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Gospel Reading for April 9, 2025 – John 8: 31-42
TRULY FREE
Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.” They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father!” So 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 came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”
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It must have been tiresome for Jesus to keep explaining to the Jews who he was, where he came from, and his relationship to God the Father. They simply were not listening and just hearing what Jesus was saying. It was really an effort in futility.
They could not understand too, the meaning of Freedom, or that sin enslaves us. Perhaps the Jews are not the only ones who could not understand what it means to be enslaved by sin, or what it means to lose our Freedom. A lot of us think that when we follow the Commandments of God, we lose our Freedom. This is because we have a different concept of Freedom. We think that Freedom means doing anything we want to do, regardless of whether it will hurt us or others. To be free is to be able to experience peace and happiness amidst so many challenges around us. This is exactly what Christianity offers us. But of course, Christ the Son of God is our teacher and he would know very well how to be TRULY FREE.
Lord Jesus, teach us to always choose to do the many good things we are capable of doing, as our way of contributing to the betterment of humankind and the whole world!
