Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
BELIEVE LIKE ABRAHAM
Persons who trust in God fight enslavement to sin. In the face of abuse of authority, persecution or coercion of any kind, even of tradition or of the law, they retain their inner freedom. When they hear and keep God’s Word, they make a decision for freedom. The liberating word of Christ sets us free and makes us sons and daughters of God. God’s children are born to be free. The three young men at the king’s court were willing to lay down their lives for their faith. Like the faith of Abraham, our faith in Jesus should be deep and unconditional.
Reading 1:Daniel 3:14-23
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
Nebuchadnezzar, his face purple with anger, cut off Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace fired up seven times hotter than usual. He ordered some strong men from the army to tie them up, hands and feet, and throw them into the roaring furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, bound hand and foot, fully dressed from head to toe, were pitched into the roaring fire. Because the king was in such a hurry and the furnace was so hot, flames from the furnace killed the men who carried Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to it, while the fire raged around Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles,
“”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.””
Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed,
“”Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who sent his angel to deliver the servants who trusted in him;
they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies
rather than serve or worship any god
except their own God.””
Gospel: John 8:31-47
Surprised, they said, “But we’re descendants of Abraham. We’ve never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, ‘The truth will free you’?”
Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave can’t come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through. I know you are Abraham’s descendants. But I also know that you are trying to kill me because my message hasn’t yet penetrated your thick skulls. I’m talking about things I have seen while keeping company with the Father, and you just go on doing what you have heard from your father.”
They were indignant. “Our father is Abraham!”
Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would have been doing the things Abraham did. And yet here you are trying to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth he got straight from God! Abraham never did that sort of thing. You persist in repeating the works of your father.”
They said, “We’re not bastards. We have a legitimate father: the one and only God.”
“If God were your father,” said Jesus, “you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn’t come on my own. He sent me. Why can’t you understand one word I say? Here’s why: You can’t handle it. You’re from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn’t stand the truth because there wasn’t a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone on God’s side listens to God’s words. This is why you’re not listening—because you’re not on God’s side.”
Prayer
Lord, our God,
you call us to be free people.
Help us to give you always
a response of freedom.
Set free by Christ’s
liberating word and death,
may we never again
shackle ourselves with self-made chains,
of selfish sin and false attachments.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
Reflection:
29 March 2023
John 8: 31-42
Wounded Healers
Faith is only genuine once it touches our attitudes and, above all, our concrete choices. To “remain” in the Word of Christ means conforming our lives to his life and virtues. The words of the Gospel imply that there are true and false disciples. There is only one way to tell the difference: whether one embraces his Word as an ideal and a rule of life.
The false security that the Jews claim on being descended from Abraham could find its parallel in us Christians who are content with our baptism and our religious practices. Many in the Church today take pride in claiming their Catholic faith and say, ‘we have been Catholics for many generations, and we grew up in strong Catholic traditions.’ Ironically, we fight among ourselves to defend our traditions while leaving the Word of God stranded in our bookshelves and pulpits of churches! Perhaps in our sincere desire and earnest efforts to remain faithful to the centuries-old traditions, we forgot to remain with the Word.
We have become Christians not because of any of our merits. We go to Church every day or every week, not because we are any better than others. Like anyone else, we are also chained by sin, but we believe in the Lord, who forgives and sets us free. Every Christian is on a mission to forgive and love. Christians should take pride not in their centuries-old customs and traditions but in God’s forgiveness and Mercy. We should be able to repeat to ourselves: “I have been forgiven, I will forgive and will be an instrument of reconciliation.”
Only a person who suffered injuries can understand with empathy the wounds of those around him. A person who acknowledges and owns up to his failures can better accompany people with all their weaknesses without being judgemental. My shortcomings and failures help me put aside my ego and give Jesus the centre stage, who can set me free.
Pope Francis tells us that the knowledge that we are wounded sets us free from becoming self-referential and thinking of ourselves as superior to others. The people with whom we interact and live do not expect us to be superheroes. They expect us to be companions, with all the weaknesses and limitations.
Wounded soldiers become bolder; wounded Christians become more loving. We say “yes” to the Lord at the start of the day and every moment of our lives… “Here I am, Lord, sinful yet loving, wounded yet willing to serve.”