Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave. But the slave doesn’t stay in the house forever;
the son stays forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be really free. I know that you are the descendants of Abraham;
yet you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you. For my part, I speak of what I have seen in my Father’s presence,
but you do what you have learned from your father.”
They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Then Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did. But now you want to kill me,
the one who tells you the truth—the truth that I have learned from God. That is not what Abraham did; what you are doing are the works of your father.”
The Jews said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God.”
Jesus replied, “If God were your Father you would love me, for I came forth from God, and I am here. And I didn’t come by my own decision,
but it was he himself who sent me.
REFLECTION:
"Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus tells us in another part of Scripture (Matt 7:21).
Words are cheap. It’s not that our words do not matter; they do. But just like feelings and emotions that come and go,
words that aren’t ‘backed up’ by concrete actions that bring about a change – whether in ourselves or in our external world –
mean precious little. In the Letter of James, we are told, “If one of you tells a brother, ‘Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,”
but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?’” (James 2:16) It has a name for such kind of faith, in fact;
it calls it “dead” (James 2:17). Are our strong emotions, good thoughts, and beautiful words,
‘backed up’ by acts of faith that that transform not only us for the better, but create a difference for the good in the world we live in?
Or are they mere professions of our lips that are like air, dissipating as soon as we speak them?
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020
