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Morning Devotion for the Season After Pentecost

September 6, 2023

Paul Jones

The Invitatory

The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: O come, let us adore him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: John 8:31-36

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.” The opening sentence of Rousseau’s The Social Contract summarizes his philosophical system. The Social Contract defines natural man as being free and happy and living in the forest. Man went from this state of autonomy to the modern condition, dominated by inequality, dependency, violence and unhappiness. There were positive aspects to this process: the creation of families, the discovery of tools and technology, and the building of cities and social organizations. Unfortunately, this also led to the "right of the strongest", where inequality destroys man's original state of happiness and freedom. Humanity becomes alienated, ending in general war.

The Social Contract is an attempt to develop a solution to this problem. For Rousseau, because of man's "perfectibility", the passage from a natural state to a social one is both an accident and necessary. Men are programmed to create and progress from one condition to the next.

Men can associate themselves with others while maintaining their own individual freedom inside a social and political organization. The concept "general will" is a form of association in which an individual alienates himself completely to the general will, regaining his freedom in a political form. Rousseau believed that in the general will, the alienation of man would transform itself into freedom.

Jesus offers us freedom in a series of “If” …”then” sentences.

If you continue in my word, [then]:

you are truly my disciples

you will know the truth

the truth will make you free

Only those who have a relationship with Jesus, “dwelling in” him is the true measure of discipleship. It separates people who are really free from those who appear to be

What Is This “Truth”? Truth does not refer to a philosophical ideal or the opposite of falsehood; it is knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus. Knowing this “truth” is knowing God, made present in Jesus.

We live in an era in which we have come to understand that claims about truth are rooted in our context and invariably contested. It is interesting that Jesus does not present himself as a self-evident truth. That is, he does not expect his followers to grasp the fullness of his claim all at once or to assess its validity through logic or research. They will come to know him as “the truth” if they remain connected to him and his word.

What Is This “Freedom”?

The people are enslaved to sin. Jesus teaches that only he can ensure true freedom from sin. The banal repetition of “freedom” in American political rhetoric makes it difficult to distinguish among various kinds of freedoms. Nothing in this passage envisions modern concepts of personal liberties. In our lives we seek reassurance that we are, or should be, free from any constraints. We aspire to self-realization, self-actualization, and self-sufficiency. We perpetuate myths that we are at the mercy of no forces that we cannot control. These are not necessarily the same thing as “sin,” but they indicate ways in which we misunderstand the Christ event. Through the resurrection Christ alone brings true freedom from sin. Jesus does not announce new dogma or new confessions to which one must subscribe. He demands an encounter with himself. One must dwell with him and with his word.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.