"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."
Knowledge of the truth and freedom do not come immediately, but only after remaining in the word of Jesus. We begin by believing him and the over time the truth of his word can reveal to us the reason for which we were truly made and convict us of they ways we have strayed from that purpose. Accepting Jesus' diagnosis of our condition requires a willingness to face up to it. This is difficult for us, as it was for those disciples in the time of Jesus who argued that they "are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone". In fact, they had been subjugated by one foreign power after another. They wanted to insist that they didn't need any help from anyone in order to be free because they were free already. They didn't want to depend on anyone else in order to attain truth that they felt they already possessed. But this self-sufficiency was an obvious illusion, and it masked a still deeper need.
Jesus answered them, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
We too tend to cherish the illusion that we are in control, particularly in terms of our moral lives. We tend to consider ourselves as in possession of sufficient truth to exercise our freedom in the situations of daily life. But the truth we need we cannot possess but must humbly allow to possess us. It is too easy, even for Christians, to develop blind spots that allow slavery to sinful tendencies to persist. The only antidote to this possibility is a long-term commitment to abide in the word of Jesus.
They answered and said to him, "Our father is Abraham."
We might say something to the effect of, 'We are Catholic' and Jesus would say to us, 'If you were truly children of the Church you would be doing my work in the world'. Yet we tend to prefer our own comfort to the message of Jesus, sometimes to such an extent that we would prefer to silence him rather than have him upset our status quo. We don't go so far as to try to kill him but we do sometimes close our ears to the truth that he heard from God.
Abraham did not do this.
It was faith that made Abraham pleasing to God, and faith is similarly the sine qua non necessary for those who would share in his inheritance. We can't rest on our laurels, assuming that past commitments are sufficient to ensure future results. We must continue to allow the word of Jesus to transform us and not rebel when it touches a sensitive spot within us.
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."
Jesus has allowed us to become adopted sons and daughters of his Father in heaven. Therefore let us love him, all that he is, and not only in order to receive pleasant affirmations. Then, slowly but surely, we will begin to act in a manner worthy of children of so great a Father.
Let us look to the commitment of the three youths in the fiery furnace as an example of the power of trust in God even in the face of seemingly insurmountably obstacles.
"Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?"
"Assuredly, O king," they answered.
"But," he replied, "I see four men unfettered and unhurt,
walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God."
If we abide in the word, even the fire will not harm us. This is similar to what God promised through the prophet Isaiah:
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you (see Isaiah 43:2).
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