Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
Joshua 24:1- 2.15-17-18; Psalm 33:2-3.16-23; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69
One of the fascinating things about being human is having the freedom of choice. It makes life meaningful and interesting, adding to a sense of self-determination and a certain degree of control over one’s affairs and destiny.
However, the exercise of those freedom also carries with it risks, uncertainty and danger. The consequences can be far reaching… As far reaching as the third and fourth generation as scripture says.
As human beings we do not have absolute freedom. Our freedom is relative and limited. Only God is absolute freedom.
Furthermore, choosing one thing or one person necessarily excludes another. In contrast, God’s choice always includes.
At Shechem, through the motivation of Joshua, Israel rejected the many gods of their ancestors and the gods of the surrounding nations in order to become a single people, committed to one God.
By choosing God, they chose a way of life which necessarily excludes certain attitudes, practices and behaviours. By choosing God they chose life in its fullness, faithfulness to the covenant and abiding by God’s law. Their choice identifies them as God’s people even though God chose them first and remains faithful to the choice that He has made. God is portrayed as a God who gives up his own freedom. A God who constantly renews and affirms his choice even after the repeated unfaithfulness of his people.
Our gospel reading is in stark contrast. The descendants of those who chose God at Shechem now makes a different choice: The choice of rejection. Theyvreject God as He comes to them as God incarnate, the God who sustains as the Bread of Life.
For the past four Sundays, with the exception of last Sunday when we had the readings of the Assumption, we followed the Bread of Life Discourse in the 6th chapter of St. John’s Gospel.
The 1st week, after having fed more than 5000 people, the crowd wanted to make Jesus King.
The 2nd week, they refused to believe that Jesus was the one sent, unless they saw a sign.
The 3rd week, the crowd turned hostile and murmured against him.
Last week we would have heard how they fought among themselves over Jesus’ claim to be the Bread of Life.
And in today’s gospel the crowds finally rejected his teaching and went away from him.
By their own choice they excluded themselves from the fullness of life that God offers them in Christ.
In the Gospel of John, we find a series of professions of faith. Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah at the river Jordan on the word of his brother Andrew. The Samaritans recognised him as the Saviour of the world. The man born blind believed in the Son of Man, the Light of the world. Martha called Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. Peter recognised Jesus as the One who “has the words of eternal life”.
John wants his readers to make their own confessions of faith in Christ. And it is precisely this that presents us with the choice to be unlike the crowd in the gospel by accepting Jesus as Bread of Life. By choosing the Eucharist and a eucharistic way of life, becoming a truly eucharistic people.
This choice necessarily excludes a whole range of selfish and self-serving attitudes and behaviour. Inherent in this choice is to celebration of Sunday Mass, frequenting the Sacrament of Reconciliation, forgiving as we have been forgiven, living a life of service to others and grabbing every opportunity to choose God.