Truth and Freedom
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Daily Reading: John 8:31 – 42
Focus Passage:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (Jn. 8:31)
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor in pre-war Nazi Germany, came up with the phrase “cheap grace” for a Christian faith which wants to receive God’s goodness without radically reordering life as Christ advocated.
So today I’ll use the phrase “cheap truth” for the way these words of Jesus (Jn. 8:31 – 42) have been misrepresented. These verses have been watered down (cheapened) to suggest that spiritual freedom is possible without a radical reorientation of life.
Verse 31 has been used, misused, and badly abused for a long time. It gets co-opted by those who think they represent an underappreciated political position . . . or the single, correct theology . . . or the one way to accomplish a given task.
People quickly associate their own position or belief system with the “truth,” substantiating their position with the Jesus-claim that their way of doing or believing – as the truth – will set you free!
It’s really a false argument and a distortion of what Jesus said.
Neither does it mean what I’ve heard preached often, that a simple recognition of the truth, even the acknowledgement that Jesus is the Truth – the Way, the Truth, and the Life – is enough to make us free. There may be an initial step into freedom that accompanies this acknowledgement, but it doesn’t get us all the way in. It is not enough simply to lip-synch the words, “the Truth will set me free”!
Jesus invites us to a radical reorientation of life. He invites us to lay aside the ways we order life around ourselves, around what benefits us and our tribe, and around what puts me ahead of others. This is difficult work, because as humans, we don’t know any other way to live.
As long as we live this way, orbiting around ourselves or around our own ego, we have no steady point of reference. We gauge how we are doing by how others are doing. And as others become our reference point, we wear masks, because we want others to think we’ve got life by the tail. We spend a lot of time concerned with what others think of us.
When we live this way, there is no freedom. Our lives become cages of our own making. We live imprisoned by the standards of others and to our own expectations. Living tied to an illusion, we cannot be set free.
Jesus invites us to order life around God, who is the Center and Source of all life. This is the “truth” Jesus spoke of.
In Jesus’ scheme of things, God is the reference point. While none of us can measure up to God, God is completely mercy and grace. You don’t have to measure up! That’s the good news of the Gospel! There is no merit in being “more” or “better.” God’s mercy and compassion are extended to you just as you are!
When life is centered on God, there is no need to please others or meet their expectations. Rather, there is freedom.
The freedom Jesus promised from this “truthful” living is not predicated on outward circumstances. It is the inner freedom to be the person God created you to be without fear and without having to measure up to an external standard. It is living the truth of your own God-created purpose. It is living fully the life you were created to live.
Living true brings authentic freedom!
For Reflection:
Reflect on your experience of Truth. In what ways has Truth shifted your life? In what ways have you experienced freedom from living true to God and your most authentic self?
Daily Reading: John 8:31 – 42
Focus Passage:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (Jn. 8:31)
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor in pre-war Nazi Germany, came up with the phrase “cheap grace” for a Christian faith which wants to receive God’s goodness without radically reordering life as Christ advocated.
So today I’ll use the phrase “cheap truth” for the way these words of Jesus (Jn. 8:31 – 42) have been misrepresented. These verses have been watered down (cheapened) to suggest that spiritual freedom is possible without a radical reorientation of life.
Verse 31 has been used, misused, and badly abused for a long time. It gets co-opted by those who think they represent an underappreciated political position . . . or the single, correct theology . . . or the one way to accomplish a given task.
People quickly associate their own position or belief system with the “truth,” substantiating their position with the Jesus-claim that their way of doing or believing – as the truth – will set you free!
It’s really a false argument and a distortion of what Jesus said.
Neither does it mean what I’ve heard preached often, that a simple recognition of the truth, even the acknowledgement that Jesus is the Truth – the Way, the Truth, and the Life – is enough to make us free. There may be an initial step into freedom that accompanies this acknowledgement, but it doesn’t get us all the way in. It is not enough simply to lip-synch the words, “the Truth will set me free”!
Jesus invites us to a radical reorientation of life. He invites us to lay aside the ways we order life around ourselves, around what benefits us and our tribe, and around what puts me ahead of others. This is difficult work, because as humans, we don’t know any other way to live.
As long as we live this way, orbiting around ourselves or around our own ego, we have no steady point of reference. We gauge how we are doing by how others are doing. And as others become our reference point, we wear masks, because we want others to think we’ve got life by the tail. We spend a lot of time concerned with what others think of us.
When we live this way, there is no freedom. Our lives become cages of our own making. We live imprisoned by the standards of others and to our own expectations. Living tied to an illusion, we cannot be set free.
Jesus invites us to order life around God, who is the Center and Source of all life. This is the “truth” Jesus spoke of.
In Jesus’ scheme of things, God is the reference point. While none of us can measure up to God, God is completely mercy and grace. You don’t have to measure up! That’s the good news of the Gospel! There is no merit in being “more” or “better.” God’s mercy and compassion are extended to you just as you are!
When life is centered on God, there is no need to please others or meet their expectations. Rather, there is freedom.
The freedom Jesus promised from this “truthful” living is not predicated on outward circumstances. It is the inner freedom to be the person God created you to be without fear and without having to measure up to an external standard. It is living the truth of your own God-created purpose. It is living fully the life you were created to live.
Living true brings authentic freedom!
For Reflection:
Reflect on your experience of Truth. In what ways has Truth shifted your life? In what ways have you experienced freedom from living true to God and your most authentic self?
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