Wednesday in the Fifth Week

Daniel 3:14-20, 24-28; Prayer of Azariah, 29-34; John 8:31-42

Note: Today is the feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to Mary.  I REALLY love her, but I want to stay in Lent.  Readings for the feast are Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 40:5-11; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38.)

(And another note: Elizabeth and I will be leading a retreat on Mary’s story December 18-20 at Holy Cross Monastery.  Come spend some time with her, and with us.)

Mary’s astonishing faith and courage not only led her to give birth to Jesus, they became a model for him as he grew.  He has learned that the truth is more important than comfort.  He faced questions and insults about his birth all his life, and standing up to the village taunts gave him a strong center.  Now he’s in Jerusalem, and he’s being downright insulting to those who think they know what’s what.  He tells them they are slaves.  In parts of the passage we don’t read, he calls them children of the devil.  Again, John is on a rant.  But he’s onto something too.

When Jesus says, “the truth shall make you free,” his interlocutors respond that they have never been slaves to anyone.  As they say this, Roman soldiers surround the Temple and occupy the land.  The leadership has become so used to this state of affairs that they no longer notice.  Some of them may well see the Romans as protectors.  Later, as they plot to kill Jesus, part of the reason is fear of what the Romans will do if the Jesus movement gets out of hand.  They may not be slaves in an individual, legal, sense, but neither are they free.  And they don’t even notice.

I think this is what enslavement to sin often looks like.  I relate to this as someone who’s been addicted to a variety of substances, who’s had to get help to become free.  I’ve learned that my mind is bound as much as my body.  I have told myself lies - that I could quit anytime, that it’s just this once, that I’ll stop tomorrow - so that I wouldn’t notice that today, right now, I’m powerless.  And it’s not just substances that can catch us in this way.  Harmful relationships, enabling other people’s addictions, going along for fear of rejection, overworking to the exclusion of other parts of life, tolerating abuse or violence directed at ourselves or others - all these are forms of slavery.  Avoiding that awareness keeps us “occupied,” colonized.  We kill the parts of ourselves that might speak the truth because we are afraid of following through on what the truth counsels.

Can you, as we move toward Holy Week, face what enslaves you?  Can you use that word?  What happens when you say, “I don’t just like to shop; I need to shop to feel loved or . .  .”?  What happens when you read this?  What part of you wants to say, “We have never been slaves to anyone”?  What part of you wants to stop reading?

We cannot let God transform what we will not confront.  The truth does make us free, in the same way that dying leads to resurrection.  Can you drink from this cup?