Fr. Ryan Lerner, Chaplain
The alarm went off at 4 a.m. I knew it was coming, but still, it felt like a shock to the system. Rolling out of bed in the dark, layering up like it was still the dead of January, I braced myself for a pre-dawn run on this unseasonably cold April morning. I stepped out the door and waited—half-shivering—for my watch to sync with a satellite. After a few seconds, which felt like a bitter cold eternity, I took those first few strides. It felt like my muscles, my lungs—my whole body—questioned why we were doing this.
Somewhere between the first and second mile, I woke up—fully—and settled in. My body warmed, my mind cleared, and I felt that quiet freedom that comes when it seems like the rest of the world is still asleep. Even the birds, maybe just as shocked as I was by the cold, resiliently greeted the dawn and began to sing. Daffodils held their heads high, and the cherry blossoms seemed to insist on blooming anyway. On my way back, I passed student-athletes bundled up and headed to Payne Whitney, and neighbors who likely spent the night on the streets, walking just to keep warm. All of us, each in our own way, were experiencing a collective shock to the system.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to “those who believed in him” with words that likely shocked them, too: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin… If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
These were people who had already begun to believe—and yet Jesus confronts them with a deeper truth, one that probably shook their systems of belief, life, and sense of control. The truth Jesus offers unsettles—like the cold air at dawn, like the alarm that wakes us up before we feel ready. But it also stirs something new: freedom, clarity, and grace.
If we have been truly engaging the Lenten discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, there are probably times when it has felt like a shock to the system. As this sacred season draws to a close, may the truth Jesus reveals shake and wake us up. What habits, assumptions, or patterns of behavior are keeping us captive without us realizing it? What needs to be exposed to the cold light of truth so we can finally start to run freer?
Even if it comes as a shock to the system, Jesus promises that remaining in His word and embracing His truth leads to the freedom for which we have been created.
