Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Today’s text

John 8:31-32

To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Reflection

And what truth will we know, Jesus? The truth that makes free.

That’s not how we think of truth. Truth is fearful for us. We cringe when someone says they are going to tell us the truth.

Too often, voices of truth tell us what we don’t want to know: things didn’t turn out well; the house needs expensive repair; there’s not enough money; the surgery wasn’t successful; we are sicker than we thought; someone has died.

The truth always holds threat for us. That’s the way it is for beings that are mortal and frail--and who know it.

We do not possess perfect control over what will happen to us today, let alone over other powers that affect us. We don’t control what can and does happen to our beloved, and often we can’t do a thing to help them when we most want to do so.

Even the hidden processes of our own bodies are beyond our reach. And one day they will betray us and stop our breath before we have figured out exactly how to be human.

And that’s another truth. We don’t really know. Oh, we try. We make best efforts, sometimes. But the task of becoming a human being takes a lifetime of concerted focus. And our focus wavers, and sometimes is just so easy to be less than a truly human being.

And that’s the truth.

So how can it be, my dearest Friend, that your truth sets free when so many other truths merely attest my bondage?

You don’t answer, telling me how. Your answer is where. Make your home in me, you say. Make your home in a love that knows your every bondage. Make your home here. Fear will cease; freedom will come.

Freedom comes as our souls are convinced that we rest in a love that never wavers or wanes, a love that never falters or fails, a love that will be there--knowable--on the very best and worst days of our life.

And far beyond.

So let me know this truth, dear Friend. When I know it I become almost human.

Pr. David L. Miller