Readings: Jos. 24:1-2,15-17; Eph. 5:21-32; Jn. 6:60-69
A Teaching Too Hard to Understand
1. In his album ‘Mama Africa’ Peter Tosh, the Jamaican reggae star sang: “All my life I’ve been a lonely man teaching people who don’t understand. Even though I tried my best, I still can’t find no happiness.” How do you teach a lazy person the virtue of hard work? How do you teach a beggar to stop begging and look for a job? How do you teach a drug addict or a substance abuser or an alcoholic to be sober? How do you tell a debtor to manage his resources well and stop taking loans? It is difficult to teach people to change and pursue a better way of life. If you try, they will tell you your teaching is too hard to understand. They will leave you and go to those who will enable their bad habits and behaviors.
2. Jesus could not, no matter how hard he tried, convince some of his followers to change their way of life. For five weeks He has been teaching them that unless they ate his body and drank his blood, they would not have life in them. He showed them the importance of food for their bodies by multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand. He stressed that as bread was important to satisfy their physical hunger, so was his body and blood for their souls. Though he fed them with loaves of bread, he wanted them to dig deeper, go for something that will endure, something that would satisfy them. “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” He told them. To the woman at the well he said, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” For “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn. 4:13-14). Jesus is the only one who can guarantee us eternal happiness.
3. In the first reading, Joshua calls on the children of Israel to choose who to follow. “If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua impressed upon the children of Israel that they were free to make their choice, either to follow God or to follow the pagan gods. The choice was theirs! The tribes of Israel now in the promised land are depicted as having at last defeated their enemies. They now stand before their new leader, Joshua who recounted all the adventures of their forefathers from the time of Abraham, some five hundred years down to the present. The only reason they were successful was that God was holding them and leading them throughout their exploits. He led their fathers into the land of Canaan and down into Egypt, brought the people out of the land of bondage, through the wilderness, and now once again into the land of promise. Having told them their history, Joshua told them to choose the gods that they would serve. Joshua told them that regardless of their choice, he and his household would serve the Lord.
4. Christ demanded of this same choice from those who had listened to him throughout his discourse on the bread of life. He stressed through it all that he would satisfy the yearning of their hearts. He promised them life eternal and assured them “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (Jn. 6:54-56). Having said all that, Christ did not force anyone to accept his teaching. He respected their freedom to reject or to accept his teaching. To some of his followers, the teaching was too difficult, they could not accept it anymore, so they stopped following him. Christ did not persuade to stay back, he did not try to stop them, he respected the exercise of their freedom. Rather he turned to his apostles and asked, “Do you also want to leave?” Again, it was their call. But they chose to stay. “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.”
5. We all made this same commitment on the day of Baptism. We promised to follow God and obey his word. We promised to reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises. But we are not always faithful and committed to God. We have eaten his body and drank his blood, but we don’t always believe that he will give us life eternal. We have often said one thing and did the exact opposite. Today we are called to choose. We must renew the promise we made on the day of Baptism, to be faithful and committed to Christ who will satisfy our every need. Yes, his teaching may be hard to understand, but we must find a reason to be committed to Christ. There is no one and nowhere else for us to find the word of eternal life except in Jesus. May Christ the word of life, lead us to life everlasting. Amen.
Rev. Augustine
Etemma Inwang, MSP
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