Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
For the next three weeks our gospel reading will be taken from chapter six of John’s gospel. Most of this chapter is the “bread of life” discourse. It began last week with the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and will end with many disciples ceasing to follow Jesus because his teachings were too hard. Gospel readings stretched out over three weekends give us the opportunity to explore its meaning in depth. So pardon me if I delve right into my three practical implications. Let me also caution you that my three practical implications raise more questions that answer them.
a) A Pilgrim People. Both the first reading from Exodus and the gospel reading have a common theme – they speak to a people on the move. Today’s first reading tells us the story a people who have only recently been set free. After more than 200 years of slavery, the people made a grueling journey through the desert to reach the Promised Land. This journey was necessitated for many reasons. First, as today’s first reading suggests, the Israelites were a rebellious people. Numbers 14:29 tells us that God cursed them with forty years of wandering until the rebellious and unbelieving generation died off. But there were other reasons. Nation building is a time-consuming task. Leadership has to emerge, social structures have to be established and laws that guide individuals, family and society have to develop. Moreover, it was the desert where Israel would learn to love its God just as God loved Israel. The journey through the desert was supposed to be Israel’s honeymoon with God. But unbelief and rebellion made this journey anything but that. This is exactly the kind of unbelief that Jesus encountered in the gospel reading. As Jesus tries to take the people from slavery to Law into a freedom of love, he too encounters resistance. When we look at our society and world, perhaps we think that we have arrived! With our smart phones, our gadgets, our technology and our knowledge we think of ourselves as a cultured people. However, When it comes to relations between nations, races, and classes; when it comes to poverty, hunger, justice and human rights; when it comes to gender equality, respecting the dignity of every human person, life and death issues; and when it comes to inter-religious dialogue, faith and God – we have long ways to go. It takes humility to realize that just like the biblical people we too are a people on the move. That is why Vatican II calls the church a ‘pilgrim church.’ Are we any less rebellious than the people of Israel?
b) Spiritual Dementia. Today’s second reading begins with the rebellion of the Israelites against Moses and Aaron. I have always wondered how a people could so quickly forget the parting of the Red Sea and rebel against Moses and Aaron. How is that possible? In the gospel reading too, the very people who were asking Jesus for a sign had just seen the multiplication of the loaves. How could they forget that? I can find the answer to this question in my own life. I can look back at numerous instances in my life where God has done marvelous things. In spite of this, there are so many situations where my confidence in God could be so much stronger. The single most important issue in my life is my parents. I worry about their health, their well-being, their future, their eventual passing away. If the past is any indication I should not worry, but I do. I call this spiritual dementia. There are other examples. We receive God’s mercy in the confessional, and forgetting that we are ourselves a forgiven people judge and condemn other people. Sometimes we to forget the good the people have done for us and fail to do the same good to others. Jesus died for us, and yet we can forget to pray, to love scripture, to give thanks to God, to do good and to be self-sacrificing. Spiritual dementia is more common that we think!
c) What will it take to believe? I have a very funny real story for you. A great grandmother told me recently about her 5 year old great grandson. She was trying to explain to him that his guardian angel was watching over him. The five-year-old was not only puzzled but told her that he did not need a guardian angel because he was a ninja. I think that when it comes to matters of faith, the future generation will be very different than us. John’s entire gospel is written with one purpose – that his reader come to believe that Jesus is the Christ. That is also why today’s gospel ends with the words “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” If the story of the great grandmother and great grandson is any indication, the faith that we have is not what the newer generation will have. I am not sure what faith and church, religion and spirituality will look like then. Let us reflect on our faith this week. What does it look like? How do we live it out? Is our faith visible to people because of our compassion for people or our condemnation of people? When people see our faith are they attracted to us or do they want to run away from us? What will our children learn about faith from us?
Let us think about these things.
Fr. Satish Joseph