The Truth Will Make You Free

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about the gospel which is appointed for Reformation Sunday. It is the gospel that says: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (Jn. 8:32).

Anthony de Mello, SJ shares a marvelous story about a camel trader who was traveling through the desert. This camel trader and his party stopped for the night and discovered that they had 20 camels, but only 19 pegs to which to tie the camels.

One of the slaves came to his master and asked him what to do about this, and his master said, "Don't worry about it. Camels are stupid animals. Just go through the motions of tying up the camel, and he'll stay there all night." So the slave went through the motions, pretending to tie the camel to a peg, and the camel just stood there all night.

The next morning when they set out to travel again, all of the camels except this one were ready to go. This camel refused to budge. The master said, "Oh! You forgot to untie him!" The slave said, "Oh, yes!" and went through the motions of untying the camel, and then the camel was ready to go.

According to de Mello, this is a picture of the human condition. We are tied to things that are not there - bound by illusions that we choose to hold on to. So? what are some of these illusions?

One example would be the belief that we must never look as if we are growing older. One author (Becker) refers to this as "the denial of death." We go to great lengths to hide our age and to deny the fact that we are getting older or might even die one day. Yet, the truth is that all of us are getting older, and there is a 100% chance that we will die at the end of our lives.

Another example would be the belief that we must do certain things or act a certain way in order to earn God's approval. So many people are caught in trying to live up to this image which they always fail to attain. However, the truth is that God loves us even while we are still sinners (Rom. 5:8). God has taken our sinfulness and has put it out of his sight, covering it over with the righteousness of Christ. God continues to love us and to nurture us, even as we struggle to "grow up" into Christ. God has made us saints even though we continue to be sinners.

One final example of a dearly held illusion is the one that says that we are strong and good and never need help from anybody. We tend to ignore the truth that was discovered by the apostle Paul - that God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Sometimes it is when we are the weakest that we really see God's power at work. In fact, the most powerful act recorded in the Scriptures happened when Jesus became weak and vulnerable and exposed upon the cross. No wonder Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15) and is with us in our suffering!

One more story from de Mello: A man went to the teacher and said that he was seeking freedom. The teacher said to him, "Go and find out who has bound you." The man went away and thought about it for a while. After about a week he came back to the teacher and said, "Nobody has bound me." Replied the teacher, "Then what do you want freedom for?" And in that moment the man's eyes were opened, and he was free.

In Christ,

Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore