24.8.2003 Sunday 21st Ordinary Season
First Reading: Joshua 24, 1-2, 15-17, 18
Psalm 33
Second Reading: Ephesians 5, 21-32
Gospel: John 6, 60-69
The Jews did not understand Jesus' words: hard saying, they said. If we had
been them we would have said the same: we also want to understand everything.
I have this tendency too, to believe what I understand, to do only what I understand.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the Jews found problems with what Jesus was
saying!
Jesus, however, asks us to trust him, trust him completely. When we believe him and obey him he can pour into us his Spirit, and it is his Spirit that will help us to understand the mysteries of God; that which is impossible to our minds! The Holy Spirit gives light to the words of the Lord and with them illumines our lives, so that we can see as the Father sees. We can understand the words of Jesus only with the wisdom that comes from his Spirit! For this, it is necessary, indispensable, that first of all we love him and obey him in complete trust. Whatever he tells us, we must believe is true, because his Word is the Word of God! It is not for us to judge, if what Jesus claims or what he asks of us, is true or good. Once we trust him completely, knowing that he wil not trick us, believing that he knows all and that he wants the best for us, then we will be able to receive his Spirit and understand the beauty and goodness of what he reveals to us and what he asks of us. Faith must come before understanding because Jesus is God and his Word is the Word of God!
Not all who wish to be his disciples accept taking this step. Those who were with him were not, then, more fortunate than we are: they had to act in faith and that cost giving up their pride, giving up the consensus of their own minds and of public opinion. Then as today: "after this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him"! Jesus did not let this mass defection condition him. On the contrary, he even asks the apostles if they intend to abandon him. Jesus is ready to remain alone, but not to cede, not to change the rules of the game, not to make it easier to follow him! Jesus' decision is similar to Joshua's suggestion to the people of Israel: "if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, chose this day whom you will serve…….but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." On that occasion all the people, remembering the miracles with which God had accompanied them in leaving Egypt, chose to remain faithful to the God of the Covenant! Only Peter answers Jesus, but he replies in the name of the whole group of Twelve. They realized that Jesus' words are not human words, but that his words transmit life, full life, that comes from above! Above all, they believed, they trusted him and hence they came to know him as "the Holy One of God" that is, the Messiah, sent by the Father for salvation! Obeying, they understood. This is true also St Paul's theme. He talks about the life of the family, in particular of the relationship of husband and wife. How must they act towards each other? The temptation is always present to put oneself first, over and above the other. Christian couples, on the other hand, "are subject to one another out of reverence for Christ"! They take Jesus' example, as head of the Church. Jesus bent down to wash the feet of the disciples, he gave his life for the Church. In such a way the husband tries to love his wife, serving her, offering himself not imposing himself. The wife will do as the Church, who tries to listen to the Word of her Lord. The wife will participate in her way in the race for love. She will be subject and obedient to her husband, who will not think only of himself or live in egoism, but will commit himself to doing the best for his wife. A life lived in this way, helped by the grace which comes from above, becomes a sacramental life: that is, a Word of God's become flesh, the word that proclaims the love of Jesus for his followers, the faith of Jesus towards his Church! One cannot deprive the world of this message: it is not given to men only with the words of preachers, but above all, with the example of the lives of Christians, of those couples who live in the name of Jesus!
Everybody loves to see a united family, the love that lives within it, the
love that is able to serve and to suffer, to persevere despite difficulty. The
first to be happy are the couples themselves and their children. Blessed is
the family that obeys the Word of the Lord: its joy lasts forever, the fruit
of its love enriches the earth! It is a witness that Jesus is truly the Holy
One of God and that his Word gives life to the world!