21st Sunday in
Ordinary Time, Year B. Josh. 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; John 6: 60-69.
AIM: To challenge
the hearers to an unconditioned commitment to Jesus Christ.
Are you the kind of person who
welcomes a challenge? Or do challenges make you uncomfortable because of the
risk involved? Two of our readings today are about challenges. In the first
reading Joshua, the successor of Moses as leader of God=s people, challenges them to renew
their commitment to the God who has delivered them from bondage in Egypt, and
who is about to lead them into a new land. With a new chapter in their national
life about to open, Joshua challenges his people to a fundamental decision: AIf it does not please you to serve
the Lord, decide today whom you will serve. ... As for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.@
The people accept Joshua=s challenge. Without hesitation, they renew their
commitment to the One whose miraculous care and guidance they have experienced:
AFar be it from us to forsake the Lord
for the service of other gods. For it
was the Lord, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt
The gospel also contains a challenge.
Following Jesus= miraculous feeding of a great crowd in the wilderness, John
records the long discourse on the bread of life, portions of which we have
heard in the gospel readings for the last two Sundays. Offended by Jesus= stark words about eating his flesh
and drinking his blood, Amany of the disciples returned to their former way of life,@ we heard in today=s reading, Aand no longer accompanied him.@
Saddened by this defection, Jesus
turns to the inner circle of the Twelve and challenges them to a decision, very
much as Joshua (whose name in Hebrew is the same as Jesus) had challenged the
people in his day. ADo you also want to leave?@ Jesus asks. Here, as elsewhere,
Peter responds on behalf of all: AMaster, to whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life.@
We should not read too much into
Peter=s words. In all likelihood, Peter was
as puzzled by Jesus= words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood as the
others who turned away from Jesus and left. Peter was expressing not mental
comprehension, but something deeper: trusting faith B the willingness to embark upon
uncharted waters. However hard Jesus= demands, however difficult his
teaching, Peter acknowledges a bond that can no longer be broken.
That is the essence of faith: a
personal relationship based on trust. The One who asks for this trust
challenges us to an unconditioned commitment: with no Ifs, Ands, or Buts
B and no strings attached. That is
hard. For many people it is too hard. Challenged to make such a commitment,
many people turn away B like the people in today=s gospel who Areturned to their former way of life
and no longer accompanied [Jesus].@
Turning away from the challenge to an
unconditioned commitment is common today. It is called Akeeping your options open.@ Many people consider that a key to
happiness. That explains why people live together without marrying. ALet=s try it out first,@ they think B not realizing that there you cannot
try out marriage without marrying, any more than you can try out parenthood by
baby-sitting someone else=s child. Living together without marrying is a relationship
which is different from marriage. Interestingly, statistics show that
the rate of marital breakup is far higher for couples who have lived together
before marriage than for those who do not.
Even on the practical level, Atrying it out first@ mostly doesn=t work.
People who live together without
marrying set conditions: AAs long as we=re in love.@ AAs long as it works out.@ AUntil I find someone better.@ Christian marriage means
committing to a spouse without conditions. It means promising faithfulness to
one another Afor better, for worse, for richer,
for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.@
The Church asks the same
unconditioned commitment of candidates for priesthood, from a Sister or Brother
taking religious vows. Who can promise the young man on the day of his priestly
ordination, the young woman on the day of her religious profession, that it
will work out B not just for a year, or five years,
or for ten, but for a lifetime? No one can make that promise! The commitment
must be made simply in faith
And the really big payoffs in life
come to people who make such a commitment. If you insist on keeping your
options open, on retaining ultimate control of your life, you may achieve a
measure of fulfillment and happiness. Life=s greatest reward, however, you will not
achieve. That is reserved for those who choose an option and go for it; who
make a commitment with no strings attach; without any If or Ands or Buts.
Making such commitments is no
guarantee of uninterrupted happiness. In a fallen world there is no such
guarantee. A widow testified to this when she said: AFather, when you walk up the aisle on
your wedding day, you don=t see the Stations of the Cross.@ More than sixty-one years after
ordination I can same the same of my own experience of priesthood. There have
been dark days, even dark years, as well as sunny ones. But I have never regretted
the commitment I made over sixty-one years ago B not one single day. If you were to
ask me whether, if I could live my life over again, knowing the worst that
priesthood would bring I would still choose to be a priest, I would answer you
without hesitation: In a heartbeat! I would change just one thing. I would try
to be more faithful. The Chicago
In this hour Jesus Christ is
challenging each one of us, as his namesake Joshua challenged the people in his
day: ADecide today whom you will serve.@
What is your choice? Will you decide for yourself, for keeping your
options open? Or will you decide for
Jesus Christ?
He is asking each of us the same
challenging question he put to Peter and those other friends of his: ADo you also want to leave?@ Happy if we can answer, with
Peter:
AMaster, to whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life.@
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