Wednesday, April 1

Scripture for the Day:      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.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’    Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there   for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’   They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. – John 8:31-42

Reflection – Mark Ledermann  

And we ask: Where is true life found?

Jesus challenges us: Within the truth.

 The truth?  Where is truth found? Is it found within us? What we have learned, what our traditions have given us? What we have been able to grab a hold of to make sense of life?

 Is that life-giving truth?

 And we hear in our own fears and uncertainties, and see in the world’s strife, that truth grounded in us is a dead-end. An empty place.

 And along comes Jesus who offers us more. And we struggle. And bargain. And insist that the truth we know is the truth to be known. Because to move from even a dead-end truth is hard.

And Jesus persists. He does not give us up: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Jesus reaches out to us as the rescuing truth open to all.

For everyone. Everywhere.

The Word made flesh.

A life-giving place.