Gospel Reading: John 8:31-42

If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

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 Fathers 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 Abrahams 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.

Reflection:

When Jesus told the Jews, 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 and asked him, we have never
been enslavedhow can you say, you will become free?
We are a lot alike with the Jews. Most of us, if not all, always claim that we are believers and
followers of Christ. We claim that we are true Christians. We claim that we live a life patterned
to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Thus, like the Jews, we answer Jesus, we have never been
enslaved
But in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that sin is slavery. If one commits a sin, he is a slave of sin.
Thus, if we commit sins in our lives, we are enslaved by sin. And Jesus tells us that the only way
for us to be free is if we remain in his word and be his disciples.
This seems easy enough to follow. But again, we go back to the start. We again claim that we
follow and believe in Jesus and his word; that we listen to his word; and that we live a life
according to his word. But the question is, is it the truth?
How well do we know the word of God? How often do we open our bibles? How often do we
read our bibles? In fact, think about it, when was the last time you opened you bible and actually
read it without being required to do so? When was the last time you read the word of God out of
your own free will and desire to listen to him and follow him?
Jesus said, the truth will set you free. We must be truthful to ourselves. We must learn to
admit and acknowledge our own faults and shortcomings. We cannot choose and pick the lines
of the bible that we need to follow and then claim that we follow Jesus word. We must read the
bible, listen to Gods word fully, without alteration, and change our lives accordingly.
Let the Holy Spirit communicate to us when we are reading the bible. Let us not be afraid of the
bible. Let us not fear that we may not be able to understand what the bible is saying or that we
may be proven wrong. Let us not shy away from facing the truth that we are living lives not in
accordance with Gods will.
The bible says that Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life. Jesus is the word. How can we
follow Jesus when we do not even know what his word is?
Last point: after this, when will be the next time you will open your bible? Remember, the truth
will set you free.