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:
We are closing in on the week of the Passion and across
these days, John presents the conflict between Jesus and
his opponents as escalating. That Jesus is from ‘above’ who
does not fit into the schemes of ‘below’ is further intensified
by the discourse on the Truth. Having learned the Truth from
the Father, Jesus becomes the Truth that offers itself to
the world to embrace so that the world would experience
authentic freedom. But the world does not want the Truth.
“What is Truth?” Pilate asks; and Jesus remains silent: If one
cannot see, recognize, and claim the Truth that stands
right in front in flesh and blood, what’s the point of more verbal
noise? We do not want to do so and pull up veils over our eyes,
because accepting the Truth would demand a conversion
of hearts and change of ways. So we prefer to continue our
lives of lies and partial truths, so convenient, yet so false!
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022