The truth shall set you free
True freedom comes from God. True freedom is freedom of the heart, not freedom from bodily captivity. This is what we learn from today’s readings. In the story of the three young Israelites under Babylonian captivity, the miracle consists not so much in their being freed to walk in a burning furnace seven times hotter than usual. True, the king is amazed and springs to his feet to see three men who had been bound walking about in the fire, with a fourth who looks like a “son of a god”. But the greater miracle is their freedom of heart to defy the edict of a king and to declare that even if their God won’t save them, they still will not worship the statue. God did not spare so many from the tortures of martyrdom, yet he granted them inner freedom.
In the gospel we hear the beautiful words Jesus addresses to the Jews who believed in him, amidst growing opposition and hostility: “If you make my words your home, you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth, and the truth will make you free”. To make his word our home, is to be guided by this word and become comfortable under that guidance. It is what makes us his disciples indeed, not being baptized or taking on any commitment in the Church. The more we make his word our home, the more we learn the truth, and the more we become free of heart.
The answers to the challenging questions of the Jews who did not believe in him only make Jesus’ point clearer: it is not only those under bodily captivity who slaves are, but anyone who commits sin is a slave. Just as a slave cannot free himself or herself, so also it is the Son of God who frees us. Again, it is not blood decent that make the Jews sons of Abraham, nor is it because God created them that he is their Father. It is imitating Abraham that makes them his children, and it is obedience to the Father that makes them his children.
Thank God many of us are not under bodily captivity, yet we all have a desire for this inner freedom. We are free to the extent that we live by this word. Jesus is inviting us to total freedom in those areas where we ignore his word to follow our own inclinations.
