Truth Sets Us Free
April 9, 2025 - Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
John 8:31–42
We all recall Pilate’s famous question: “What is truth?” And we know the answer: Jesus is the truth. It follows that if we remain in Jesus, we will come to know Him more fully, and He will set us free. Yet here, matters become complicated.
According to John’s Gospel, Jesus had many disciples. However, when He proclaimed that He is the bread of life and that one must eat His body and drink His blood to have eternal life, most of them departed. They could not accept His teaching and did not remain in Him. To remain in Jesus means to embrace both His person and His teachings. How do we do that? By reading the Bible. “Ignorance of scriptures is ignorance of Christ,” said St. Jerome.
This brings us to our first challenge: How many of us truly know the Bible? The term “remain” connotes an intimate relationship that can only be built over a lifetime. Like any relationship, it requires commitment, time, and effort. The more familiar we are with the Scriptures, the more deeply we come to know Jesus. So, how much time and effort are you investing in knowing Christ?
The next challenge is recognizing our own bondage. Jesus told those who believed in Him that if they remained in Him, they would be set free. They responded by claiming they had never been enslaved—a strange answer, especially considering they were subjugated by the Romans. Yet their bondage went even further: they sought to kill Jesus. This reality allows Jesus to make a profound statement about slavery and freedom: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” There are various forms of freedom, but unless we are liberated from sin, we remain its slaves.
Finally, there is one more challenge: we cannot free ourselves from the power of sin. Why? Because we are often blind to our own enslavement. We fail to recognize that our decisions, actions, and emotions are at the mercy of sin. Like the Jews of the Bible, we may pride ourselves on our freedom, but in reality, we remain slaves.
“So if the Son sets you free, then you will truly be free.” Recognizing our slavery and turning to Christ in faith is the first step on our path to freedom. The next step is to remain in Christ. When the other disciples left Jesus, He asked the twelve if they too would depart. Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”
Indeed, we have nowhere else to turn. Jesus alone offers the words of eternal life recorded in the Scriptures. He is the truth that sets us free.