Daily Gospel and Commentary: “THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE (v.32)” Jn 8:31-42.
Wednesday, 5th week of Lent.
Jn 8:31–42
Jesus 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 the Son frees you, then you will truly be free. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”
They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father!” So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication. We have one Father, God.” 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.”
GOSPEL COMMENTARY
Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. He who believes in Jesus, and through Him in the Father, “will live forever.” Knowing Christ, and believing in Him, in the final analysis, is knowing the Truth.
“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.”
- St Thomas Aquinas explains that: “In this passage, being made free does not refer to being freed of every type of wrong . . .; it means being freed in the proper sense of the word, in three ways: first, the truth of his teaching will free us from the error of untruth …; second, the truth of grace will liberate us from the slavery of sin: ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death’ (Rom 8:2); third, the truth of eternity in Christ Jesus will free us from decay (cf. Rom 8:2 1)” (Commentary on St John, in loc.).
- On the other hand, St. John Paul II wrote:
- “Christ himself links liberation particularly with knowledge of the truth; ‘You will know the truth and the truth will make you free’ (Jn 8:32). This sentence testifies above all to the intimate significance of the freedom for which Christ liberates us. Liberation means man’s inner transformation, which is a consequence of the knowledge of truth. The transformation is, therefore, a spiritual process, in which man matures ‘in true righteousness and holiness’ (Eph 4:24)… (John Paul II, General Audience, 21 February 1979).
- “Jesus Christ meets the man of every age, including our own, with these words: ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’ (Jn 8:32). These words contain both a fundamental requirement and a warning: the requirement of an honest relationship with regard to truth as a condition for authentic freedom, and the warning to avoid every kind of illusory freedom, every superficial unilateral freedom, every freedom that fails to enter into the whole truth about man and the world. Today also, even after two thousand years, we see Christ as the one who brings man freedom based on truth, frees man from what curtails, diminishes and as it were breaks off this freedom at its root, in man’s soul, his heart and his conscience. What a stupendous confirmation of this has been given and is still being given by those who, thanks to Christ and in Christ, have reached true freedom and have manifested it even in situations of external constraint!” (John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 12).
Dear brethren in Christ, the freedom which Christ has gained for us consists above all in our liberation from sin (Rm 6:14-18), and as a consequence, from eternal death and from the devil’s dominion.
- How much do we value the life of grace which Christ obtained for us on the Cross. Let us ask ourselves these questions today.
- Do we strive to grow in this life of grace — the life of holiness — daily by frequenting the sacraments, through prayer and good words? Do we avoid occasions of sin, keeping up a resolute struggle against sensuality, pride, laziness?
- Let us not forget what Our Lord said: I tell you that whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Lord, forgive us our sins, help us more so that we would strive daily to have you in our soul.
Video of April 1, 2020 Holy Mass by Pope Francis