31 Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you
continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the
truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They answered him, "We
are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is
it that you say, `You will be made free'?" 34 Jesus answered them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin.
35 The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for
ever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that
you are descendants of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds
no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what
you have heard from your father." 39 They answered him, "Abraham is
our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you
would do what Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told
you the truth which I heard from God; this is not what Abraham did. 41 You do
what your father did." They said to him, "We were not born of
fornication; we have one Father, even God." 42 Jesus said to them,
"If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came
forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What will happen to us if we give space for the words of Jesus in our
hearts? Of course we will start to build a special relationship with Jesus. We
will start to trust Jesus more than we trust ourselves and we will also become
averse to sin.
In our first reading, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted more
on their faith in God than obey the command of the king. They were being
forced by king Nebuchadnezzar to worship his own God. But until the end the
three did not follow the king’s order so they were thrown into the fiery
furnace yet they were not hurt because God was with them.
This is what will happen to us also if we faithfully follow Jesus, yes
there would be instances of persecution. But if we remain faithful then our
being persecuted is nothing compared to the glory that awaits us. If there’s
glory for those who would remain faithful, why are we not faithful to Jesus?
Why do we easily betray Him for the fleeting and sinful pleasures of this
world?
This is so for the simple reason that we allow ourselves to succumb to
the inducement of the devil. That’s how plain and simple it is, we give up
Jesus for this world because we love this world more than we love Jesus.
As we approach the holiest of weeks let us reflect on how many times
have we given up Jesus for the sinful pleasures of this world. And what have we
gained for giving up Jesus for this world? Nothing except the continuous
pilling up of emptiness and problems disguised as hedonistic pleasures. – Marino
J. Dasmarinas
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