(James Tissot)
"Do you want to leave me too?"
John 6: 60-69
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082524.cfm
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O God, who cause the minds of the faithful
to unite in a single purpose,
grant your people to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, amid the uncertainties of this world,
our hearts may be fixed on that place
where true gladness is found.
(from Collect of Mass)
Our Gospel this Sunday, as we close our
reflections on the Holy Eucharist according from the Gospel of John, bring us
to a very crucial juncture that must have caused Jesus both great
disappointment and gratitude. He has
completed his commentary on what seemed like a great scandal to his disciples,
perhaps even on some level among his own chosen twelve, about his literal
desire that, “. . . unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you do not have life within you.”
The eating of flesh with blood was strictly
prohibited among the Jews and stated in the Book of Leviticus. It became a foundational teaching for
hundreds of years and any compromise or watering down of that prohibition was
considered blasphemy. Dietary laws were based upon this premise and even today
when we hear of “kosher” food, which refers to this prohibition.
Jesus’ uncompromising words eating his flesh
and drinking his blood was repulsive to any Jew. Clearly the crowd understood it
as a literal command, and not symbolic, and their reaction testifies to this. This
man has completely lost it. “How can he
give us his flesh to eat?” we heard last Sunday. This crossed the line and was
just too much to bear further. And so sadly they leave his company, which may
have both surprised and disappointed Jesus.
Despite his opportunity to explain his words
in a more symbolic form, he emphasized all the more its literal meaning. So, he
was not speaking metaphorically. The early Christians saw in this the words of
Jesus as they broke bread together and shared from a cup of wine that Christ
was truly in their midst. By the time
they were gathering for their Eucharist, we have a post resurrection faith. The
same is true for us. Yet, the crowds
around Jesus, as we hear this Sunday, took his words only in an earthly sense. They said: “This saying is hard; who can
accept it?”
Jesus urges his disciples to think outside
the box, as it were. To realize, that if he is the manna from Heaven, the new
God-given bread of life, then he must be speaking in other worldly concepts. This material world cannot explain what we
call the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but thinking in spiritual
terms, it is understandable. His words
are Spirit and life. That his words are
inviting those who hear them to see a new, spiritual reality where God has
entered our fallen world, raised it up, and now dwells among us in the true
spiritual presence of the Eucharist, under signs of bread and wine.
There is that fully true and real spiritual
existence in which the presence of the risen Lord becomes real and lasting for
us. In one sense it is not there for us to fully understand, it is mystery, but
for us to be grateful and humbled by our Lord’s profound act of mercy and to
receive this great mystery as gift given out of love for us and not because we
have earned it or deserve it. As we
encounter the living risen Lord in the Eucharist, it brings with it the call to
choose the Lord.
In our first reading from the Book of Joshua,
we see the throngs gathered at Shechem, all the tribes, elders, judges and
officers of Israel. Here Joshua
addresses the people to make a choice before God: who will they serve: the Lord
or the pagan gods of the Amorites? They live in the land of the Amorites,
surrounded by a pagan culture yet remain as God’s chosen. Joshua and they
choose to be faithful to the Lord, who had guided an protected them along their
desert journey. “We will serve the Lord!” And so the eucharist calls us to
answer the same question: who will you serve?
The crowds hearing Jesus words simply could
not accept them. It was a breaking point:
will they continue to follow him or not? Jesus’ attempt to challenge their
thinking and expand their limited vision sadly was a road block.
So, in desperation he turns to his own
trusted twelve and asks if they also want to leave. Peter, on behalf of the group, states confidently,
“To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter’s beautiful
expression leads us to see the spiritual hunger of the Apostles and their deep
respect of Jesus’ words. It is one of the most convincing professions of faith
in the New Testament. He and the others
choose to follow, they choose the Lord.
Living the life of a faithful Christian and
also a faithful Catholic is not an easy thing these days. If we take our faith
seriously, we will be loyal even in those moments when we may not have clarity
of understanding. The Church maintains
teachings that fly in the face of popular and progressive culture. Positions on marriage, the protection of the
unborn child, the priesthood, same gender attraction, the definition of freedom
and the exercise of justice and the role of women in the Church, the exercise
of decision making and the role of laity in leadership, etc have caused many to
question an “out of date” Catholicism, not to mention the pervasive question on
the nature of the human person – Male? Female? It’s force is not that of the
Spirit of God.
Or maybe it’s our obsession with science and
technology these days that has so influenced our thinking. Science and technology, for all of its wonder
and benefit, demands perfect clarity. One wants to be precise as possible
before a conclusion is drawn, measured, and finalized. It demands tangible, measurable proof not
abstract or spiritual influence. To imagine a measure of truth beyond what we
see and can verify stretches our thinking.
Not unlike those who rejected Jesus’ words in the Gospel this Sunday.
In the end where do we stand and with who? Do
we stand with the Lord, as we hear in the first reading from the Book of
Joshua, or do we turn to another? Peter’s response to Jesus question, “To whom
shall we go?” is maybe a question of our age as well. Let’s not forget the Good
News that Christ brought us is still the same good news that must be preached
and lived.
When we gather for the Mass we hear the words
of Jesus echo in every celebration that he is intimately, truly, mysteriously
present to us under the signs of bread and wine. He is literally food for us and we must consume
this food as we do all others. The real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist has
never been compromised and despite the waves of history, remains amazingly
intact. It is truly the “source and summit of the Christian life.” Our
questions, our doubts, our lack of understanding can be placed before the altar
as we are called to remain faithful Christians.
What Christ does in the Eucharist, what he
promises us, is not only eternal life, as if that alone isn’t enough, but also
an experience of community and family as God intends. Communion creates a
unity, a common life among us. It brings
disparate and diverse collections of people, who come with thousands of
opinions on politics and how things should be and labels of conservative and
liberal somehow strangely and peacefully together as one body. The body in which Christ is the head and
calls us to look beyond limits and to rest in his Spirit and to live his
life.
“The words I have spoken to you are Spirit
and life.” Jesus is calling us to
surround with compassion those who suffer, innocent victims of displacement and
war, those on the fringe of society, and to bring light and hope to our world.
To whom will YOU go?
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