I’m always a bit cautious with the big words that we so often use in church – I mean words like grace, salvation, hope, love, redemption, transformation… They are the big guns of theology, and I usually try to avoid them. Big concepts are much better understood in the disguise of a story than in their naked, abstract form. We may compare these giant spiritual concepts to a balloon filled with gas. If you don’t hold on to it with a firm grip, it’s up in the air and gone. And maybe none of these words are meant for us to hold onto, but rather for us to look up to.
As it is, the gospel for Reformation Sunday is dominated by two such giant words, both of them very familiar to us. We know them as the pillars of American identity, as the founding principles of the Reformation, and as ideals celebrated in many popular movies. Oh, and despite this impressive resume, these words are under attack as we speak. The words are truth and freedom.
So, let us tackle this gospel passage bravely. In John 8, Jesus says “If you continue in my word, the truth will set you free.” Sounds wonderful! Sounds promising and hopeful, if you ask me! But from the perspective of 21st century people and with the brutal honesty of Lutherans, we may want to ask Jesus a few questions before we get deeper into it. We may want to ask Jesus: Lord, did you ever meet people who spin the truth 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 300 degrees, in whichever direction they want to, in order to make their pre-meditated point? Did you ever make the acquaintance of folks who were so convinced of their cause that they actually believed their own lies, without ever noticing it? … And did we tell you that your own words have become the stated motto of one of the biggest covert organizations in the world? We may also want to ask Jesus: Do you remember what Pilate asked you on the day when he succumbed to the pressure of the populace, and condemned you to death by crucifixion? He asked you, “What is truth?” And you didn’t answer. You didn’t say a word in response. Why?
In fact, Jesus teaches us something important in this iconic, awkward encounter with Pilate. Sometimes there is more truth in silence than in words…
Sometimes there are simply no human words to express the truth…
And most of the time, let’s be honest, we have to rescue the truth from underneath the rubble of human sinfulness. If we really want to understand truth, we must better understand humans and their deceitfulness. (Maybe that’s something Jesus didn’t want to bring up in the presence of Pilate. No need to make him angry.)
What is truth in the year 2018?
Let’s take a look… I would say truth is in trouble, frankly. It’s been dragged through the mud of human self-interest, pushed around by partisan fervor, dressed up and manipulated to the point that it feels almost broken. If you ask me, truth should be included on the national registry for endangered species! And yet, despite the depressing state of truthfulness these days, I believe we need not despair. Truth is so big a concept, so sacred a good, so intrinsically spiritual, that it can never be destroyed and be hidden only for so long. It will always come back. What did Jesus say? “If you continue in my word you will be my disciples, and the truth will set you free!”
Of course, we must understand, that’s a big “if” Jesus is proposing here. Because, who has the gumption and discipline to continue in Jesus’ word, a word that is full of inconvenient questions, a word that calls us to deny ourselves and kill our own little lies, a word that invites us to become fully human, without the outer shell of righteousness or the need to control our own narrative or to defend ourselves? Who is willing to go on such a bold spiritual journey and be free?
This is the truth… Our Lord’s words imply that we are not really free, that our freedom is badly compromised at the very least. The good people he spoke to took offense at that. They disagreed, they balked, they resisted the presumption of guilt. “We are Abraham’s children and nobody’s slave. What are you talking about?” A typical human response. Don’t we have the same chip on our shoulders? When we say in the Confession, “we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves,” do we really believe that and mean it or do we just half-heartedly say it, safely sheltered in the anonymous choir of all sinners? Jesus says it’s true and if you admit it and begin to understand yourself on a deeper level, it will set you free. Modern psychology says it’s true, making the same point in secular terminology. It takes enormous honesty and maturity for anyone to admit being stuck, being limited, or relying on a certain self-image that is not the real YOU. Figuring that out and admitting it never comes easy. But it has a reward. Jesus says, “The truth will set you free.” It will open up life for you in a new way. And by the way, isn’t it a beautiful promise for all of us wrestling with that mysterious Word of God, that continuing in his word will lead us to the truth and will set us free?
You are still wondering whether Jesus is a bit radical here? We are not really in trouble, right?
Let me ask you this: would we have as many therapists and counselors as we currently do if we were as free a people as we think we are? And is it not the task of the counselor or therapist to help the client naming their own little prisons in order to find a way out? Isn’t that why people go in the first place? There are more than a few little prisons in the human soul and Jesus invites us to get rid of them. Many of them are created by good intentions. A therapist recently shared his experiences in an article in Psychology Today, and it sounded very familiar to my ears.
“Every week during a group counseling session I facilitate, people go around and check-in about their current thoughts and feelings. What I’ve been noticing since I started is not something so different from what happens outside of therapy, which is that people will say what they think you want to hear. When going around the group, I will hear people describe their current hardships for several minutes and then finish their check-in with “but, other than that, I’m ok.”
We’ve all been guilty of doing this type of thing. In one sentence, we rationalize, accommodate, and negate all of our previous experiences. We go on for 5 minutes describing all our troubles and then negate it with a simple ‘but I’m ok.’”
By the way, it’s something I have done myself only a thousand times! You know what, we want to be kind to the people who listen to us. But naming our troubles and allowing God to transform them is the invitation of the gospel. Actually, all of our little prisons, all of our hardships, challenges, inconsistencies, brokenness, whatever we want to call the hurdles that make one’s life tough as nails, that’s our way to freedom. If I thought there was an easier way for you or for me, I would tell you, but there isn’t. The road to freedom always leads through the crosses of our own lives, whatever they are. I wish you God’s blessing on your own, unique journey and I hope that you will always feel that, as different as your problems may be from mine or from your neighbor’s in the pew, we are all on this journey together, and the truth will set us free. Amen.