|
Sunday,
August 10, 2003 Readings: The
carefully written narrative from the first book of Kings is
filled with details that give a deeper and more symbolic meaning
to Elijah’s simple escape. First of all, we should recognize
in Elijah's escape Israel’s journey in the exodus, because
of the many clear allusions to desert, Jewish ancestors, a
journey of forty days and forty nights, food, and the mountain
of God. Elijah is not merely trying to flee from his enemies.
He is also in search of a deep experience that will eventually
lead him to encounter with God. Great heroes like Moses and
Elijah were not strangers to human frailty (see Numbers 11,
15). Discouraged by his ineffective ministry, Elijah flees
because "he is no better than his ancestors" in his attempt
to build God's Kingdom. It would be better for him to join
his ancestors in the grave (v. 4). When human beings recognize
their weaknesses, only then can God's power intervene (2 Cor
12, 5.9). With bread and water, symbols of the exodus of old,
Elijah completes his own exodus of a symbolic forty days (v.
8) in encounter with God. In this Elijah event, we discover
journey, human efforts, tasks too great to be achieved by
human powers alone, and the need to walk sustained only by
food that truly nourishes us. The
second reading continues the apostle’s exhortation that describes
in great detail what Christians they must do positively and
what they should avoid. For Paul, that is how Christians can
work to build up the church and not sadden the Spirit by behaviors
that destroy church unity (4, 25-32a; 4, 3). The Christian
way of life has its foundation in what Christ has done, or,
more precisely, in what the Father has fulfilled through Christ.
Christian life means to live in love, like the love shared
by Christ and the Father (see Mt 5,48). Since the Father forgives,
the Christian in turn must learn to forgive (v. 32b); Mt 6,
12.14-15). Christians must follow the example of Christ, who
loved and gave himself in sacrifice. Church unity flows from
personal sacrifice. Imitation of God, which means to live
as God's children, reveals the gospel's basis for the author's
exhortation to the Ephesians (see Mt 4,43-48). The Spirit
is the agent who determines Christian behavior. Consistent
with Paul's other passages about the Spirit, a Christian’s
receiving of the Spirit is (indirectly) linked to baptism.
Like a seal or mark, the Spirit will identify all who belong
to Christ when he comes in glory. In
today's gospel from chapter 6 of John’s gospel, we find another
statement concerning Jesus as bread come down from heaven
(vv. 38, 51ª). Jesus, heavenly bread, is God's gift to the
world (see John 3, 13.16). We can know and accept this revelation
only through faith, which demand a willingness to listen and
learn from God. "What God expects" (v. 29) is precisely that
we listen and are open to learning (vv. 45-46). Notice the
dynamic verb form used through the passage. Through belief,
we are schooled in a manner that allows us to open our hearts
and enter into God's very life, communicated through word
and sacrament by God’s messenger, Jesus. The Jews react to
Jesus' revelation in a refusal to accept his words. They are
not ready to believe (vv. 41-42). Faced with their unbelief,
Jesus concludes that his listeners are unable to come to him
because the Father has not drawn them to him (6,44.37). They
have not allowed themselves to be instructed by the Father.
In fact, they do not listen to the one who has come from God,
the only one who can give eternal life (vv. 45-46). Consequently,
Jesus states once again 0that he is the bread of life. To
attain eternal life, they must eat the bread Jesus gives.
Manna in the desert did not give eternal life (v. 49). Eternal
life comes only from Jesus, who gave his body in sacrifice
for the life of the world (v. 51). The gift of Eucharist passes
through death. This bread has powers that death does not destroy.
This bread is "my flesh," says Jesus (v. 51). Like
the Jewish leaders in John 6, the first generations of Christians
had difficulty and were even scandalized by Jesus’ "enfleshment"
(see 1 Jn 4,2), his historicity, and their own assimilation
to him (see 1 Cor 1,18ff). This problem can be overcome only
through Jesus' own revelation that life involves an incredible
potential for transformation into new persons, the beautiful
reality of a world filled with life, the reality of having
God within, God pitching his tent forever in our tent (see
Jn 14,23). Last
Sunday, "bread of life" was compared with "manna from the
desert." Today Christ reveals himself clearly as the one sent
by the Father for our salvation. The dialogue no longer deals
with manna, but with the very person of Jesus, the revealer
who brings God's salvation to us. Our attention is directed
away from how to obtain the bread of life to how we can access
Jesus. We are dealing here with the question of faith in Jesus.
Today we are invited to challenge ourselves with the choice
between faith and unbelief, a choice that we cannot avoid.
For
the first time in this passage, the "Jews" are presented as
Jesus' real enemies. Therefore, they murmur about him. They
judge Jesus only by appearances. And so they adopt the attitude
of the Israelites in the desert. Like their ancestors, the
Jews of Jesus' day protest against God’s plan as revealed
in Jesus' words. They refuse to believe. They could not get
around their self-imposed barrier. They cannot find a way
to accept how the son of a simple, humble village carpenter
would claim that he has come down from heaven. They murmured
because a completely normal man in history said such things
about himself. Their resistance is centered in Jesus' humanity.
Such resistance can be found in other gospel passages. Even
Jesus' relatives refused to believe in him. They thought Jesus
had gone mad (see Mk 3,20). Usually it can be said that "great"
politicians, learned men and women, and artists try to surround
themselves in a halo of greatness in their attempt to remain
beyond the reach of the rest of humankind. They allow people
to contemplate them from afar, but never allow them to come
near and actually touch them. For that reason, the Jews are
scandalized when Joseph's son, the poor carpenter of Nazareth,
declares that he is the bread come down from heaven. Unfortunately,
we share the attitude of the Jews of Jesus' day when we cling
to our patterns of thought and action. We settle for unjust
structures and lifestyles that fail to give life to the marginalized
of the world. We refuse to let the Spirit reveal God's plan
to us in entirely new structures, new methods, new events
and new people. Then
as now, Jesus demanded of his followers what he said to Thomas:
"believe without seeing." Blessed are those who believe without
having seen" (Jn 20,29). Sometimes we are like the Jews who
judged Jesus according to their own premises. They refused
to make the effort to appreciate him through God's eyes. In
his concrete history, Jesus becomes the indispensable center
of the problem of faith. The posture each of us takes with
regard to Jesus is identical to how we accept God's revelation.
Whoever seeks God's revelation is always led to Jesus. Faced
with the murmuring of those around him, Jesus assumes a calm
attitude that we should learn to imitate. Jesus refuses to
criticize. He remembers that people cannot come to him unless
the Father attracts them. Keep in mind that the path to faith
is a grace that we must receive as gift. All our efforts will
serve no purpose if they are not directed by God's grace toward
Christ. Our good intentions by themselves won't bear fruit
unless God inspires them. No matter how much we are study
Jesus’ words and deeds, we can be caught up with the externals
as we refuse to make an internal act of faith. Our prayer
must be prayer that God inspires within us as we approach
Jesus as God's son so that we may believe deeply in him, love
him with our whole heart, and follow him faithfully. We need
to pass out of the natural plane in which we see nothing but
appearances and be transported to the supernatural plane in
which we understand the greatness and dignity of our brother
and redeemer, Jesus Christ. Let us ask the Lord to open our
eyes so that we recognize how much Jesus deserves to be loved,
obeyed and imitated. Sometimes
we allow ourselves to dread even the thought of death. Death
is something we shy away from. But today Jesus offers an additional
message of hope. He gives a promise that he will carry out:
All those drawn by the Father will be raised up by Jesus on
the last day. We can look at the end of life in this way:
When all is said and done, it is not the darkness of a grave
that waits us, but the brightness of resurrection into eternal
life. Death does not have the last word. The eyes of unbelievers
do not see beyond the cemetery. As believers, we await the
resurrection of the dead. In the first reading, Elijah reaffirms
this same hope: Faced with the feelings of abandonment and
desperation and left to die in the desert, the prophet receives
from God unexpected bread, like the manna of old, food for
body and spirit. In this bread, God gives life and strengthens
hope. With this bread, Elijah can make the long journey to
God's mountain. This idea is relevant to the last verses of
this Sunday's gospel that state the decisive reasons for Jesus'
bread discourse: The one who believes has eternal life. This
is not merely a future promise, but an already present reality,
because Jesus is personally the bread of life. In him, word
and person constitute an undivided and indestructible reality.
He is both giver and gift. He personally confers the believers
with eternal life. From this firm foundation, Jesus builds
a bridge that spans the Eucharistic discourse through the
relationship between word and sacrament. But that is something
that we will explore next Sunday. For
personal consideration
For
the group’s consideration
For
the Prayers of the Faithful
Let
Us Pray
|
|||
|
Claretian Communications,
Inc. • 8 Mayumi St. UP Village, Diliman 1101, Quezon City, Philippines
|
|||