Wednesday 26 July 2017
- Bible Book:
- John
“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’” (v. 31-32)
Psalm: Psalm 41
Background
To know the truth is to gain something of value. Afterdisasters, our politicians sometimes set up public enquiries, withpromises to find the truth. In our day-to-day dealings knowing thetruth can be much harder - we do not have the resources we reallyneed to check. Particularly in times of hardship, loss or tragedywe really want to know the truth.
The debate in this passage is complex, it has many threadsincluding: knowing the truth; puzzling over why so many of his ownpeople rejected Jesus; what it means to be a descendant of Abraham(in other words, to be one of God's chosen people). Jesus was a Jewbecause he was descended from Abraham, and so were his disciplesand the people he is engaging with in this chapter - hence "Abrahamis our father" (v. 39). Yet there is a contradiction for they aretrying to kill Jesus, not suitable actions for descendants ofAbraham or those who claim to be following commandments. Theirsinful intentions show that they are not truly people of God'shousehold, but slaves to sin. The very people who claim to be goodand right are the people whose intentions and words are so wrong.Somehow they are blinded by their own hypocrisy and need to be setfree.
Truth can be hard to know, but one of our most useful checks is:Do words and actions tie together, does the whole picture makesense? To continue in Jesus' words, means to live it truly, topractise it. This brings us to those great words: "You will knowthe truth, and the truth will set you free". The truth sets us freefrom hypocrisy, from sin - Jesus sets us free. Of course, this iswhy it is so tragic when Christians are found to be hypocrites; itis an easy danger but seems to be a sin that seriously worriedJesus. The very nature of hypocrisy makes it hard for theindividual to recognise, while it is often blindingly obvious toothers.
To Ponder
- What hypocrisy can you see in your own life? Or if it is easierto answer, what hypocrisy might others see in your life?
- What are the words that your life speaks?