Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent, March 29, 2023

John 8, 31-42

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.”

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass is taken from the next section of the Lord’s teaching the Jews in or near the Temple for the Feast of Booths.  “Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him.”  We should notice what St. John is saying here: “to the Jews who believed in him”.  When John uses the term “Jews” he means it in two senses: for the Judeans (as opposed to the Galileans) and for the Jewish authorities, including the Sanhedrin and the elders.  Some of these did believe in the Lord but only on a superficial level.  Some may have thought, based on his miracles, that he was indeed the Messiah.  Others may have welcomed him as a reformer, or were attracted to some of his teachings.  They are not yet disciples, though the Lord desires that they join his following.  Thus, in speaking to them here he challenges them to grow in their belief.

“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.”  To us today, this is an inspiring promise, but for the Jews of two thousand years ago, this came across as an insult.  They heard the Lord insinuating that they were slaves.  These priests, Temple officials, and elders were very conscious of their dignity among the people and at the same time very conscious of their place under Roman rule.  It was almost as though this Galilean was accusing them of being slaves of the Romans through their submission to their rule.  They bridled: “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.”  The fact that they jumped to the conclusion that Jesus was speaking politically tells us much about who they thought he was and what their primary concerns in life were.  The Lord patiently clarifies for them:“Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.”  In this way he also casts aside their expectation that he was the Messiah who came to deliver Jerusalem.  “A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains.”  He speaks in simple words, putting in plain words something they already know so as to build upon it: “So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.”  He is claiming to be this Son who will free them from their sins.  He returns to their objection: “I know that you are descendants of Abraham.”  And then he makes them face themselves: “But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you.”  They had turned from “believers” into enemies when the Lord spoke of their slavery to sin and they misunderstood him to mean they were slaves of Rome.  His point is that they were in need of being freed from sin and that he, as the Son, could do this if they would believe in him.  “I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”  As the Son, he is revealing the Father’s plan of freedom to them.  “They answered and said to him, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ ”  The Jewish rulers are still hearing him with political ears though he speaks only of the things of God.  They took Abraham as their father because their descent from him made them Jews.  It did not occur to them that God was actually their Father for he had given them life.  “Jesus challenged them on their claim: “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.”  St. John does not describe the scene but only gives the dialogue but we can try to imagine the fury of the people to whom he was speaking.  They were highborn priests, ministers, respected leaders of the Temple and he had called them slaves!  “You are doing the works of your father!”  The Lord is speaking of the work of their father, Satan.

“We were not born of fornication. We have one Father, God.”  Now they claim that God is their Father.  Their reference to “fornication” has been taken by some scholars to be a dig at the Lord’s own human origins, and that the priests and elders here had heard that his Mother had conceived him out of wedlock.  They would be baiting him, in this case.  Otherwise, this could be an allusion to the purity of their heritage.

“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.”  If a person claims that God is his Father than he is claiming that he loves him.  And to love the Father means to love the Son.  To reject the Son is to reject the Father.  That Jesus was “sent” by the Father tells us of the Lord’s love for the Father, for he obeys him and comes to lowly earth and the world of sinful men and women from the realms of glory where countless angels adore God forever.

The elders and priests of the Temple were so politically minded that they did not recognize that the Lord, who almost never spoke of the political world, was speaking to them of the things of heaven.  Let us not so involve ourselves in the world around us and its business that we become like those who belong to it.