John 8:31-36 (Reformation)
St. John’s Lutheran, Galveston, Texas
Rev. Alan Taylor
 
+ In Nomine Jesu +
 
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
This morning’s Gospel reading addresses two very important topics as they relate to the Christian faith, namely truth and freedom. Of course, as Christians, the foundation of everything we believe, and everything we teach and confess, is the Word of God. God’s word IS Truth. As Jesus said, “My word is truth.”

Already, we are confronted with a radical concept, since, in our current context we are lead to believe that there really is no such thing as objective, or as absolute truth. Truth, we are told, is ever changing. More importantly, it is viewed as subjective, that is, it is shaped by individual opinion according to circumstances and according to preferred outcomes. Consequently, it isn’t uncommon today to hear people refer to truth as “your truth,” or “my truth.”
 
In the reading for this morning from John 8, we get a quick indication of what happens when God’s word is ignored, or when it isn’t seen for what it is, namely the only source of absolute truth. Jesus is speaking here to a group of Pharisees. These were the same Pharisees who had earlier brought a woman to Him who had been caught in adultery. They brought the woman to Jesus because they wanted Him to condemn her and to order the crowd to stone her to death. He said them, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Clearly, the Pharisees didn’t understand what the freedom was that Jesus was talking about, because “they answered Him, saying, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
 
Viewing themselves outside of the word of truth, these Pharisees saw the woman who had been caught in adultery as a sinner, a person deserving of death, but they didn’t see themselves in the same way. In fact, they didn’t see themselves as sinners at all, and therefore, they didn’t see themselves as being “enslaved by sin.”
 
Because sin blinds us even to it’s very existence, particularly in ourselves, we are often not even aware that we are enslaved by it. We are, you might say, blissfully ignorant of our condition. And so, the word of truth begins it’s work of setting us free from sin, first by showing us that we are, in fact, enslaved to sin and that we do need to be set free from the terrible consequence of our sin and it’s bondage. To be enslaved by sin, after all, means that we are alienated from God. More than that, it means we are enemies of God. Therefore, as long as we are enslaved by sin, we are destined for condemnation and eternal torment.  
 
So, God’s word of truth begins it’s work of setting us free from our bondage to sin by showing us that, we are, in fact, enslaved by it. But, of course, there is more to God’s word of than condemnation. Jesus promises you here in John 8 that the truth will set you free. The question is, how does it do that? Is it simply a matter of you knowing the right answers to certain questions? Is it a matter of you identifying your sin so you can conquer it, perhaps even atone for it, or make restitution for it? Or, is it a matter of you being right, when everyone who doesn’t believe what God says in the Bible is wrong?
 
Well, certainly there is no deliverance from sin simply because one person may be right on a given issue while another person is wrong. Nor is there deliverance from sin simply because you know your are enslaved by it. God’s word sets you free because it gives you Jesus, the Son of the Living God. As He says here in John 8, “If the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.” It is Jesus who lifts the guilt and the burden of sin off your shoulders. It is Jesus who breaks the chains of bondage, who sets the prisoners free. But, beyond that, beyond what Jesus TAKES from you, that is, your sin and guilt, is what He GIVES you, namely His own holiness and righteousness.
 
Let me ask you a question. This is a rhetorical question so, there’s no need to tell me, or even the person sitting next to you your answer. Actually, this is more of an exercise than a question. Take a moment, if you will, and think of a person that you would say is the most vile sinner to ever walk the face of the earth. The person can be from the past or from the present. And you don’t need to know them personally. So, who is that person? Again, the most vile sinner you can think of, past or present?
 
Of course, I don’t know who the person is you thought of in that little exercise. Nor do I need to know. I suspect though that some of you thought of yourself, perhaps echoing William McComb’s hymn, “Chief of Sinners Though I Be.” Some of you may have thought of someone from the past, a notorious villain perhaps, like Adolph Hitler, or Jack the Ripper, or the like. Some of you, I’m sure, thought of someone else altogether. The truth is though, there is only one person who fits the bill perfectly, a person who was the most despicable, the most vile, the most repugnant sinner to ever walk the face of the earth. And that person is none other than your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Why? Well, because “God made Him who knew no sin TO BE SIN.”
 
“The truth, Jesus said, will set you free.” “(Jesus) was despised and rejected by men (says the Prophet Isaiah), a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the Lord has laid on Him THE INIQUITY OF US ALL.”
 
Jesus came into the world to save the world from sin and death, therefore, He did not simply become a sinner, rather, He became THE SINNER, the One who bore the iniquity, the sins of US ALL. And so, it’s true, the most despicable, the most vile, the most repugnant sinner, to ever walk the face of the earth, was none other than Jesus Christ. And, having born the guilt and the condemnation of the world’s sin in His body on the cross, He has set YOU FREE from the damnation that sin brings. “And, if the Son sets you free, (He says) you are free indeed.”
 
It’s all about the word of truth, isn’t it? The truth sets you free FROM sin and death. But it also sets you free TO something, namely the purity, the holiness and the righteousness of Jesus. There is, you see, another truth regarding Jesus. While He was the most despicable, the most vile, the most repugnant sinner to ever walk the face of the earth, He was and is also the most holy, the most righteous, the only sinless man to ever walk the face of the earth.
 
 
As such, your life in Christ is not characterized simply by God forgiving you in Jesus, although that is a huge part of your life. No, your life in Christ is also characterized by the holiness and purity of Jesus being credited to your account. And so, that passage I referred to a moment ago from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians not only says, “God made Him who knew no sin TO BE SIN.” It also says, “that you might be the righteousness of God IN HIM.”
 
“If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” Your sin has become Jesus’  sin, and His righteousness has become your righteousness. The most holy, the most righteous, the only sinless man to ever walk the face of the earth became the most vile, the most repugnant sinner, to ever walk the face of the earth in order to set you free from sin and death. And so, “if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.”
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
 
+ Soli Deo Gloria +