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Year - B

Homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Josh 24: 1-2, 15-18; Eph 5: 21-32; Jn 6: 60-69)

REFLECT: Serve, Love and acknowledge God, who has and gives eternal life…

Dear friends, we are in the 21st Sunday in Ordinary time. The liturgy of the word invites us to serve, love and acknowledge God who has eternal life and who gives eternal life to us. We all of us like to live longer and perhaps enjoy eternal life. None of us feels to choose to end life for no reason at all and we are not given the freedom to take away one’s life or others life, because life is given by God and a gift from God. However, eternal life that we long for and wish for does not happen without desiring for it and working for it. It takes time; it is a process and is given to those whom God desires or chooses to give according to one’s life that is lived or led. The time, the process, the desire involves our commitment to the Christian ways of living. God has given us ways and means to obtain eternal life. The only way to obtain eternal life is to believe in God, his plans his precepts and principles. That’s what we hear in the Gospel of John, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him,” (Jn 3:36). So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1.     Worship and Serve true God:

We all know that God established covenant with Israel in order to establish a strong bond and relationship. The covenant manifests the love that God has for the people of Israel. The covenant with Israel began with Abram, (Gen 12:1-3; 15:18-20), renewed this covenant with Moses (Exo 24) Joshua (Josh 24) David (2 Sam 7:12-17) and sustained through various prophets of the Old Testament till Jesus in the New Testament. Covenant reveals the commitment of each other in a relationship.  God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel and Israel’s faithfulness to God Yahweh would determine the continuity of the covenant and would also enjoy the privilege that comes as part of the covenant. But we see that the People Israel have been a wandering and faithless generation and have failed to live up to the covenant established with God. God has been always after them, renewing their covenant to remind them of the commitment and bond of relationship. One such passage we have in the first reading from the book of Joshua today.

As we learn from the Old Testament that Joshua took up the leadership after Moses to lead the Israelites to Promised Land. It was he who led the people of Israel to the Promised Land that was is store for them. Although we know that the Israelites went astray from God many times. Yet, under Joshua’s leadership, with the help and aid of God, he sets the people on the right track and makes the people of Israel to Choose God, whom their ancestors worshipped, believed and served at all times. Thus we have the renewal of covenant with God by the people of Israel though Joshua. The first reading from the book of Joshua reminds the people of Israel to serve the one true God, who has brought them from the land of Egypt and has safe-guarded them from every danger. Joshua helps and enables them to make a choice to which God they would serve and affirm their faith in God as their ancestors had. Therefore Joshua presents before them two proposals; either they serve the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egyptian slavery or in the land of Amorites where they presently lived.

They all answered in one accord answer that they would serve the Lord, Yahweh, who loved and secured them from every peril and had made a covenant with them. Therefore, we see the renewal of covenant with God by Israelites, renewing their relationship with God. The episode of the first reading invites us to realize the covenant that God wants to establish with us his people. God never wants to disown us. He always sends people after us, so that we are not lost but on the right track and in close union with him. It is we who choose to go on our own and God never wishes that we go astray from Him. Like Joshua, there are many people who come as mediators, as spokespersons, as helpers in life to build a strong bond of relationship with God and with one another. However, human nature takes upper hand based on our own reasons, emotions, feelings and desires. It is there that we lose proximity with God. We forget the divine nature in us and forget the God, who gives relief from all pains and problems. That’s what the people of Israel did. They forgot the God who brought them from slavery of Egyptians; they forgot the God who saved them from adversaries; they forgot the God who loved, cared and nurtured them. It is our human tendency to forget and it is God’s nature to forgive. Let us not take the love of God for granted. Let us choose to serve God, who loves, cares, nurtures and nourishes us every day.

As Pope Francis would rightly say, “Worship means concentrating on what is essential. In worship, we learn to reject what should not be worshiped: the god of money, the god of consumerism, the god of pleasure, the god of success, the god of self. Worship means bending low before the Most High and to discover in his presence that life's greatness does not consist in having, but in loving.” Yes, this is what the people Israel failed to do. They failed to worship and serve true and worshipped and served other gods for want of money, pleasure and selfishness. Let us repeat the story of Israel in our lives too by being faithless or entering into unwanted pleasures of the world that take us away from the love of God. Let us choose to serve and worship God, who is true and loving in all ways.

2.     Submit to one another like Jesus:

We all cherish relationship in different ways in a family or society as friends, family members, as children, as spouse, as community members in an institute, as a religious member in a congregation or the province, as parishioners in the Church and in a larger scale as children of God on earth. In all these human bond or relationships, what is inevitable part of life is true love. True love for one another patiently endures everything in every situation, because the only motto behind every work here is love. There is no comparison nor compromise but true love. There are no selfish gains or benefits and only the true love remains and lasts till the end. To obtain true love and to give true love requires courage and conviction, sacrifice and sanctity. That’s what we have in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Ephesians.

The passage from St. Paul’s letter to Ephesians for today’s second reading invites us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. We are called to live a life of submission not because of our human weakness or nature rather Christ himself submitted and has shown us the way to find fulfillment in life. Christ submitted himself unto the Cross, so that we are freed from the pain and sorrows of life; Christ submitted himself, so that we are sanctified in life; Christ submitted himself, so that we might enjoy the salvation that God offers us. Therefore, the submission to one another will be manifested, if we love Christ fully and live Christ in our way of life. It is on the basis of true love for God and for Christ, our love for one another is strengthened and sustained. For such an understanding, we need to understand the true meaning of submission in Christ. Perhaps, to submit to one another is not slavery or subjugation rather accepting others as God’s gift and respecting others with human dignity as God’s children.

St. Paul, in the second reading from his letter to Ephesians gives us concept of love in a metaphorical way. Paul compares the relationship of husband and wife to Christ and the church. We all know that in a family the genuine and true relationship between husband and wife plays a very significant role. When there is true love among the spouse, there is true love and bond is possible among them and among the members of the family. If there is no genuine love among the spouse, there would always be conflicts, misunderstanding, doubts, betrayal and unhappiness among themselves and the members of the family. There would be no proper ambience created for growing, expressing freedom and love in the family. It could perhaps be equal to hell or a disgusting experience leading to distress, depression and dissatisfaction in life. Similar things can happen to us too in our relationship with God and us, Christ and we the Church.

This is the metaphor that St. Paul uses in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Ephesians, Christ and the Church. The relationship between Christ and the church needs to be like husband and wife submitting to one another, accepting each other, respecting one another, loving each other, understanding and living in true friendship and relationship with each other. Such a bond between Christ and us the Church will lead to sanctity of life. The sanctity of life in us would elicit love for Christ, reverence for Christ’s presence and a strong commitment to be Christ like in life. Indeed, Christ has submitted himself on the cross for love of us. We see in our world, broken or split families, a lot get divorces, marriage is not taken seriously by many. Sometimes marriage is considered as a contract and not as covenant or commitment to each other. Today in what way we can submit ourselves for Christ’s sake to give our love to God by loving one another in our world. It is only by manifesting love among spouse, parents, children, family, society, state, Church and world at large that we show our love for Christ.

As Pope Francis would say, “God does not want to deprive people of something they want or hold dear, but he does want people to live “with freedom, without attachment. Only God knows what is truly good for us. “We can only love in freedom, which is why the Lord created us free, free even to say no to him. Offering him what we hold most dear is in our best interest, enabling us to live it in the best possible way and in truth, as a gift he has given us, as a sign of his gratuitous goodness, knowing that our lives, as well as the whole of history, are in his benevolent hands.” Yes, the love for God is expressed in surrendering our lives unto him, being sanctified and set free ourselves from undue attachments that destroy our union and communion with God. The true love between Christ and we as Church is seen in our commitment to live out the Christian calling. The way of life as Christians is always a commitment to Christ in knowledge and love of him. So let us submit to one another for love and reverence to Christ by loving, caring and respecting one another.

3.     Acknowledge the One true God:

Acknowledging Jesus as the one true God and saviour arises from the deep experience and personal encounter one has. Acknowledging Christ as saviour and Master of our lives would mean that we accept Christ as everything, who animates and anchors life to the full. Perhaps, for past four Sundays, we have been listening from the Gospel of John about Jesus as the bread of life, who nourishes and nurtures us with his own body and blood. This Sunday too we have the continuation of the previous Sunday’s Gospel passage. The gospel reading of the day presents before us the consequences of Jesus’ preaching about the bread of life. We see two groups taking a different stand; the one group, the so called followers of Christ (Disciples) leave Jesus for the hardness of Christ’s teaching. They were not ready to accept the teachings of Jesus on the discourse of Jesus, the bread of life. On the other hand, the other group, the apostles, who were called, chosen, commissioned by Christ accept Jesus’ teaching, continue to remain with Jesus and accept Jesus as true bread from heaven, who gives life eternal.

We hear from the gospel reading of the day that the disciples of Jesus began to leave because they found hard to accept the teachings of Jesus. The hardness of heart was because he was speaking to them, the bread of life, his own flesh and blood, the Holy Eucharist, the most Holy body and Blood of Christ. Perhaps, they were leaving or not happy with the teachings of Jesus, because they had a narrow mind like the Jewish teachers of that time; they were only casual, superficial disciples, not fully grounded in faith; their conviction were not balanced nor sincere; probably they had some other motifs and just followed the crowd or were prejudiced by the Jews (Pharisees and Sadducees), who also had out rightly rejected Jesus for his teaching about bread of life and his relationship with the heavenly Father. Such casual and superficial disciples were not prepared to meet the demands of Christ and they did not believe in Christ nor his words and deeds. They were not attracted to the words and teachings of Jesus, because they probably were oriented towards worldly desires and designs. That’s why they left Jesus and his company.

Another important point to note in the gospel reading of the day is the other group, the twelve apostles. Although the followers of Christ were leaving Jesus, yet, we see the apostles chosen by Christ were strong in faith to remain with Christ and accept his teaching. That’s why when Jesus say to the apostles that they were free to leave, Peter immediately responds, “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.” Yes, the declaration of Peter to the query of Jesus manifests how the apostles of Jesus believed in Jesus’ words give eternal life and how they believed that Jesus was sent by God the Father as the Holy one of God. Here we are reminded of the Gospel of John which begins with Jesus as an eternal word and the word incarnate stating, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). It highlights that Jesus as an eternal word and word incarnate has the power to affect people’s life by his words and above all by his deeds. Thus in and through the Gospel passage of the day, Jesus does not only present himself as word incarnate or eternal word rather he becomes the eternal word by giving us the eternal bread, his own flesh and blood, by which we become completely his own.

Indeed, what adds up to the flow is that the apostles were able to firmly stand on what they believed in Jesus because, they have heard, seen and witnessed Jesus in their association with him during his public ministry of teaching, preaching and healing. They witnessed Jesus welcoming the crowd and feeding them with compassion, they saw Jesus healing and working out wonders in the lives of the sick and weak people, they have experienced the presence of Jesus; they have listened to Jesus, how convincingly and courageously he spoke about the union between him and his Heavenly Father. All these experiences have convinced the apostles and enabled them to choose to continue their association and company with Jesus. Because of their strong conviction and faith in Jesus, Peter was able to say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? For you have the words of eternal life.” In fact, such an experience and knowledge did not happen among the apostles by reading books or looking at Jesus merely but by personal and deep encounter and experience that they had with Jesus. Similarly, today we are called to have such a deep and personal experience with Jesus in order to believe that Jesus has the words of eternal life that would give us everlasting happiness.

Today what stand would we like to take? is it the path of disciples or the path of apostles? We need to affirm that we will not live as Disciples who were casual or superficial, giving consent to ones likes and dislikes and leave Christ and his company for want of pleasure and selfish reasons. We need to be like the apostles, in particular like Peter, who accepted and believed that Jesus has the words of eternal life. We need to be strong in faith and be faithful to Christ and his teaching. That’s the true acknowledgement that we could manifest to God. This true acknowledgement of Christ’s power over us will change life and give us eternal happiness. Let us live as convinced Christians, who witness Christ in life by deep and personal encounter with Christ, our savior. It is Christ who gives life eternal and it is Christ who is the only road to eternity.

RESPOND:

Do we worship and serve God, who loves, cares and nurtures us every day through various persons, places and situations of life?

Do we love Jesus and the church established by Christ by submitting ourselves to one another in love and reverence for Christ?

Do we believe and acknowledge that Jesus is the eternal word and incarnate word and acknowledge that Jesus has the words of eternal life to give us life eternal?

Let us serve God who cares for us always, love Jesus by submitting to one another in respect and dignity and believe that Jesus is the eternal word and has eternal life. Amen. 

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968