Is it really possible to be free?
Our way of looking at freedom is to be able to do what we want, whenever and wherever we want.
But life itself teaches us that this is a total lie. In fact, a lifestyle based on this mentality leads to addiction and slavery... to unfreedom.
What is the truth that Jesus is talking about?
Jesus is the Truth because His person demonstrates to us the most basic truth about our life: We are God's children. Sonship or daughtership is our very identity. Outside of it we don't find real meaning or a lasting point of reference in our life. It is the anchor that renders our life navigable.
Jesus is the Way to the Truth because by looking at Jesus, by listening to the message of Jesus, and by making Jesus' life and message the point of reference and the criteria of our life, we arrive at the truth about God, about ourselves, about the world.
Just an aside: When I was taking up my masters in theological studies, this last phrase was one of those we had to memorize. But it is only now, with the passage of time, with the variety of experiences I've had, that I have come to realize what it means.
It is the adherence to this very essential truth about God, about ourselves and about the world that will make me free. It certainly does not make life easier; rather, it makes life simpler. It strips and unmasks the falseness of many situations and dynamics of our life. It prevents us from falling into the trap of a worldliness that makes us pass on from one whim to another. It makes us naked and bereft of things or attachments we used to consider as securities, but which in reality are bondages that oppress us.
To be free is to arrive, deep down in the core of our being, at the truth that we don't need to hold on to anything because we are always held in God's loving hands.
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