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."
They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, 'You will become free'?"
Father Raymond Brown, the great American scripture scholar, author of the commentary on Saint John's Gospel in the Anchor Bible, believed the Fourth Gospel was written amid terrible tension between the emerging Christian church, probably in Ephesus, and the wealthy, well-established Jewish synagogue.
The Christians had the singular advantage of great scholars with intense devotion who created this document. But otherwise they were a poor minority and harassed by the friends, families, and associates they'd abandoned when they were baptized.
Like the synoptic gospels, John is written with an apocalyptic either/or. No one could belong to both church and synagogue; there could be no bipartisan fellowship or cooperation in worthwhile projects.
Christians described their former way of life as enslaved. They urged their Jewish critics, "A slave does not remain in a household forever..." Converts to the new religion leave the old house and find themselves living in the new house, their Father's house, which is also the house of the eternal Son of God. Their conversion has not taken them out of God's house, though it had initially seemed like that.
Because a son always remains... the Son may free you, and then you will truly be free.
This freedom is peace of mind, relief, and joy without the shackles of legal anxiety. They need not worry if they're observing the Law of God with all its commandments, rules, precepts, regulations, prohibitions, and ordinances. The Spirit of the Messiah has all the elation of Psalm 119 without the fearful worry of God's overbearing judgments.
Where Pharisaic Judaism had fallen into dread of violating taboos -- which were like mines eternally triggered to destroy the careful and careless alike -- faith in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary (who was born not long ago in the familiar town of Bethlehem), sets one free. Believers can laugh, love, give, receive, work, sleep and breathe without fear of a nitpicking deity eager to catch them in sin and send them plunging into the eternal darkness.
In fact, taboos have no place in Judaism or Christianity, but both -- now eternally separated -- will always struggle to retain the freedom of God's Spirit. They remain to challenge the other's integrity, and neither can remain faithful without hearing the other's critique. If neither wins the contest it's because neither demonstrates the freedom of God's children. Their members and their institutions are too often driven by pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. As God's blessings fall on the good and the bad, the just and unjust, so do his judgments, for no one is without sin.
During these days of Lent we search our hearts for those attitudes which blind us from seeing their evil effects and roots. We hear the Lord's pronouncement of doom, "You are doing the works of your father!" and pray it does not fall on us.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.