21st Sunday of Year B
✠ A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 6:60-69
Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.
The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.
And he said, “For this reason, I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
1. The three readings of this Sunday focus on making clear choices about our relationship with God. In the first reading, the last chapter of the book of Joshua, (24:1-2,15-18), the people were asked by Joshua to declare their stand on which God they want to serve. “Choose for yourself the god you want to serve. As for me and my family, we shall serve the Lord.” It was a call to renew the covenant with God after the arrival and settlement in the promised land. For Joshua, nobody should be forced to serve God. It has to be a choice. Like Joshua, the people chose to serve God and obey his precepts. In the gospel, the same theme comes up again. The long discourse of John chapter six on the body of Jesus as bread of life ends with most of the disciples rejecting Jesus and his teaching. They described his teaching on his body as the food of life as an intolerable doctrine. Jesus must have felt like a failure. Looking around him, he could find only the twelve and like Joshua, he asked them to make a clear choice, to declare their stand: “What about you, are you also going away like others? What I have told you is the truth, and I cannot withdraw it even if all of you want to leave.”
2. The attitude of Jesus to the disappointing experience goes to show the reality of the Eucharist as the true body and blood of Christ. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus fed five thousand people through the miracle of the multiplication of loaves. Thousands followed him. At the end of the chapter, having given his teaching, the crowd evaporated but he maintained his ground.
3. Instead of recanting he rather went further to explain that his teaching was not carnal but spiritual. The flesh has nothing to offer without the spirit because it is the spirit that gives life. Whoever wants life must accept what the spirit offers. A flesh without spirit is a corpse. The call to accept the Eucharistic doctrine is a call to life. Peter understood this and was able to assure Jesus that they would not abandon him: “Master, to whom shall we go, you have the message of eternal life and we have come to believe that you are the Lord.”
4. The crowd made a choice of rejecting the truth because it does not suit their taste. Peter and the apostles made the choice of sticking with Jesus. His teaching was hard but it promises life to those who accept it. Our life on earth is about making choices. The choices we make today affect the way we live tomorrow. By not recanting his teaching today, Jesus would be able to come back to this teaching during the Last Supper where he would concretize the teaching by taking a piece of bread and saying: “this is my body…do this in memory of me.” Many people try to explain the Eucharist as being a figure of Christ’s body. This affects the way they relate to this sacrament of love. But you must not be like them. Jesus was firm on the teaching. Believing firmly in his presence in the Eucharist will bring you closer to God. It will make you grow in the Eucharistic love and adoration.
5. The attitude of the crowd who abandoned Jesus because they chose not to accept his teaching is not different from what happens in the church today. Like the crowd, many people pick and choose what to believe and what not to believe. When confronted with the truth of the gospel, some people prefer to change direction. Teachings about sexual immorality, indecency, marital fidelity, suffering and sacramental reconciliation are some of the teachings that some Christians refuse to accept today. But today’s readings encourage us to be faithful to the teachings of the Church as married couples should be to each other, without minding what others are thinking (Eph 5:21-32). The message of today’s readings can thus be better summarized using the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14. He says: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”(Mt 7:13-14). Entering through the narrow gate is a choice. Choose the narrow gate today.
@Vitalis Anaehobi 25/08/24.
