John 8:31-47

True Disciples

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’

Jesus and Abraham

They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.’

It can be embarrassing to watch an argument, especially when the arguments turn to family insults.

Again, Jesus presses the crowd about both his identity and theirs. As Jews, they are descendants of Abraham. As the Son of God, Jesus’ identity is about the kingdom of God. One commentator says, “One’s attitude towards Jesus is what makes the difference between having true descent from Abraham or not – between being a legitimate member of God’s family or not a member at all. One’s membership in that family is not affected by one’s claims, but by one’s relationship with Jesus.”

Jesus here, therefore, is changing the tables on the openness of the kingdom of God – no longer is this offered to those who ‘belong’ to the right group of people. Instead, the kingdom is open to anyone who accepts a relationship with Jesus. In the face of those who would create boundaries to the edges of religion, Jesus challenges preconceptions and expectations of his antagonists, and turns their world upside down.

Significantly, Jesus does this by discussing truth and freedom – two values core to human identity – the challenges of truth and the experience of liberation (and its opposite). He tells a group of people, who annually narrate the experience of Exodus as a nation’s liberation story, that freedom does not come through genetics, but comes through discovering the truth about Jesus’ identity. This is worldview shaking rhetoric.

Liberation comes not through the experience of the past, but about the present reality of a relationship. Revelations of truth are not defined by taught behaviors, but by self-discovery and relationship with Jesus.

This relationship can turn the known world upside down.

In today’s society, where theological positions can be portrayed as being oppositely entrenched, and where truth is inadequately described as being a relative commodity, it can be liberating for us to discover something more about the character of Jesus and the community to which he is calling us to belong. We too are challenged to a journey of self-discovery rather than a recitation of the narrative of the past. In the midst of our truth, our experience, our shared story and our sharing of bread and of wine, we too are able to discover how we might be set free.

To turn the world upside down.

Blessings as we pray that we might truly be of the family of God and know and live the truth.  Be safe!  Be well!  The Spirit has come!

To Ponder:

• What does freedom look and feel like to you?
• What can you do to liberate someone, today?
• Imagine that you were watching this debate. How do you feel, and how would you want to interject?
• Turn on the radio and dance to a piece of music. How does this help you to experience liberation?