To Know the Truth is Freedom (Wednesday, Lent 5)

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In Daniel 3:14-20.24-25.28, we have the famous story of the three Hebrew wise men (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) who were thrown into a burning furnace by a Babylonian king (Nebuchadnezzar) because they sided with the truth. Those Hebrew men were strongly and unshakably convinced that the God of Israel is the only God and only Him must they bow down to. Nebuchadnezzar was infuriated by this truth; and swiftly sprang into action, just to quench the light of the truth. Those brave Hebrew men were strongly bound hands and feet and hurled into the burning furnace. But instead of seeing them burn and roast in the mighty fire, the King, to his greatest dismay, saw them freely walking around in the midst of the blazing furnace. They were no longer three but four, and the appearance of the fourth man was like “a son of the gods”. In this story, we see the LIBERATING POWER of Truth.


At those last moments of His earthly sojourn, Jesus continued to say it aloud to the hearing of the Jews who had believed in Him that “If they continued in His word, they are truly His disciples, they will know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH will make them FREE” (cf. Jn. 8:31ff). Jesus is the Truth. To believe in Jesus is to believe that all of His actions and words are true. Not just believing with our hearts and professing with our lips, but allowing what we believe and profess to reflect in our actions and inactions. That’s the only time we can be said to have been liberated by the Truth. 


Many of us are pinned down by destructive habits. A greater number of us have been massively hoodwinked and incarcerated by the lies of the world, the vicious demands of the flesh, the unruly pomposity of the ego and the sly deceptions of the devil. In our “comfort” zones, we may appear to be free; but that is a false sense of freedom. True freedom can only be achieved when we begin to pay a more serious and active attention to Jesus, and allow His words and actions to inform and form us. “If we continue in His word, we shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall set us free” (cf. Jn. 8:31-32).      


Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help us to be ever attentive to You and may our commitment to the truth reflect in our words, deeds, omissions and thoughts, Amen.


Have a fruitful Lenten journey!



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