Jesus wept. ~ reflex on John 8:31-42

How can slaves be set free if they do not know they are captive? If they are comfortable in their captivity, why would they take the risks necessary to get to freedom? If you are the one sent to free them, how do you convince them to let go of their comfort and follow you out of captivity?

This is what Jesus is trying to do with the Pharisees. They do not know they are enslaved, and they do not want anything to change – they are comfortable in their position of authority over others and their prestige, and they see Jesus as a threat to their position. And Jesus is saying, “Listen to me and you can be REALLY FREE, and walk in Truth as sons of the Father in His glorious Kingdom for all eternity!” The Pharisees response is something like, “Hey, who do you think you are? We are free enough, and besides that, we are assured of our own righteousness because, you know, Abraham. So we are good.”

Jesus tells them that they aren’t really Abraham’s children, because if they were, they would recognize Who He Is. They have distorted their patrimony, turned the laws against others to benefit themselves, and let pride rule their hearts, setting themselves above all and against the One God sent. They have trusted in their own ideas and sought their own glory. The Pharisees seem to think that some exterior nod to Abraham is enough, but Jesus calls us to a complete interior transformation! He makes us a new creation, if we accept that we need to be made new.

What about us? Do we recognize that we are slaves to anything that distracts us from the One God sent, and keeps us from putting God above all else? “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin,” but those who take their life in Christ seriously – who love God with their whole heart, their whole mind, and their whole strength – are set free from sin and become true children of the Father. How do we do this? We dwell in God’s loving Word, which is Truth, so that we are his true disciples; in doing this, we learn to conform ourselves to God’s will, as Jesus did, and we are transformed in love to become one with HIM.

Lent is about re-focusing on this transformation in specific ways. It’s not too late to ask the Lord where we need to surrender to Him so that we can be made new!