What shocks you?

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The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, 25 August 2024
Joshua 24:1-2, 15-17, 18 ><}}}}*> Ephesians 5:21-32 ><}}}}*> John 6:60-69

We now come to the fifth and final installment of the “Bread of Life” discourse by Jesus found only in John’s gospel. The series comes to a full circle this Sunday with the appearance anew of the disciples.

Recall when this started last Sunday of July, Jesus and His disciples were supposed to rest in a deserted place but a great crowd had followed them. After teaching the people, Jesus asked Philip to test him where they could buy food for the crowd; Andrew joined their conversation to present a young boy with five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish. Jesus took the bread and fish to miraculously feed the more than 5000 people with many leftovers!

Jesus then fled from the scene when He felt the people planned to make Him their king; the people caught up with Him in Capernaum where Jesus taught them about Himself as the “living bread that came down from heaven.” The people questioned Jesus, then they murmured, and later quarreled among themselves upon hearing these words from Jesus.

All along these past three weeks during the discourse by Jesus with the people interacting with Him extensively, the disciples were silent, even nowhere nor mentioned at all by John until today.

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:60-64).

The scene is worth reflecting which started and ended with the disciples at the forefront but unfortunately, this time sadly mimicked the murmuring of the people as they expressed too the worst about the bread of life discourse of Jesus, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

It was as if the gavel had banged the table to finish all discussions by Jesus who was again not bothered at all like in the past four weeks. In fact, John tells us Jesus was not surprised at all with the adverse reactions by His disciples, “Since Jesus knew his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, ‘Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?’”

In the original Greek, the word used by John was “skandalizo” – somewhat like, “were you scandalized?” The verbs used vary in the English translations, from “offend”, “disturb”, and “shock” as we have in our lectionary. All words evoke disbelief and distrust that lead to desertion because literally speaking, skandal in Greek means a stone that causes one to trip or fall, a stumbling block. Nobody would ever want to trip or fall or be led into a sin or troubles like what we see these days with so many scams going on especially in the internet.

What is so sad and very strange with today’s gospel is how of all people there in Capernaum, the disciples were the ones who were “shocked” with the statements by Jesus that “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” (Jn.6:54-55, August 18)!

Jesus must be saying the same thing today when so many Catholics are still the ones who could not believe the teachings of Christ as echoed by the Church not only about the Eucharist but those on sex and marriage, and most of all, on heaven and eternal life!

“Does this shock you?“ How hard it is to believe and accept the words of Jesus Christ these days when we His disciples are the ones who who could not accept the value of the Holy Mass? Until now since the waning of COVID-19, people have refused to go back to the Mass, preferring to go online, surfing on a smorgasbord of homilies by priests turned celebrities.

Remember, the minimum requirement for any Catholic to be considered as “good” is celebrating the Mass every Sunday. When we go to Mass on Sundays inside an actual church with others, we reassert and reaffirm our faith in God just like Joshua and the Israelites in the first reading before entering the Promised Land. Every participation in the Sunday Mass as a community of disciples and believers is an expression of our shared commitment and public profession of faith in God.

“Does this shock you?” With all kinds of alibis and excuses amid many murmurings, some Catholics believe that for as long as you do not commit murder, you can still get to heaven even if you skip the third commandment. Going back to the first reading, every Mass is that pledge in the wilderness by the chosen people led by Joshua, whose name means, “God is my Savior”, a derivative of the name Jesus; but, this time, it is Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God who is with us celebrating the Holy Mass, speaking to us in the liturgy of the Word and giving Himself to us, Body and Blood, to sustain our long journey to the promised land of eternal life that begins right here, right now. Every Sunday Mass is a dress rehearsal of our entry into heaven!

“Does this shock you?” Most shocking of all is when priests as disciples of Christ do not prepare for the Holy Mass, when they do not celebrate the Mass prayerfully that people find valid reasons not to come at all. It is the most shocking shock of all when priests themselves have no plans of going to heaven, dragging the people to hell with their mediocre celebrations!

We always say the Eucharist is the summit and source of Christian life but how can it be when Jesus is missing in the celebrations that priests could not even dress properly for the Mass? Whatever happened to Paul’s reminder for us to be subordinate to one another out of reverence to Christ (Eph. 5:21), of having Jesus as the center and foundation of our lives especially priests?

If the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, then our lives are changed in Christ, starting with the priest himself as pastor of the community. We priests have a great role and responsibility in making every liturgy meaningful, filled with Christ in our life of prayer and service centered on Christ. Everything then follows in the parish when there is a good liturgy. St. John Paul II stressed in Ecclesia de Eucharistia that everything in the parish must be rooted, must spring forth from the Eucharist, a fruit of the Eucharist. Where do we go if the priest does not celebrate the Mass daily or meaningfully, nourishing the people’s hunger and thirst for Christ?

After five weeks of listening to Christ’s discourse of the bread of life, Jesus is asking each of us here, “Do you also want to leave?” Shall we answer like Peter who said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are theHoly One of God” (Jn. 6:68-69)?

Can we make that same stand for Jesus like Peter in Capernaum or that centurion on Good Friday who declared with conviction, “Truly this man is the Son of God” (Mk.15:39) that is why we come to Mass every Sunday? Or, like Thomas the Apostle eight days after Easter, can we pray with conviction “my Lord and my God” when the Body and Blood of Christ are lifted up during consecration?

Again, we are called to faith in Jesus Christ today. Like love, faith is to commit one’s self to God or to anyone not because one is so sure of one’s self but because one is so sure of the other. Sadly, the other disciples were not sure with Christ – nor with themselves that they simply left and went back to their old ways! And that’s the most shocking of all in these days of too much self and bloated egos.

It is a very long weekend in the Philippines, don’t forget to go to Mass today! Have a blessed week ahead, everyone.