bible tells us, is the responsibility of all believers, not only of the clergy or an elite class of zealots.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  We note how to know the truth follows upon discipleship.  This is the truth that makes us free.  My study bible says that the truth refers both to the virtue of truth and -- even more importantly -- to Christ Himself (14:6).   Being free, it says, refers to the freedom from darkness, confusion, and lies, as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death. 

What is truth, and what is freedom?  Jesus' truth is more than a set of teachings, as He will say in chapter 14:  "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."  This is an absolute, a way of understanding that He is the Person who is Truth.  It implies not mere relationship, but communion and participation.   At this place in His ministry, He preaches, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."   He's already using the language of participation and communion.  To abide in His word implies more than simply doing what He says and teaches.  It is the language of dwelling within a particular place, His word.  Living within it.  The word in Greek is linked to the meaning "to wait."  We are to stay in this place, to continue in it.  All of these meanings are suggested by the text.  Jesus says, a little further above, ". . . 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."  If we abide in His word, then, we abide not only in Christ, but also in the Father.  This communion and participation isn't separable.  What that means is that His truth and His freedom are at once for those who are willing to dwell in that word so that it illuminates our way.  The freedom that is offered here, my study bible says, is freedom from "darkness, confusion, and lies, as well as the freedom from the bondage of sin and death."  I recently heard a video of Oprah Winfrey giving a commencement speech at Harvard.  She frequently speaks of the authenticity of being truly oneself.  But in this speech, she gave us a hint about where that authenticity really comes from; she said that in the midst of what was for her a shocking and embarrassing failure, the words of hymns came to her:  "By and by, when the morning comes" and "Trouble don't last always."  She spoke of the necessity of each person developing an internal compass, in her words, a "moral, emotional G.P.S."  Of course, she didn't suggest that the connection to the inspiration in the words of the hymns nor that internal "G.P.S." had to come from somewhere that was in communion with us, within which we abide, so that it is in that truth that we have the true freedom to find ourselves.  Neither did she mention the faith of countless people that forms the substance of how hymns come to us and have meaning for us.  Oprah spoke of reaching out in kindness to others, but there was no mention of grace, nor the thanks to the source and origin of our understanding of the depth of significance of kindness to one another.  In fairness to Oprah, she may have a strong faith life that I don't know about, but that wasn't given in the context of the speech.  To live in His truth and to have the freedom that He names is precisely the freedom to rise above whatever circumstances the world offers to us, and to say that we are not merely victims of those circumstances.  Neither are we simply people who have no choices in life but the options for "success" offered by popular culture -- or else we are merely losing out.  We have something more, in addition, in which we may live and move and have our being, and that is meant as the G.P.S. that we need.    We know that Christ will go to the Cross, and He will teach us that each must take up his or her own cross who wish to follow Him.  His wisdom teaches us that to find ourselves, we lose ourselves.   The freedom He offers is freedom from the obligation to set for ourselves the limited goals the world offers us, and to know the transcendence of His word, His meanings, His truth, and His love, and to dwell in that place, to abide in Him and in His word.  He offers us to seek first the Kingdom, whether in midst of abundance or not, and all things shall be added.  We will hear all kinds of things that sound great in this world, and be led in many directions that sound good but may be missing something important, not giving us the full picture.  His is the truth that sets us absolutely free. 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

- Matthew 7:1-12

We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount, which began with chapter 5 of Matthew's Gospel and the Beatitudes.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught:  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

"Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Jesus repeats a theme He has expressed earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, and is a part of the prayer He gave, which we call the Lord's Prayer or Our Father.   In the prayer, He linked the practice of forgiveness with the receiving of forgiveness.  Here He links God's judgment with our judgment.  Both are related to the practice of mercy and the righteousness of the Kingdom.  My study bible says that we will be judged with our own level of judgment, because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We have also failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment, it says, is to assume God's authority.  Parts of this section are also found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38, each in a different context.  There is no doubt that this message was repeated by Jesus many times.  To give correction to one another in the Church is viewed positively as guidance, but this is only possible for one who has been through considerable maturity in repentance and is actively engaged in self-awareness; only then can we truly help others.  Otherwise, we are blind to the plank in our own eye.  This is also related to the practice of mercy and "good judgment."

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  This is another call to discernment, to good judgment, and how to wisely use our capacity for mercy.  Dogs and swine, my study bible says, refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but it would also apply to Jews who do not practice virtue.  (Of course, we need to keep in mind that Jesus is preaching to fellow Jews.)  According to Church Fathers, dogs are those so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while swine are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including Jesus' teachings (13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things, my study bible says, are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, but not in order to protect the holy things themselves, because Christ does not need our protection.  Rather, it says, spiritually we protect the faithless from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  This is also a command for understanding the nature of the work of the Kingdom and the world in which we live, similar to Christ's command to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (in 10:16).

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  In the Greek, ask, seek, and knock are used as present progressives.  That is, what Jesus is saying here is "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  There is a synergy here that is important to understand:  He is commanding our effort, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in our prayer, my study bible says; we seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.  Jesus calls man evil not in condemnation of human beings, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (our goodness is mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, my study bible says, then all the more will God work perfect good.

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  This "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets.  It is a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (22:39-40).  This is a first step in spiritual growth, my study bible says.  There is a negative form of the Golden Rule that was well-known in Judaism:  "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you."  Jesus uses a positive form to imply our proactive action.  This action begins to draw us toward God.

Jesus frequently puts us in a place where we have a proactive choice to be a part of this Kingdom, to practice the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven (which is the theme of the Sermon on the Mount).  As my study bible points out about the last verse in today's reading, this is a positive form of a saying that was already well-known in Judaism.  The well-known phrase was about refraining from certain actions or impulses:  "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you."  But Jesus gives us an active positive form, one that gives us impetus to take an initiative.  This isn't unusual for Jesus.  In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), He teaches us to take an active role in being a true neighbor.  That proactive teaching is also linked to Jesus' teachings on mercy in the Sermon on the Mount.  When Jesus asks the lawyer in the story of the Good Samaritan, "Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  The man answers, "He who showed mercy on him."  And then Jesus commands:  "Go and do likewise."   He gives us the means whereby we can be true neighbors.  Another common theme in Jesus' teaching is about exchange.  He tells us, "With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  As mentioned above, He gave us a similar formula twice in the teaching of the Lord's Prayer:  once formally in the prayer ("And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors") and again right after the prayer ("For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses").  In the latter case, we notice that there is both a positive and negative correlation to this exchange; when we forgive, we'll be forgiven -- and when we don't forgive, we won't be forgiven.  Altogether, He's giving us a positive way to approach our faith.  That is, we don't depend upon others in order to practice our faith.  We have ways, even in isolation, of being followers of Christ.  Our neighbors do not all have to agree with us.  Neither do we need to wait for others to "do the right thing" before we follow His commands.  Let us carefully note, however, His warning (and it's a negative command):  "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  He wants us to be discerning in the practice of our faith; neither do we need to "enlighten" anyone who does not choose to participate in the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.  He tells us that we do so at our own peril.  Indeed, the way He puts it gives us the impression that this is impossible.  It is because this righteousness is not merely outward; it is a righteousness of the heart.  That is one more way of emphasizing the proactive nature of this faith:  it is simply up to us to put into practice what He teaches us.  We must be motivated within our own hearts.  And here is the most active command of all:  "Ask . . . seek . . . knock."  We remember the true tone of these verbs:  be asking, be seeking, be knocking.  Amidst the realities of daily life and its difficulties, these are things we can always be doing, and He commands us to do so.  They are the things that bring us a fuller faith, a deeper participation in the Kingdom, a closer communion with God.  We are not barred from seeking this Kingdom by any obstacle the world may throw in our way.  God responds to those who truly desire understanding and participation in this life.   This is both a command and a promise:  "For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."    It has also been the experience of the Church and its saints for 2,000 years.  Finally, there is one last command we have to take into account:  "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  This is the command for a lifelong process of repentance, and the need for self-awareness.  There will always be things we need to discover about ourselves, ways in which we have to come to know ourselves and our lives, and exchange the past for the righteousness of the Kingdom.  Implications in these teachings include a sense of freedom for human beings.  We all have the plank in our own eye we may not understand; nevertheless, His commands teach us that we are free to make choices.   The question is how we will use that ability to do as He asks and teaches.

Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM

 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

- John 8:47-59

In current readings, Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn festival.  It commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, and dwelt in tents or "tabernacles."  He's been disputing with the leadership who has tried to have Him arrested, but failed.  In yesterday's reading, 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."

"He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."   Over and over again, Jesus returns to the love of God as that which aids our discernment of God's work in the world.  But the leadership, unable to dissuade or defeat Him through logic or truth, resorts to personal insult.  Again, Jesus returns to His consistent theme of fidelity to the Father.

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.  We remember that the term "the Jews" is used here to denote political affiliation; it's a term used for the leaders.  (Everybody in the story is a Jew, including Jesus and the author of the Gospel.)  I AM ("ego eimi" in the Greek) is the divine name of God used in the Old Testament.  It was first revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15).  For these leaders, this is a direct, explicit, and unmistakable claim to perfect equality with God -- as we can see from their reaction.  (See also Mark 14:62-64.)   My study bible notes that John places special emphasis on the use of this Name to clearly reveal Christ as God.  It tells us that this divine claim illuminates Christ's authority even over death, a power that belongs only to God the Father.

Jesus does not hold back.  That is, once He is openly saying the truth of His identity, He does not mince words and He does not backtrack.  Instead, He boldly goes on to proclaim identity in the most absolute terms.  The name I AM is the divine name of God.  In the Old Testament, this name for God is often translated simply as "the Lord."  This name, I AM, is that which is conveyed in what is called the Tetragrammaton.  Tetragrammaton basically means "four letters" in Greek.  These letters, transliterated into Latin, read YHWH.  The words Yahweh or Jehovah are derived from the Tetragrammaton.   All of this is to say that when Jesus uses this term, these meanings are clear to the leadership, the experts in the Scriptures.  Not only does He not back down in the face of their criticism and attacks, He goes to the heart of the matter, and makes it perfectly clear what He is saying.  He doesn't back down from the truth.  We note that nobody is able to arrest Him.  It's just not yet "His time," as the Gospel would put it.  It is not yet the time for His Passion, crucifixion, death, and Resurrection, which will come at the Passover Feast.  But even that He knows will come, and He goes willingly, because it is part of His mission.  Over and over again, we note that Jesus returns to the theme of fidelity to the Father.  His absolute reality comes from relationship to the Father.  In this relationship, He is Son.  He shares divine nature and will with the Father.  As the human Jesus, He aligns His human will to this fidelity and obedience.  Not only does He do this, but He asks of each of us the same.  He calls the leadership out for their failure to love God wholeheartedly:  their political agendas get in the way of their recognition and understanding of who He is, their envy of Him gets in the way.  If they truly loved the Father, He tells them, they would know who He is.  But they just can't see it; everything else gets in the way.  But He won't leave His loyalty to the Father.  Regardless of the threat and their opposition, He remains firm in His truth, a truth that comes from that relationship, the love of the Father.  And this is where we need to stand.  We stand with Him, and seek also to find that love that puts us in the right place and keeps us there, regardless of the forces of the world around us.  We note Jesus' deft interaction with the world.  He stands in His truth, but He's always completely in the moment.  It doesn't make Him rigid.  Rather, standing in that love makes Him respond to the world with the full force and energy of that identity and that love and truth.  He responds with compassion when it arises; He responds with correction when it's needed.  He responds with His truth when He is called to testify.  He will even stay silent with Pilate when that is what the situation calls for from Him.  Life isn't about rigid rules, as Christ lives it.  Instead it is living love, every moment, in truth and freedom.  Let us follow His way.