April 1st, 2020 Daily Gospel reflection
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.”
“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.”
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.”
Dear Friends,
Jesus
reveals a profound truth to the Jews, “be my disciples and you will know the
truth and the truth will set you free.”
He invites them to live the truth and then allow that truth to transform
their lives. But there is some confusion
about that truth and an argument ensues about fathers. Just as a young child will mimic or copy what
he sees the parent doing; in first century Palestine, a son would follow in the
footsteps of his father. For example, if the father was a fisherman, the son
would become a fisherman. Jesus told the
Jews that he is doing the work of his Father, revealing the truth and setting
people free. He points out that they are
doing the work of their father by trying to kill him. They claim that Abraham is their father and
Jesus calls them on their claim. If Abraham
was truly their father they would not be trying to kill Jesus.
So how is
this relevant to us today? We must ask
ourselves, who do we follow, who do we model our lives after, do I resemble my
father? As we live in the shadows of a
pandemic, the idols and images of our age have been stripped from us. What remains, what do we cling to now? It’s time to become a disciple, a student of
Jesus Christ. As we sit at the feet of
our Father we will learn of his great love and grace. As we study our Fathers actions we will see
his healing, his mercy, and his forgiveness.
As walk with him we will see the world as he sees it and we will come to
live in his truth and we will be set free.
Let us pray today that we will be set free from our fear, free from our
worries or anxiety, and we will rest in the protection and shelter of our
Father.
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