If you continue in my word...

John 8: 31-59

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

Freedom is high on most people’s agenda. Jesus said in His sermon in Nazareth at the beginning of His public life that the priority of His life was to bring freedom to those deprived of it. So far so good, our agenda and that of Jesus appear to be the same. So what’s the difficulty?  We appear to have an aversion to the means of our freedom namely hearing the words of Jesus and putting them into practice. We have a tendency to find all sorts of reasons for why it’s impractical to take the words of Jesus seriously. That’s why we need so many theologies and doctrines; they are invented to get us round the demands of obedience to the word of God, Jesus. Denominations and cults of all sorts emphasise what they consider the truth to be and entrap us all in roles and positions based in an addictive way of thinking that justifies ourselves and condemns others who disagree with us.  In our story today some people claimed that they followed a historical figure Abraham and to them that meant they were right to reject Jesus and His teachings. We do the same today, we often hear people claim: ‘I’m a Baptist, a Presbyterian, Brethren, an Evangelical, a Catholic or an Anglican’ and we retreat behind these labels as a security against our perceived threat of each other and the world around us. The Truth about Jesus is much older than any of our conceptions of His Truth. Jesus Truth existed before Abraham. Jesus teaching and practices are eternal and therefore inclusive and liberating. Freedom; physical, social, psychological and environmental freedom is a process of participation in the transforming power of hearing, accepting, applying and continuing in the eternal words and practices of Jesus. This is the Truth that sets us free.