August 26, 2024

 

21st Sun, John 6:60-69
Jesus concludes His Bread of Life Discourse from Capernaum.

-Last week Jesus was speaking to the Jews / This week He is speaking directly to the disciples (and I say: to you and me).

-These verses tell how the disciples reacted to The Bread of Life Discourse / “…many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it” (V60).

-“Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, He said to them, “Does this shock you?” (V61).

-Their reaction implies they are still taking Him literally / They find the idea of the Eucharistic mystery incomprehensible to human reason and the material world.

-Jesus doesn’t want them to understand according to the (flesh) - Worldly knowledge and reason, but His teaching as a revelation from God (V62-64).

-I will add / We get in trouble when we try to rationalize Divine Revelation (mystery) that is beyond human reason and the material world / Like the Trinity, the Virgin Birth / We need to take God at His Word, or we fall into unbelief / Every heresy begins with a kernel of truth / But when we try to use human reason alone to explain Divine Mystery / We end up getting it totally wrong (eg. the Arians said Jesus wasn’t God because God cannot have a beginning / They got Jesus totally wrong / This is why Jesus speaks of “the Son of Man ascending” (V62) / This isn’t human knowledge through reason alone, but from Jesus / God Himself.

-“As a result of this, many of His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him” / They left Jesus (V66).

-Many who leave are disciples / Those who have left everything to follow Jesus / They leave over Doctrine / A difficult teaching / A Divine Mystery.

-The disciples are not open to Divine Grace / Again we will not always understand rationally the mysteries of God (And Science cannot answer the questions of the human heart).

-Jesus then says to the apostles / “Do you also want to leave?” (V67).
-I love Peter who then makes a statement of faith (V69).

-Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life / We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (V68-69) / (In the Greek codexes - “Holy One of God” translates to Messiah) / Similar to when the Holy Spirit revealed to Peter Jesus as Messiah in (Mt. 16:16).
-My theme this week / This gets personal. 
-Jesus says I can’t change this teaching.

-He is saying: I AM TRULY PRESENT IN THE EUCHARIST / THIS IS MY BODY / THIS IS MY BLOOD / Jesus says: I DESIRE INTIMACY.

-Why doesn’t this look like God. Taste like God?

-Think hidden and the Transfiguration / We see fear when Jesus reveals His full Glory / The Eucharist (like His Body) hides His Glory / So we are not afraid of Him.
-So We don’t run and hide because we cannot handle His full Glory.
-So we can draw close to Jesus in the Sacraments and the Mass.
-Jesus hides Himself so we don’t have to hide. 

-Jesus made us to receive Him.
-Would we get near a tabernacle or Monstrance lit up like the Transfiguration?

-We are wired and created to have intimacy with God. 
-Not just a relationship but union, intimacy. 
-This is the Mass. 
-This is Right Worship / This is Pure Worship. 
-This is my Body Given for you. 

In Conclusion / Like Peter when we trust in God and His teachings and make a Profession of Faith / That we believe Jesus is Lord / That we believe in all He Has proclaimed through His Church / This leads to Hope / And to fulfillment as we learn to love with hope (because we know eternity awaits us) / And we no longer have to hide in shame from His Glory / Because one day we will share fully in His Glory / Even when we currently sometimes feel broken.

-This intimacy leads to St. Paul message to the Ephesians:
-Saint Paul speaks about wives and husbands / This subordination clause has been much abused / This is what I tell couples preparing for marriage / I point to the Crucifix and say / You give your life to your spouse in the same way that Jesus gave (and gives) His life for His Bride (The Church) / Imagine the trust and respect when we treat our spouse in this manner / Imagine a world with concrete sacrificial love for the other as we proclaim and live / THIS IS MY BODY GIVEN FOR YOU / What wife wouldn’t follow her husband if treated this way?

THIS IS MY BODY GIVEN FOR YOU!

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Vivat Jesus,
Father Vic Gournas