3/29/2023 (Wednesday) Today’s gospel reading: John 8:31-42

31 “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
35 A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains.
36 So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.
37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you.
38 I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”
39 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.
40 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.
41 You are doing the works of your father!” So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication. We have one Father, God.”
42 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.”

3/29/2023 (Wednesday) Today’s gospel reflection: John 8:31-42

All of us wants to be free but most of us do not get the real meaning of freedom. Many of us think that freedom is to do what we want to do. Yet the gospel reading tells us it isn’t so. Freedom is being free from sin because sin is a form of slavery. To be attached to the world is a form of sin and therefore it makes one a slave in this world.

Recall the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The son thought that by going away with his inheritance, he would experience freedom. He thought that by doing all that he wanted, he would be free. Well, he got the exact opposite. So he returned to his loving father.

Jesus is showing us the path to freedom and that is to become His disciple, then to remain in His word because He is the truth. Knowing Jesus is knowing the truth and without truth, we can not be free. Becoming a disciple of Jesus means rejecting sin and therefore becoming free from the chain that enslave us.

The gospel above tells us that the Jews were not willing to accept the truth and therefore they killed Jesus. This means that freedom isn’t easy to achieve. It means we need to struggle against sin and therefore we need Jesus to help us, to save us. That is His role – Savior. Let us therefore pray and pray often with His words as written in the Scripture. This is how to remain in Him which His requirement in order to achieve freedom.

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