Slices
Prepare
Come to your heavenly Father to confess your sin: ‘According to your unfailing love … Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin’ (Psalm 51:1,2).
Bible passage
Dispute over whose children Jesus’ opponents are
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’
33 They answered him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?’
34 Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.’
39 ‘Abraham is our father,’ they answered.
‘If you were Abraham’s children,’ said Jesus, ‘then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.’
‘We are not illegitimate children,’ they protested. ‘The only Father we have is God himself.’
Explore
Jesus’ claim that following his teaching leads to truth and that this can set us free (v 32), has never been more relevant. When ‘fake news’ conspiracy theories and ‘deep fake’ photos and video clips abound then our view of the world becomes distorted: we don’t know what is true or who to trust. We may not even be aware that we are trapped, ‘slaves’ to the lie.
The lie that Jesus exposes here is the one that convinces us that family or cultural affiliation makes us right with God. The Jews thought that, as descendants of Abraham, they were automatically God’s children (vs 33,39). In the same way people now might assume they are Christian because their parents were, or they grew up in a ‘Christian’ country. Belonging to God’s family is not passed down in DNA, in cultural institutions nor even in attending church regularly.
To dispel the lie, we must accept the uncomfortable truth (v 34). Our thoughts and attitudes to Jesus (vs 37,40) show where we truly are. The Jews couldn’t free themselves, and neither can we. Only Jesus can set us free (v 36).
Respond
Thank God for your freedom from sin, and for the gift of his Spirit within you, assuring you that you are truly his child (see Romans 8:14–16).
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 29,30; Luke 23
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that young people and their leaders who joined the central region on their Faith Guide holiday at the ‘Dreaming the Impossible’ event will go back to their Faith Guide groups inspired to go deeper in their journey of discipleship.
