John 8:31-36

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 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?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” 

These words may sound harsh or heavy to our modern ears. We have been conditioned to see evil as a human choice, simply the result of our own selfish actions. And this is an important way to think about evil. But John’s gospel  imagines sin as a trap which all of us are caught in. Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. According to Jesus, some evil force is at work here which is beyond our understanding. 

If thinking about spiritual forces in this way feels foreign, that’s okay. Rev. Lenny Duncan offers this insight:

“In a church culture where we have become so heavily reliant on our intellectual heritage, we are unable to talk  to our children about the evil that stalks this world. But the church must be the one to draw the line. We have lost the ability to  name radical evil because somewhere along the way, we stopped believing in it.”

Rev. Lenny Duncan, Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S.

In Rev. Duncan’s book, he challenges the church to take a hard look at our racist and sexist legacies. How can we move forward without acknowledging the evil that has been perpetrated? How can we have reconciliation without redress and reparations?

Evil is present in our society. Sometimes it is even attractive. But we are called to follow the teachings of Christ, to renounce the powers of evil and turn to God daily in repentance. What evils do we need to turn from in our own lives today? What evil needs to be denounced in our world?

May the truth set us all free. Amen.