Readings: Joshua 24:1-2,15-18, Ps. 34:2-3,16-23, Ephesians 5:21-32, John 6:60-69
“O taste and see that the Lord is good; those who take refuge in him are happy. O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing!” (Psalm 34:8-10)
In the opening prayer of today’s Mass, we prayed: “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.” This prayer summarises our readings today. In it, we prayed that amid the uncertainties of this passing world, we would love what God commands, desire what He promises, and fix our minds on that place where true gladness is found.
The crowd in today’s Gospel passage walked away from Jesus Christ because their minds were not fixed on that place where true gladness is found. They became disappointed with Jesus when they realised He was unwilling to feed them with ordinary physical bread once again. Interestingly, Jesus did not try to change His stand or water down His message when He saw the crowds leaving. What lessons does this passage teach us:
1. Like the Crowds, You Will Be Disappointed If All You Seek from Jesus is Bread
So many Christians today have been made to believe that the only reason Jesus took our human flesh, lived among us, died, and rose again was to provide for our material needs. Somehow, we have been wrongly influenced by the popularity of the prosperity gospel. Like these disgruntled crowds, many Christians today have reduced their worship of God to the mere attainment of the passing things of this Life. We only remember to pray when we need money, friends, connections, food, water, etc.
Dear friends, if all that Jesus came to do for us was to provide for our material needs, why did Jesus allow the crowds to leave Him? If all that Jesus came to do was to remove poverty from our lives, why did He say we would always have the poor among us? (Cf. Matthew 26:11). Do not make the mistake of this crowd. Let it never be that you only worship God for the passing things of this Life. As St. Paul says: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19). The crowds who left Jesus represent Christians who move from one church to another today in search of miracles. They often fall into the hands of people who deceive them and worsen their problems.
2. The Holy Eucharist is our Life
You might wonder, if Jesus did not come to feed us with physical bread and make our lives on earth sweet and beautiful, why did He die for us? What did Jesus achieve by His passion, death, and resurrection? To give us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink that we may attain eternal Life. Jesus’ greatest gift to mankind is the Holy Eucharist, His flesh and blood. The Holy Eucharist is the bread that comes down from heaven; it is the food of angels, and it is the food that Elijah ate, which sustained him for forty days and forty nights without hunger (Cf. 1 King 19:5-8).
The Holy Eucharist is the food of which Jesus said: “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the Life of the world is my flesh… unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal Life, and I will raise him at the last day. … As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, he who eats me will live because of me.” (John 6:51-57). The Holy Eucharist is our Life – without it, we are no better than walking corpses, even if we have everything else in this Life. If you are not receiving Holy Communion, you are missing out on the main reason why Jesus came to die for us.
In today’s second reading, St. Paul uses the analogy of Christ’s gift of Himself in the Holy Eucharist to describe how husbands are to sacrifice themselves completely for the sake of their wives. “For no man ever hates his flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church because we are members of his body.” (Ephesians 5:29-30). Like a man willing to die for his wife, only for her to walk away from him, Christ was willing to give the crowd His flesh and blood to eat and drink, only for them to walk away from Him. Like these crowds, will you walk away from this precious gift Christ is offering you today?
3. Being a Christian is a Choice; It is Never by Force
The beauty of what happens in today’s Gospel passage is that when the people walked away from Jesus, He did not call down fire from heaven to burn them. Jesus will not even try to use sweet mouth to get them back. Jesus was never a crowd-pleaser. Jesus always spoke the truth, unlike false prophets who specialise in telling people only what they want to hear. (Cf. 2 Timothy 4:3 & 2 Corinthians 11:13-14).
Jesus asked the twelve: “Will you also go away?” Coincidentally, this was the same choice that Joshua in our first reading today placed before the Israelites: “If you will be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve…” (Joshua 24:15). In other words, if you have a problem with following God’s instructions, no need to put one leg here and the other leg there decide where you want to be. Serving God is not by force.
If you do not see any value in what Jesus is offering (Holy Eucharist), and all you want is ordinary bread (the perishable things of this world), then feel free to walk away.
As much as we are free to choose, we are never free from the consequences of our choices. If we walk away from God, we will never find happiness anywhere else. Only in God can we find true happiness for our souls. After walking away from Jesus, did the crowd eventually find the bread they sought? If you consider the commandments of God as too difficult to keep or as a hindrance to your happiness, will you find happiness by worshipping the devil?
4. Taste and see that the Lord is Good
Peter, speaking on behalf of the twelve disciples, responded to Jesus, saying: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69). Joshua also makes a similar choice in our first reading when he says: “As for me and my house, we would serve the Lord.”
It is funny that after listening to Joshua, the people responded: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods…” (Joshua 24:16). If you read the next book of the bible (Book of Judges), you would realise that the Israelites never kept this promise. A lot of Christians today are “like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27). Do I outwardly profess the creed even when I do not accept the teachings of the church? Am I living in pretence?
Today, our psalmist sings, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” What is keeping you stuck in those sinful habits? Why not give God a try today? Taste God, follow those “difficult” instructions you have always resisted, and you will see that God is Good.
Let us pray: Almighty, ever-living God, to whom shall we go? You alone have the key to eternal Life. Give us the grace to remain faithful to the end. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. May God’s abundant blessings be upon us all. (21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Joshua 24:1-2,15-18, Ps. 34:2-3,16-23, Ephesians 5:21-32, John 6:60-69).
@Rev. Fr. Evaristus E. Abu