Gospel in Art: Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin

Price of Gold, Photograph by Lisa Kristine, 2017 © Lisa Kristine Photography

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 29 March 2023
John 8:31-42

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.' They answered him, 'We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, "You will be made free"?'

Jesus answered them, '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 for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father's presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.'

They answered him, 'Abraham is our father.' Jesus said to them, 'If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.' They said to him, 'We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.' Jesus said to them, 'If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.

Reflection on the photograph

Our Gospel reading follows on from yesterday's reading, making more explicit references to the Old Testament, specifically to Abraham. Jesus mentions Abraham in the context of freedom and slavery. The word 'freedom' is the fashionable word these days. How often do we hear the words uttered 'I want to be free to express this…' or 'you got your freedom, I got my freedom; I got my truth, you got yours…'… But Jesus says that we have the wrong concept of freedom.

We all want to be free, in the fullest sense of the word. If the opposite of freedom is bondage and slavery, no one wants that. However, Jesus implies that we are all somehow enslaved to some bad habits or to sin. If some of these bad habits bring us temporary pleasure or make us feel good, we can even love our slavery. But when through our faith we step back from daily reality and consider happiness without that slavery, we would all want to finish with this bondage. We all ultimately aim for a simple happiness in freedom, away from any bondage or slavery. That is the slavery in our souls Jesus is talking about...

..however, there is nowadays still some real-life slavery as well. In fact, the number of people in modern slavery is actually increasing. The ILO (International Labour Organization, part of the United Nations) states that 49.6 million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, of which 27.6 million were in forced labour and 22 million in forced marriage. Of the 27.6 million people in forced labour, 17.3 million are exploited in the private sector; 6.3 million in forced commercial sexual exploitation, and 3.9 million in forced labour imposed by the state. These figures are more than triple the number of people trafficked during the entire Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Our photograph is by Lisa Kristine, an International humanitarian photographer. In many of her photographs she highlights the issues of modern-day slavery. In our photograph we see boys and men, all enslaved in illegal gold mining in Ghana. Most come from northern Ghana, hoping to striking it rich working at legal mines. When they can't get a job, they borrow money at usurious interest rates or join teams of slaves known as gangs. The gangs work in areas abandoned by big companies. They can only sell their gold to the moneylender at a price he sets. They are trapped by illegal, fictitious debt, and are often hunted by local police and private security guards for trespassing. Many of them talk about wanting to escape. Some of them believe they will become rich if they work just a little longer and harder.

Whilst slavery to sin and the slavery in our artwork are different, they share the same human desire underneath, for everyone, including us, to be freed from any slavery and be free. While, through grace, we hold it in our own hands to break away from the bondage of sin, unfortunately the people depicted in our photograph are powerless to break free from their enforced modern slavery.

We pray today for those who are being trafficked and forcibly put to work. May God be with them, protect them and set them free.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/john-8-31-42-2023/