THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

20160316 THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Violet.

First reading

Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28 ©

King Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods, and that you refuse to worship the golden statue I have erected? When you hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, or any other instrument, are you prepared to prostrate yourselves and worship the statue I have made? If you refuse to worship it, you must be thrown straight away into the burning fiery furnace; and where is the god who could save you from my power?’ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Your question hardly requires an answer: if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.’ These words infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar; his expression was very different now as he looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual, and commanded certain stalwarts from his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace.

  Then King Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in amazement. He said to his advisers, ‘Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, O king.’ ‘But,’ he went on ‘I can see four men walking about freely in the heart of the fire without coming to any harm. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’

  Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: he has sent his angel to rescue the servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the order of the king, and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or worship any god but their own.’

Responsorial Psalm

Daniel 3:52-56 ©

You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.

  To you glory and praise for evermore.

Blest your glorious holy name.

  To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest in the temple of your glory.

  To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.

  To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest who gaze into the depths.

  To you glory and praise for evermore.

You are blest in the firmament of heaven.

  To you glory and praise for evermore.

Gospel Acclamation

Mt4:4

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Or

cf.Lk8:15

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Blessed are those who,

with a noble and generous heart,

take the word of God to themselves

and yield a harvest through their perseverance.

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Gospel

John 8:31-42 ©

To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said:

‘If you make my word your home

you will indeed be my disciples,

you will learn the truth

and the truth will make you free.’

They answered, ‘We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

everyone who commits sin is a slave.

Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured,

but the son’s place is assured.

So if the Son makes you free,

you will be free indeed.

I know that you are descended from Abraham;

but in spite of that you want to kill me

because nothing I say has penetrated into you.

What I, for my part, speak of

is what I have seen with my Father;

but you, you put into action

the lessons learnt from your father.’

They repeated, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them:

‘If you were Abraham’s children,

you would do as Abraham did.

As it is, you want to kill me

when I tell you the truth

as I have learnt it from God;

that is not what Abraham did.

What you are doing is what your father does.’

‘We were not born of prostitution,’ they went on ‘we have one father: God.’ Jesus answered:

‘If God were your father, you would love me,

since I have come here from God;

yes, I have come from him;

not that I came because I chose,

no, I was sent, and by him.’

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42

Freedom is intrinsic to humanity.  We all want to be free.  The world seeks freedom from domination and slavery.  Yet the irony today is that the freedom that is being sought is not freedom but slavery.  In the name of freedom, what they are promoting is lawlessness.  Freedom does not mean that we can do what we like.  Freedom does not mean that we sin as much as we like.  This is not freedom.  Rather, when sin has control over us, it compels us to do what it wants us to do.   We lose our freedom to our passions, our greed, anger, lust, envy, pride and gluttony.  When someone has no control over his passions, he cannot be said to be free but a slave to sin.  This was what Jesus told the Jews, “I tell you most solemnly, everyone who commits sin is a slave.”

Besides being slave to our sins we can also be slave to traditions and inheritance.  The Jews were so proud that they had Abraham as their father.   Based on their race and the fact that they were descendants of Abraham, they felt that they were justified before God.  They answered Jesus: “We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, ‘You will be made free’?”  Indeed, that is how many of us Catholics live our lives.  We do not live the gospel but think that just by being Catholic, we are saved.  Just because of inheritance or by belonging to a certain race or church is no guarantee that we are saved unless we share the faith.

So what is true freedom?  It is when we no longer live in fear of death, of what others say about us, and of ourselves.  True freedom means that we can live our lives in love and service, even to the extent of dying for others.   A person who has overcome the need for freedom from freedom itself is truly free.  This was the case of the three men in the first reading.  They were not fearful of the King or even of imprisonment or execution by being burnt to death in the fiery furnace.  They were only fearful of God and trusted that God would rescue them.  They told the King, “if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.”  This is the irony of life.  Those of us who live in so called democratic countries and are supposedly free, live as slaves of people’s opinions, of anti-life culture and of our sins.  Jesus, although a prisoner of Pilate, acted like a free man as He was fearless even when threatened with death. He remained free when mocked and scourged.

So a person is truly free when he is free for the service of God.  This is what the Lord meant when He said, “Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured, but the son’s place is assured. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  As God’s son, we belong to Him.  We have a permanent place in the heart of God.  But if we behave as slaves of sin, then we need to ask as Jesus asked them, who our father is.  He told the Jews, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did. As it is, you want to kill me when I tell you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is not what Abraham did. What you are doing is what your father does…If God were your father, you would love me, since I have come here from God; yes, I have come from him; not that I came because I chose, no, I was sent, and by him.”  So the question we have to ask is, whether God is truly our Father.  If He were our Father, then we would not be like the Jews who did not follow Abraham in doing God’s will.  We would listen to the voice of the heavenly Father in and through Jesus.

How can we find true freedom today if not in Jesus?  “To the Jews who believed in Him, Jesus said: ‘If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free’.”   If we were to seek freedom, we must first believe in Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Faith in Jesus entails that we are ready to listen to Him through the Word of God.   Without allowing the Word of God to take root in our hearts and to read with faith and love, then His word would have no home in us.  The real sadness among many Catholics is that many of us do not read and pray over the scriptures daily.  We like to be involved in Church ministry, and talk about God and theology, but we do not spend time every day to soak ourselves in the Word of God.  Without a keen listening to the Word, no one can grow in faith and knowledge of the truth.

Of course, discipleship is more than just listening to the Word of God.  It is about acting on what we have heard and read.  It means an active listening of the Word and then putting it into practice.  Are our life’s decisions, the values that we have and choices that we make, whether with regard to entertainment, information, work, business, etc, dictated by the bible, or are our choices influenced by the mass media and what the world is advocating?  Unfortunately many of us only profess in name that we are Catholic but we put the Church to shame when we advocate values that are totally against the teachings of scripture and the Church. How could we call ourselves disciples of Christ if what we say, think and do are not in union with Jesus’ mind and heart but according to our own views and preferences?

The three young men put us all to shame in the way they lived out their faith.  They were both figuratively and literally not burnt by the fire because their hearts and conscience were already purified.  Only those who are burnt here and now; and will be burnt upon death in hell are those whose conscience is not at peace.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were true to their conscience and to themselves.  This was because they were true to God in the first place.  They also did not want to deceive the King in pretending to worship the statues created by him.  That is why the king was impressed by them and found faith even in their God.  He exclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: he has sent his angel to rescue the servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the order of the king, and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or worship any god but their own.”

How many of us would stand up for our faith the way the three men did and bring glory to the Lord?  How many of us are afraid to take a stand for Christ among our friends because we do not want to lose our popularity?  How many of us would rather compromise our faith and values at work because we want to get on in the world or are fearful of being persecuted? In many ways, we still kill Jesus today because of our betrayal in the way we live our faith.  As a consequence, we have not only misled others but we have become counter-witnesses to our belief.  The Church is not credible because we have too many Catholics who are not disciples but simply nominal Catholics who stand on the sidelines, one foot in the Church and the other foot in the world.  Until the day when our Catholics imbue themselves with the Word of God and let that become the light of their lives, the Church continues to suffer credibility in the eyes of the world.  Could we say with the psalmist, “You are blest, Lord God of our fathers. To you glory and praise for evermore” by our lives and our words?

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved