Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if a son frees you, then you will truly be free… Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me. (Jn 8, 31-42)
Disciples…Free…Abraham…God
In today’s reading, Jesus is playing on the above words.
To be a disciple one has to remain in Jesus’ words. In fact these words are addressed to the people who believed in Jesus. Believers, but do not remain in his words. Belief in a person necessarily means that one accepts his words and follows them. In John’s gospel the disciples are the followers of the word. Word is identified with the person. Remember well: “In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God”
Freedom is not gained through heredity. Freedom is a gift that an individual receives from God. Sure, Jesus is talking about spiritual freedom. For Jesus freedom implies being away from sin. Sin enslaves. In John’s gospel, sin is not accepting Jesus as the son of God. That is, not believing that he is from above. Only Jesus will give freedom.
Abraham is a disciple and he is free. In human understanding they might be the descendants of Abraham. But in reality or in God’s way of looking at things they are not the descendants of Abraham. For, Abraham was different from them. (“But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you.”)
Those who accept God and believe in God as their Father will in turn love Jesus. Because Jesus was sent by the father and he speaks what he has heard from the Father.
So listening to Jesus (THE WORD) and believing in him (FREE from sin) are the true sons and daughters of ABRAHAM and they love Jesus because he is from the FATHER.
