Readings: Jos. 24:1-2, 15-17; Eph. 5:21-32; Jn. 6:60-69
A Teaching Too
Hard to Understand
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 happiness.” How do you teach a lazy person the virtue of hard work? How do you teach a beggar to stop begging and get a job? How do you teach a substance abuser or an alcoholic to be sober? How do you tell a debtor to manage his resources well and stop taking loans? Teaching people to change and pursue a better life can be challenging. They will say your teaching is too hard to understand if you do. They will leave you and go to those enabling their bad habits and behaviors.
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 his disciples that unless they ate his body and drank his blood, they would not have life in them. Christ showed the importance of food for their bodies by multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed thousands. He stressed that as bread was important to satisfy their physical hunger, so was his body and blood for their souls. Christ urged them to dig deeper and go for something that will endure. “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” 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. 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.
In the first reading, Joshua encourages 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.” He told them to follow God or 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 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. They were only successful because God led them throughout their exploits. He led their fathers into the land of Canaan and down into Egypt, brought them 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 they would serve. But that regardless of their choice, he and his household would serve the Lord.
Christ demanded the same choice from his disciples with his discourse on the bread of life. He stressed that his Body and Blood would satisfy their hearts’ yearning. He promised them eternal life 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). And yet, Christ did not force them to accept his teaching. He respected their freedom to reject or to take his teaching. Some of his followers thought the teaching was too complicated and could not accept it anymore, so they stopped following him. But Christ did not persuade them to stay back, nor did he try to stop them. He respected the exercise of their freedom. Rather he asked his apostles, “Do you also want to leave?” 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.”
We made the same commitment on the day of Baptism. We promised to follow the Lord and obey his word. We pledged 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 done the exact opposite. Today, we must make a choice. Let us renew our Baptismal promises to be faithful and committed to Christ, who will satisfy our every need. His teaching may be challenging, but we must follow the path that leads to righteousness. There is only one way to God. And Christ is that way.
Rev. Augustine
Etemma Inwang, MSP.
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