Homily: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 25, 2024
My dear brothers and sisters, we are ending the 5 weeks long discourse on the bread of life; the Holy Eucharist which is well illustrated in the gospel reading from John chapter 6 that we have been reading all through these 5 weeks. In all the episodes that we saw in the last weeks, one thing stood out very clear, this Jesus’ teaching of eating His body and blood was difficult for the Jews to comprehend. It gave rise to a lot of murmuring and dispute.
This John chapter 6 makes a very interesting reading, the episode of today is also very instructive. After Jesus had emphasized in strong terms that eating His body and drinking His blood is a condition for securing everlasting life, many of His listeners walked away from Him. It is very noteworthy that Jesus did not call them back for a dialogue so that he would retract His words or change His stand. Jesus did not even call them back to establish a middle ground that would mitigate or water down the seriousness of His teaching. His stand remained firm and final; His Body and Blood is to be eaten by His followers for them to have the fullness of everlasting life. Jesus went ahead to ask His Apostles; do you also wish to go away? This means that if the Apostles had decided to reject this Eucharistic doctrine, Jesus was ready to drop them too. From all this we can see how Jesus wants us to take seriously the reception of the Holy Eucharist.
Today, St Peter, the ever first head of the Church of Christ responded to the teaching; Lord to whom shall we go for you have the message of eternal life. We can say that St Peter, our first Pope admonished all of us that this His response should be our response too to the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. This His response should characterize our approach to this Most august Blessed Sacrament; the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We see a similar response like that of Peter in the first reading of today given by Joshua and the people of Israel. Joshua was the leader of the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land. He apportioned settlements to the different tribes of Israel. He called a general assembly of the different tribes of Israel and charged them with the task of worshipping the living God and remaining faithful to His Covenant. His tone of voice was like it is time we make honest decisions, if we are worshipping the living God, we worship Him, it we are choosing the false gods, we turn to them and face the consequences. He made it clear that both him and his entire household would follow the living God. The Israelites unanimously replied, far be it from us to forsake the living God who brought us out from Egypt.
Dearest brothers and sisters, this teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Holy Eucharist stands till the end of ages. This Jesus’ question to the apostles, ‘do you also walk away,’ reechoes perennially even in our own age. It is a question for all of us and it needs a decisive answer. From the readings of today, many persons gave different answers when God beckoned. Some of the Jews said, it is a difficult teaching and walked away. Peter said, Lord to whom shall we go for you have the message of eternal life. Joshua answered, me and my family, we shall worship the living God. The Israelites responded, far be it from us to forsake the living God who brought them out from the land of slavery. By our way of life, how would the answer of both you and me look like today to these perennial questions of eternal life.
