21st Sunday – Cycle B Deacon
Michael Leach
Jos 24:1-2A, 15-17, 18B *
PS 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21 * EPH 5:21-32 *
JN 6:60-69
In the first reading, we see Joshua gathering
up the elders and leaders. He is
reminding them of who God is and what the Lord has done from them. He tells them all to make a choice of who
they will follow, the false gods of their fathers or Yahweh. Joshua’s answer, “As for me and my household,
we will serve the Lord”. Joshua had
faith, we need to have faith too.
The psalmist encourages us to, “Bless the
Lord at all times”. It is easy to do
when we feel particularly blessed, but not as easy when we feel abandoned or
scared or angry. I remember one day I
was feeling angry about a situation that was out of my control. I was sharing this with a friend and his
response was, “Praise be to God”. Praise
be to God. This phrase, at that
particular moment caught me off guard.
He knew it did and then he reminded me that we should bless the Lord at
all times. Another verse from the same
psalm says, “When the just cry out, the Lord hears them and from all their
distress he rescues them”. We need to
have faith.
Our second reading, which came from
Ephesians, is one of my favorites. Not
so much about wives being subordinate to husbands and husbands loving their
wives as Christ loves the Church, but the last part of the reading. “For this reason, a man shall leave his
father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”. How
can two become one flesh? We need to
have faith.
We now come to the Gospel of John and the
conclusion of the Bread of Life Discourse.
For the past 6 weeks the Church has lead us through this chapter, which
goes to show how important it is in the life of the Church and how important it
should be in our lives as well.
The followers of Jesus had seen with their
own eyes the miracles that Jesus did.
They knew that he was the messiah, the anointed one. But Jesus was telling them something that was
hard to hear. They must eat the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink his Blood, or they would not have life within them. How is this possible? This was too hard for
them and they walked away. Notice that
Jesus did not call them back because they misunderstood him. There are a few times in the gospels where
Jesus is teaching and people misunderstand him.
He stops them and corrects their mis-understanding, but not this
time. He does not call them back and
say, “I was just speaking metaphorically” or “I did not mean it that way”. No.
Jesus said over and over again, “My flesh is true food and my blood is
true drink”. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in
him”. How is this possible? We need to have faith.
Jesus’ words were true. The followers who left did not trust that it
was possible. Jesus asked the twelve
apostles if they were going to leave also, and Peter says, “Master, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life.” The apostles did not have
it all figured out but through faith, they knew that Jesus was right, and their
faith was confirmed at the Last Supper, when Jesus gathered the disciples in
the upper room to celebrate the Passover.
Jesus took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, “This is my body”. IS my
body. Not a representation of my
body. Not a symbol of my body. This is my body, which will be given
for you. In Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he
says that, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim
the death of the Lord until he comes”.
Does that sound a little familiar?
In just a few minutes we will continue this tradition.
But before that, I want to jump back up to
our 2nd reading for a moment.
“And the two shall become one flesh”.
A man and a woman come together, before God and witnesses and ask to be
wed, to be joined together in holy matrimony. Now picture this… Christ is the bridegroom and the Church is the
bride. Two shall become one flesh. When we share in the communion meal, we, in a
real and tangible way, take Jesus into our selves. Jesus becomes part of us, and we become part
of Jesus. Two shall become one flesh. We need to have faith.
We need to know with all of our very being
that, when we leave this building we take Jesus with us as we go. We are sent out on a mission to be Jesus to
others and to see Jesus in those we encounter.
