August 19, 2018

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time B Proverbs 9: 1-6; Ephesians 5: 15-20; John 6: 51-58 So many people use the expression today of ‘their bucket list.’ Some might even ask, ‘what is a bucket list?’ A bucket list is a list of things to do before you die or ‘kick the bucket.’ The key here is that one’s list should be things that a person wants to do and would love to do. It was made popular as a result of the movie, Bucket List. Two terminally ill guys (Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson) meet in a hospital and then set out an amazing adventure to try to do everything on their lists. I’m sure that most of us have thought of this and wished that we could see and do they things we have always dreamed about. The readings today lead us to another list, a spiritual list. Perhaps we could start with another question, what do I hunger for? Let’s add the word ‘spiritually’ to this question. We hunger for so many things. The bottom line is that only God can satisfy our deepest hungers. The people who came up to Jesus today have been curious as to who and what Jesus was all about. John has been following and writing about these people’s search. It started right at the beginning of Jesus’ appearance on the scene. The Pharisees had learned that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John the Baptist (John 4). On His way back to Galilee, He had passed through Samaria, an area that most Jews bypassed by going along the Jordan River route. The Samaritans believed that their worship was the true religion of the ancient Israelites from before the Babylonian captivity. The major issue between the Jews and Samaritans has always been the location of the Chosen Place to worship: Mount Zion in Jerusalem according to the Jewish faith or Mount Gerizim the place from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan. Jesus stopped at Jacob’s well and encountered a Samaritan woman who ran to tell the townspeople, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could this be the Messiah?” Jesus stayed there two days and His popularity began to grow. The Pharisees were alerted to this preacher/messiah or threat. Then He returned to Cana where He had changed the water into wine and a royal official had a son who was very ill. He came to Jesus begging for help. Was this unusual…yes. Why would a person of his position and class lower himself to come to this street preacher at best? Jesus healed the son ‘at a distance’ never seeing the lad in person. Then Jesus went back up to Jerusalem and watched the sick, ill, infirm, crippled poor gathering at the Sheep’s Gate Pool at Bethesda. They believed that whenever the water stirred, the first ones in would be healed. Imagine the traffic and the mad rush for healing. Jesus saw a man and told him “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” This was the home turf of the Pharisees and religious leaders. The Temple was a short distance from this site. The leaders questioned Jesus as to who He was and how did He get the authority to do all of His amazing miracles and teaching? Jesus told them, ‘The works that the Father gave me to accomplish these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard His voice nor seen His form and you do not have His word remaining in you because you do not believe in the One whom He has sent.” (John 5: 36-39) Then Jesus goes back to the Sea of Galilee and “A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs He was performing on the sick.” (John 6:2) Jesus was concerned because they were hungry. The disciples felt it was for food, Jesus knew that their real hunger was for God. They needed to know that they were important, special and loved. They needed God’s food. Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fish…five thousand were fed. The people wanted to make Jesus their king, Jesus left the scene. The apostles went by boat to the other side. Jesus came at night, walking on the water. The next day the crowd found where He had gone and wanted to know more, to be fed more. Jesus explained with what is known as the Bread of Life Discourse. God fed the people in the desert with manna…Jesus is the true Bread come from God, food that endures for eternal life. ‘Bread of Life’ is a figure for God’s revelation in Jesus. The people asked to be fed this food forever. The opening chapters of Proverbs include many saying promoting a right relationship with God. Today’s reading, Lady Wisdom, extends an invitation for all to come to her beautiful house. She has prepared a sumptuous banquet for her guests. They will learn the path that leads to God. Wisdom is committed to guiding people away from the lure of sin and ignorance. Wisdom’s path leads to life and coincides with the coming of the Messiah. Christians will see it as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, and of the heavenly banquet which the Eucharist anticipates. Paul is telling the Ephesians that since they belong to Christ, they should take full advantage of every opportunity to display their spiritual wisdom to the world. Live positively, don’t be foolish, be wise. The Gospel continues which may at first sight be viewed as shocking: “Amen,Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day.” Now Scripture scholars tell us that ‘Body and blood’ stand for the whole person. When we eat the bread and drink the wine of the Eucharist we are not receiving a body and blood. We are receiving a person, a living person. In the Eucharist Jesus comes to us, not under the form of something that is essential for life — food. Through the food of the Eucharist Jesus nourishes in us the undying life of God which we received in baptism. That is why He says, “Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.” The Eucharist is not just a reminder; it is a real sacrifice and a real gift. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, (1365) says, “In the Eucharist, Christ gives us the very body which He gave up for us on the cross.” John, A Devotional Commentary states, “Whenever we celebrate the Mass, we participate in a representation of Jesus’ death and resurrection When we receive Jesus with a disposition of faith and love, we enter into those actual events of His life-giving sacrifice. We not only receive bread and wine—or flesh and blood, for that matter. We receive salvation. Let us rejoice that Jesus has given this gift to all generations until He returns in glory” — where all our hungers are filled totally with God’s all embracing love. I reflect on: • What brings you back to celebrate the Eucharist week after week or day after day? What brings me back to celebrate with you? • What helps us understand Christ’s real presence in the bread of life and saving cup? • How would I describe my relationship with Jesus today? ten years ago? How might Jesus describe it? Sacred Space 2018 states: “There can hardly be a more graphic or a more surprising description of the indissoluble participation of one life in another. In Hebrew, the expression ‘flesh and blood’ means the whole being. The reality of Christ’s presence at the Eucharist is beyond our comprehension. We are asked not to understand it, but to experience it. ‘Abide in me’ is a phrase Jesus uses over and over again He invites us to take Him into ourselves and become one with Him. How might I take today’s reading, along with ‘abide in me,’ to the table when I next partake of the Eucharist?”