Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
“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.’" Today’s Gospel begins with these extraordinary words of Jesus. Jesus came to set us free! Are you living in the reality of the freedom that Christ won for you?
Jesus tells us that if we remain in his word, we will truly be his disciples. The Greek word translated “remain” is the same verb that occurs many times in the passage about abiding in the vine (John 15). It’s a word of permanence, meaning to remain, abide, stay, continue to be present, wait for, sojourn, to tarry as a guest in someone’s home, to be kept or held, to endure. Have you ever thought about God’s Word that way before? Jesus calls us not to a casual or occasional reading of his Word, he calls us to make ourselves at home in it and to abide there, to remain in it—to remain in Him.
As we tarry in God’s Word, we will know the truth. This knowing is not merely an intellectual ascent to the truth contained in God’s Word. No, this is an intimate knowing, a consummate knowing based on relationship with Truth Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. As we seek to abide in Him, our Living and Eternal Word, we are held, kept in intimate relationship with the Truth, and yes, we will also grow more and more in knowledge of God’s truth revealed in scripture and in Church teaching. But it’s our intimate knowledge of the Truth that Christ is after. As our Bridegroom, Jesus longs for each of us to know Him intimately as a bridegroom knows his beloved. It’s akin to a human marriage. We don’t settle for simply knowing about our spouse; we long to know them, intimately and deeply within the covenant bond.
What is the result of this knowing, this relational knowledge of Christ, the Incarnate Truth? This truth, the truth of the Gospel and Truth Himself, will set us free! From what do we need to be set free? From sin and from our False Self and from all the brokenness and dysfunction that binds us and imprisons us. Jesus says to us, "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.” There’s that word “remain” again. We are sons and daughters of God by virtue of our baptism. God desires that his sons and daughters remain in his household forever – free as members of the Family of God. Why choose slavery when we are offered sonship?
“So if the Son frees you, [says Jesus] then you will truly be free.” Another translation reads, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed! Allow those lifegiving words to sink in for a moment. Do you feel free indeed, free in Christ?
For many months now, God has been leading me through a period of purgation. Purgation of past sins, of disordered attachments, of dysfunction, of the lies of the enemy, of brokenness, and of my False Self. Thanks be to God for this painful and difficult work, and thanks, praise, and glory to God for the victory in Christ Jesus! I share this to encourage you to consider the things that hold you back, tie you down, and imprison you. God wants to set you free! Indeed, Christ has already set you free by his work on the Cross. You simply need walk in that freedom.
The steps to freedom are simple. Begin to bring your habitual sins, your dysfunction, your struggles, your brokenness – all that weighs you down—to the Lord in prayer. Come in sincerity and humility and ask him to help you. Continue, remain, abide in that prayer for as long as it takes. God is faithful; He will accomplish in you whatever you ask according to His Word and His will. God has given us everything we need to be faithful disciples and for freedom in Christ. God has given us His Word, the Sacraments, the Church, His Spirit, other Christian disciples, His abiding covenantal presence. I can testify to you that frequent reception of the Eucharist and regular, frequent Reconciliation will change your life and set you free. It’s a mystery, but Christ in the Eucharist and in Reconciliation has set me free, thanks be to God! God’s Word, the Sacraments, and Truth Himself will set you free, too.
2 Corinthians 3:17 assures us, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” During Communion this past Sunday, the Lord gave me an image of a prison cell. The inmate’s sentence had been forgiven and the jailer told her she was free to go. The inmate considered the open prison door and the light of freedom shining from the outside and said to herself, “no, I think I’ll stay here.” We do that, you and I, all the time when we choose to remain in our sin and dysfunction rather than walking in freedom and in the power of the Holy Spirit. We do that when we refuse God’s mercy. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it, in light of the image God gave me, and yet we do it all the time. Today, let us accept God’s mercy, choose freedom, and let us choose to walk in victory as God’s sons and daughters. Today, let us leave our prison cells behind and allow the truth to set us free. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed! Amen!
—Elizabeth Wells