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.
John 8:32
Day 36: Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent – John 8:32
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.
Additional Reading(s) today: Dan. 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; Jn 8:31-42
Today’s Lenten Reflection
Let’s face it, the truth is often scary. More often than not, it is scary because we either do not understand it or the acknowledgement of it is not only intimidating but calls for action. It cuts to the heart of a matter and exposes the innermost reality of a thing. It will make us feel vulnerable, realizing the areas that need to be changed in light of this truth. In today’s Gospel message, Jesus promises that His Word can give us the truth that will set us free. This sounds wonderful (and what a gift it is!), but we know all too well that Biblical truth — God’s truth — is not for the faint of heart. Like the childhood game of “truth or dare,” we often prefer to choose something, anything!, other than truth … something less real and complicated, something that doesn’t cost us so much. But spiritual freedom, like all freedom, always comes at a price. Just as with our forefathers, we will not get to skate on by in this life. To the contrary, we will be challenged by truth to sit with the reality of who we are, what we have done, where we need forgiveness and redemption, what we need to do about it, and how to align and live out our lives more fully with the Gospel message and its commands. The truth is, we must continually revisit these questions, search for the Truth, and take action. As scary as the proposition to follow Him — to follow Truth — may seem, it is a “dare” one hundred percent worth taking.
Day 36 Lenten Meditation
Think of some of the greatest “truth-tellers” of our day. People who spoke the truth at the risk of their own comfort and safety, and in the face of persecution, imprisonment, even death. And they did it all without bitterness or hatred, even though they had every wordly reason to hate. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Amen! What is the truth you must speak? Can you speak truth without hatred in your heart, rather with courage and love? It is okay to “do it afraid” so long as you stand with Jesus and in His truth.
Lenten Prayer
Most merciful Father, please forgive us for the times that we have shy’d away from Your truth. We want to live by it, dear Jesus, but our human tendency to protect ourselves and choose the easier path often gets in the way. Deepen our trust so that we may walk by Your truth without fear and carry out Your holy will. Amen.
Today’s suggested penance
*Instruct the ignorant with God’s truth, peacefully and with patience and love.
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'” –Martin Luther King, Jr.
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