No Room Among You

“’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?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. I know that you are descendents of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me because my word has no room among you.’”  (John 8:31-34, 37)

How often are we like the Jews in today’s gospel? We allow our pride and self-righteous attitude to blind us to the truth. We close ourselves off from God, allowing no room for His Word in our lives. Many years ago I had a friend who I really enjoyed being around. Another friend and mentor tried to warn me about this person and tried to make me see that nothing good could come out of this relationship because he knew this person much better than I did and had witnessed him wounding many others. But I wouldn’t listen. I knew that our friendship was different and that there was nothing wrong with it. I refused to allow room for the truth. My friend and mentor was trying to protect me out of love but I foolishly thought he was wrong and maybe even a little jealous. How foolish I was.

Jesus was crucified because of the hardness of their hearts. They didn’t want someone to tell them what to do; to point out the errors of their ways. They didn’t want to be reminded of their own sinfulness. They wanted to keep on condemning those around them. “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own but he sent me.” (John 8:42) The Jews preached that God was their Father but it was all lip service, their actions revealed what was in their hearts. In order to be disciples we have to be willing to put aside our own agenda and surrender to the will of God.

Because of sin, man has “lost its capacity to find and follow freely without effort, the light of truth. Instead, he has to walk haltingly, groping for light as in the dark, faced with a thousand and one possibilities of falling into error.” ~ Fr. M. M. Philipon, O.P.  It takes a conscious effort on our part to follow in the Lord’s steps and walk in his truth and there is no way we can do it on our own. We need to make room for God in our lives so that he can lead us to the Truth and truly set us free.