The Wednesday after Cantate Sunday
Posted on May 21, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. John 8:21-36 (NKJV)
8:21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
22 So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” 23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
25 Then they said to Him, “Who are You?”
And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.”
27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.
28 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” 30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Devotion
To “abide” is to remain faithful and constant. It is to remain fixed in place, unmovable from adherence to the Word of Jesus. Sometimes people briefly or temporarily believe the Word of Christ, but then let other things draw them away from the Word as the touchstone of their existence. If they “abide,” they will truly be disciples. Therefore, they will “know the truth.”
To know something is more than intellectual assent. To know something is to take knowledge, absorb it, and reflect upon it. It is to feel it, to intuit it, to have it become one’s impulse and ground of other knowledge. To know is to be shaped and formed by something. The knowledge becomes part of you. And when that knowledge is of the One who is the Truth, He leads you into all truth; that is, He leads you to reality and clarity. You can truly live outside the power of falsehood and lies. You can be free of the darkness of this world. Only Jesus, our Truth, can do that for us. All foundations that are not built on this Truth will crumble.
Collect: O God, Who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will: Grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest, and desire what Thou dost promise; that, among the manifold changes of this world, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
