Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."John 8:34-38
REFLECTION
The Jews were a proud people. As descendants of Abraham they were the chosen ones, God’s own favourites. John often writes about ‘the Jews’ - as a reference to the religious elite of rabbinical Jews that opposed Jesus. John was a Jew, the other disciples were Jews and Jesus was a Jew (let’s not forget that!), but many Jewish leaders and believers rejected Jesus because of his hard sayings and ‘outrageous’ claims. In this chapter we are watching a powerful confrontation between a group of smug people and the humble One who came down from Heaven to reveal himself as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus’ words were hard to understand and his teachings difficult to grasp, but pride, stubbornness and unbelief were the greatest obstacles for true understanding. All it took to recognize truth was a sincere attitude of humbleness and repentance. But these religious people were so blinded by their false pride and so deafened by their ignorance, that they wouldn’t recognize an eye, ear or heart healer even if he was standing right in front of them.
PRAYER
Dear Jesus, I want to be a son of the Father of lights and not a child of the father of lies. There are so many things in your Word that are hard for me to understand, but I want to trust and follow you all the same. If the truth is puzzling me, if your words of wisdom are provoking and challenging me, I don’t want to turn away from you like so many pseudo-disciples did and still do. I need patience, humbleness and an obedient heart and I must come to you with true faith. Here I am, Lord, your not-so-good follower, please change me from the inside out and turn me into your true disciple. I don’t want to kill the truth, I want to be saved, shaped and liberated by it! Yes, truth can be as painful as love, but I have come to trust myself to you, my capable healer, because I don't want to live a lost life in darkness, sin and captivity. Yes, Jesus, I accept you as the Truth and because of you I’m free indeed!
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7 comments:
Hardness of heart is a universal characteristic of people inside august and venerable religious institutions. As you know, I was a long-time member of an American denomination that is tearing itself apart over a pet social issue. “Pride, stubbornness, and unbelief” blind its leadership as assuredly as they blinded the religious leaders of Christ’s day. The good news is, they really have very little authority over us, unlike the religious leaders of the Bible era.
Thanks Carol. What do you mean by august and venerable? Sorry...
I agree that all people can be blind to the truth. No one is righteous, as Paul clearly teaches in Romans 3:9-12, What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
Israel still has a special position and this is what Paul writes about the unbelief of Gods people, "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." As it is written:
"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Romans 9:30-33
Something can be absolutely true on two different levels and you’ve correctly pointed out how that works here.
When I was drawing the Stations of the Cross, my priest made me change the phrase "the Jews" to "the people" to avoid the appearance of anti-Semitism. I thought it was dumb at the time, but have sort of come around to his position in the ensuing years.
There are a few ancient, august and venerable institutions in America, mostly those which piggyback off Europe. Catholicism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, for examples... And I'm feeling pretty venerable myself these days.
Thanks, Carol. I just copied and pasted your comment in Word and used synonyms to find out that august means dignified and venerable respected. That’s one of the good things of blogging in another language – my vocabulary is expanding word by word ;-)
Rembrandt painted his own face in the crowd of people at the foot of the cross. That is a very strong and true statement by this great artist. We all are sinners and we all desperately need Christ's forgiveness!
I thought you were yanking my chain because America has so little that is august and venerable. Never thought you were serious!
You need another arcane link: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
This is far more useful than an online dictionary, because it explains the origins of English words.
Bear in mind that like most American adults I struggle to speak/write my native tongue. The idea of blogging in another staggers me!
P.S. "Venerable" in colloquial English tends to mean aged, wizened, hoary, and grey rather than respected. I would never describe myself as respected—I’m the mother of teens!
And I apologize for being a jerk.
Ha, ha. Thanks for the link, Carol. And no need to apologize, I respect you as the mother of teens, a 'pen pal' and an appreciated reader of my blogs!
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