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 repres...