TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2024)
Readings:
Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18
Psalms 34:2-3, 16-23
Ephesians 5:21-32
John 6:60-69
Four weeks ago, when we started our weekly meditation on the evangelist John’s Bread of Life discourse, Jesus, in the context of the Sunday liturgy, compared Himself to the bread that came down from heaven to feed the hungry Israelites in the desert. The boldest thing Jesus had to say about that bread was that those who ate it “will never hunger.” As one might expect, those who were listening to Jesus implored Him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Who wouldn’t want to be free from the capriciousness of hunger, and they had just witnessed what Jesus could do with “five barley loaves and two fish”!
As Jesus was just getting started in verse 22 of John 6 it was easy for the disciples to make a simple request, albeit a tad bit selfish. But it wasn’t too far into His discourse that John has Jesus say some remarkably shocking things, and the “murmuring” among His disciples gets louder and louder. The “Jews quarreled among themselves” on account of Jesus getting more bold with His statements: “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” The bolder Jesus’ statements were, the worse it was for the bottom line, and “many of His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Jesus.” Even Jesus must have noticed the thinning crowds, and so He turns to the Twelve and asks: “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter, chief among the apostles, answers for all when he gives us one of the most beautiful statements in Scripture: “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.”
John’s discourse has succeeded in what it started out to do – draw his listeners into a better understanding of who this Jesus of Nazareth is. Jesus is the Messiah, the Holy One of God, and no mere mortal brought them to this understanding, it is the Spirit of God working within them who has broadened their hearts to believe what they never thought could be possible.
There is more to shock them coming in the rest of John’s gospel, as John hints in his reference to Jesus’ Ascension and His betrayal. But more shocking than the events of Jesus’ own life, will be the shocking ways in which those who profess faith in Him behave. We are living in interesting times when the truth is of no consequence, when people’s innate dignity is being trampled by the aggression of others, when whole classes of people are demeaned, debased and insulted, when the fundamental rights of all people are no longer valued. The scandals of today’s world are made even worse when they originate from ‘people of the cloth,’ so-called religious people. When those who think of themselves as religious behave selfishly, with little regard for other people, there are many people who just walk away from religion altogether. If, or when, we might be tempted to choose that path, it is good to remember Peter’s response in today’s gospel: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. [You are the bread that has come down from heaven.] We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
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