Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle B)
Readings:
Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Psalm 34:2-3, 16-21
Ephesians 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32
John 6:60-69
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The words LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Church's Universal Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: The Choice to Serve or to Walk
Away
The readings for this Sunday conclude a four-week reflection
on the miracle feeding of the Eucharist. In the First Reading, Joshua's challenge
to the children of Israel and the announcement of his decision prefigures the
Twelve Apostles' decision in the Gospel reading. When the Israelites completed
the first phase of the conquest of the Promised Land, Joshua allotted territory
to the new generation of the twelve tribes, the holy warrior descendants of the
Exodus generation. God's servant, Joshua, had completed his mission in the
allotment of the land. He called the tribes together for a National Assembly at
Shechem in central Canaan. He challenged the children of Israel to renew their
commitment to the covenant oath of obedience they swore to Yahweh at Mt. Sinai
(Ex 24:3, 8). Joshua called upon them to continue to live as holy people in
obedience to all God's commands and prohibitions to reap God's covenant blessings
in the Promised Land. His challenge was to either renew their oath to the
covenant or relinquish God's protection and serve the false gods of the Canaanites
and other Gentile peoples of the region. In making the challenge, Joshua
answered for himself and his family, saying, "As for me and my household, we
will serve the Lord!" (Josh 24:15). It is a decision every family still makes.
In the Responsorial Psalm, we repeat the response from Psalm 34:9, "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord," that we have been singing since the 19th Sunday. The psalmist has experienced the power of the Lord in his own life amid times of distress and bears witness to the Lord's faithfulness, deliverance, and protection. Our response invites the liturgical assembly to "taste" (meaning to experience) God's goodness for themselves by appealing to His mercy and taking refuge in Him through the blessings He gives us by receiving Christ in the sacred communion meal of the Eucharist.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul encourages the Ephesian Christians to become imitators of Christ by demonstrating love to others in the same way Christ loves them. He uses marital love as a metaphor for Jesus's love for His Church. Paul urges Christians to demonstrate a solid and unselfish mutual love, especially in their marital relationship. Comparing the marriage of a woman and a man to Christ and the Church, Paul made these concepts complement and illuminate each other. As the Head of the Body of Christ, He loves the Church like a man loves his wife, and He takes the Church as His Bride in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist.
Today's Gospel reading concludes a four-week Sunday meditation on the Eucharist from Jesus's Bread of Life Discourse in the 6th chapter of St. John's Gospel (18th to 21st Sundays). At the end of His discourse, Jesus challenged the Twelve Apostles to make a choice. He asked them if they would choose to believe and accept the New Covenant and the promise of eternal life that He offers in His flesh and blood or if they would walk away and return to their former lives before He called them to discipleship.
The Gospel Reading reminds us that we declare our commitment to the New Covenant in Christ Jesus through the Sacraments He gave us, especially the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. As St. Paul wrote in the Second Reading, Jesus gave us the Sacrament of Baptism so we might be sanctified/made holy by Christ the Bridegroom through a spiritual rebirth by water and the Holy Spirit as cherished members of the Bride of Christ, the Church. And, through the Eucharist, we continually renew our covenant commitment as He nourishes us with His own Body and Blood on our journey through earthly life to the Promised Land of Heaven. Therefore, every generation must take up the same challenge Jesus made to His disciples. In the Mass, you declare your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior as you go to the altar to renew your covenant commitment by receiving Christ in the Eucharist. Make the same commitment as Joshua by announcing, "I will serve the Lord." Have the courage of St. Peter by declaring, "We have come to believe that You are the Holy One of God!" And have faith like the psalmist who called us to "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord" because He "redeems the lives of His loyal servants!" (Ps 34:9, 23).
The First Reading Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b ~ Decide if
You will Serve the Lord
1 Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at
Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their
officers. When they stood in ranks before God, 2a Joshua addressed all the
people: [...] 15 "If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom
you will serve, the gods of your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of
the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we
will serve the LORD." 16 But the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake
the LORD for the service of other gods. 17 For it was the LORD, our God, who
brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of
slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected
us along our entire journey and among all the peoples through whom we passed. [...]
18b Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."
When Joshua was elderly, and his mission to secure the Promised Land for the new generation of the children of Israel (the children and grandchildren of the Exodus generation) was ending, he called a national assembly at Shechem in central Canaan. Shechem was a significant site in the history of the children of Israel. At Shechem, Yahweh promised the land to the descendants of their ancestor Abraham. It was where Abraham built his first altar to Yahweh and offered sacrifice in the Promised Land of Canaan (Gen 12:6-7). Thus, at this momentous national event at a place full of historical significance, Joshua called the people together as one body in a national assembly to declare their allegiance to Yahweh, their Divine King.
A national assembly is not the same as a sacred liturgical assembly associated with feast days in the liturgical calendar. National assemblies included everyone living in Israel: native-born Israelites from the twelve tribes and the foreigners residing among them, subject to God's laws, who acknowledged Yahweh as the sovereign Lord of the nation of Israel. Sacred assemblies, on the other hand, were the God-appointed times celebrated in a liturgical ceremony. Only Israelites and Gentiles converted to the faith of Israel by ritually submitting their lives to Yahweh (males through circumcision and males and females by ritual immersion) had the right to attend and take part in the religious services associated with the Sanctuary. Non-covenant members could not enter the Sanctuary. Nor could they participate in Yahweh's sacred meals associated with His liturgical assemblies like the Toda/Todah ("Thanksgiving" communion meals) or the meals associated with religious feasts like the Passover sacrifice consumed on the first night of Unleavened Bread and the other annual festivals.
At the national assembly, Joshua intended for the people to renew their oath of allegiance to Yahweh, God and Great King of Israel, as His obedient vassal people. In his speech to the people, Joshua challenged them to decide. Would they serve Yahweh with undivided hearts and submit to the laws of the Sinai Covenant to which they swore their obedience at Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:3, 8), or would they choose to turn to the false gods of the Canaanites and other pagan peoples of the region? In verse 15b, the gods of your fathers served beyond the River refers to the pagan gods of Abraham's family before he rejected all false gods to serve Yahweh alone; Abraham's father, Terah, and the descendants of his other Aramaean sons were pagans (Gen 35:2).
As a challenge to the people, Joshua declared: "As regards my family and me, we shall serve the LORD (Yahweh)." A righteous parent cannot secure his children's eternal salvation. Every person must choose whether to believe in God, serve Him, and be obedient to His commands or reject belief, obedience, and, therefore, the gift of eternal salvation. However, parents can nurture their children by providing a climate of righteousness and establishing a pattern of godly obedience within their household to set them on the narrow path to salvation. That is the pledge that Joshua made for his family.
The Israelites responded in two parts in verses 16-18. First, they made a profession of faith in Yahweh in verses 16-18a, saying, "At our approach, the LORD drove out all the peoples, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land." And then they swore an oath of faithful service in verse 18b, "Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God." Thus, the first part of the people's response in verses 16-18a is a declaration of faith, reciting a concise summary of God's intervention in their history. Then, the Israelites ended their profession of faith with an oath to serve Yahweh. Recalling the history of God's works followed by a profession of faith is also how we renew our allegiance to the New Covenant in Christ when we recite the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. But our creed ends with what we believe God will do for us in the future if we choose to serve Him, the promise of life everlasting: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Responsorial Psalm 34:2-3, 16-21 ~ Find Refuge in Serving
the LORD
Response: "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord."
2 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be
ever in my mouth. 3 Let my soul glory in the LORD; the lowly will hear me and
be glad.
Response:
16 The LORD has eyes for the just and ears for their cry.
17 The LORD confronts the evildoers, to destroy remembrance of them from the
earth.
Response:
18 When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from
all their distress, he rescues them. 19 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted,
and those who are crushed in spirit, he saves.
Response:
20 Many are the troubles of the just one, but out of them
all the LORD delivers him; 21 he watches over all his bones; not one of them
shall be broken.
Response:
Since the 19th Sunday, we have been singing the same response from Psalm 34:9, "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord." The title in verse 1 identifies this as a psalm of David, the first Davidic king of Israel and the ancestor of Jesus (Mt 1:1; Lk 1:32; 3:31). The psalmist begins by praising God in the liturgical assembly, and he invites the humble (lowly) who hear him also to unite themselves to God (verses 2-3). The other verses in 16-21 give his reasons why the Lord deserves praise.
The psalmist, having experienced the power of the Lord in his own life during times of distress, bears witness to the Lord's faithfulness, deliverance, and protection. Our response, from 34:9, invites the liturgical assembly to "taste" (meaning to experience) God's goodness for themselves by appealing to His mercy and taking refuge in Him. The Gospel of John alludes to verse 21 as a prophecy fulfilled at Jesus's crucifixion: For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: "Not a bone of it will be broken" (Jn 19:36). According to the Law, the bones of a Passover victim must remain unbroken for the sacrifice to be acceptable (Ex 12:46). Jesus was humanity's Passover sacrifice. He redeemed us from eternal death just as God saved the firstborn Israelites from the plague of death in the first Passover sacrifice. They were obedient to God's command and covered their doors with the Passover victim's blood in the sign of a cross, smearing blood from their thresholds to their lintels and two doorposts (Ex 12:7, 21-22).
The Second Reading Ephesians 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32 ~ Advice
for Husbands and Wives
21 Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for
Christ. 22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. 23 For
the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself,
the Savior of the Body. 24 As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives
should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her 26 to
sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, 27 that he
might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 So also husbands
should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves
himself. 29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes
it, even as Christ does the Church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 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. 32 This is a great mystery, but I
speak in reference to Christ and the Church.
Or 5:2a, 25-32:
2a Live in love, as Christ loved us. [...] 25 Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for
her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, 27
that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 So
also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his
wife loves himself. 29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and
cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, 30 because we are members of his
body. 31 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. 32 This is a great
mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.
In his advice to wives and husbands, St. Paul begins by urging them to be imitators of Christ (5:1) and to offer each other a mutual submission in their responsibility to each other in the unity of their marriage. This sentence is the key to understanding the entire section. In verses 23-24, Paul writes, For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head [kephale] of the Church, he himself the savior of the body. 24 As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
The Greek term kephale (head) appears 75 times in the New Testament. In the Bible, the word is used in the New Testament and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to the physical head of a man, an animal, or a statue (Mt 5:36; Gen 3:15; Dan 2:32). It also can be a synonym for "ruler" as in the case of King David who is called "the head over nations" (Ps 18:44) and Jesus Christ, who Paul calls the "head over all things to the Church" (Eph 1:22). The word can also mean the "source" or "origin," as in the "head of a river" or the male progenitor of a family. Paul is using this term to encourage husbands to be heads or leaders within their families just as Christ is head over the Church (also see Eph 5:23 and 1 Cor 11:3). Notice that St. Paul uses imagery from the Creation narrative of Genesis where the first man, Adam, was both the "head" and "source" of his wife, Eve, born from his side (Gen 2:21-23). In the same way, Jesus Christ is the "head" and the "source" of the Body of Christ, which is His Bride, the Church.
Wives are encouraged to cooperate with their husbands in their leadership roles in the family. Still, Paul places more responsibilities upon the husbands in what is a mutual submission in their relationship with their wives. Paul quotes in verse 31 from the Old Testament creation story of the marriage of Adam and Eve, which Jesus also quotes in Matthew 19:5.
Paul lists three ways are husbands to serve their wives:
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the
Church and handed himself over for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the
bath of water with the word, 27 that he might present to himself the Church in
splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and
without blemish.
Paul compares the purification of an Israelite bride in her
bridal bath before her wedding day with the Sacrament of Baptism. Through the
waters of Christian baptism, Christ sanctifies the Body of Christ, which is His
Church, purifying His Bride of sin to make her holy and without blemish or
defect as she offers herself to Christ, the divine Bridegroom.
In verse 31, Paul emphasizes that marriage is a God-ordained institution, quoting from God's words to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:24. He writes that Christian marriage takes on a symbolic meaning in imitation of Christ the Bridegroom's love for His Bride the Church. Wives should lovingly serve their husbands like the Church serves Christ (verses 22 and 24). At the same time, husbands should honor and care for their wives with the same devotion of Christ in caring for His Church (verses 25-30). Paul's point is that the Sacrament of Marriage is a path to holiness, and if couples live this way in their marriage relationship, one will not dominate or abuse the other.
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to
Christ and the Church. 33 In any case, each one of you should love his wife as
himself, and the wife should respect her husband.
The great mystery is Christ's unique relationship to the
Church as Bridegroom to Bride. It is a mystery that we can grasp
somewhat in the ideal loving and unselfish union between husband and wife, and
that is why Paul uses marital love as a metaphor for the love between Jesus and
His Church. He urges Christians to demonstrate a solid and unselfish mutual
love, especially in their marital relationship. In comparing marriage between a
woman and a man to Christ and the Church, Paul makes these two concepts complement
and illuminate each other. Christ is the husband of the Church because He is
her head, and He loves His Bride, the Church, like a man loves his wife. Paul uses
symbolism that Jewish Christians would have readily understood. The imagery of
the covenant people as the Bride of Yahweh is a reoccurring symbol image of the
Old Testament prophets; see the chart:Symbolic Images of the Old Testament Prophets.
It is a mystery, however, that will not be fully revealed until Christ returns
in glory, and the Church celebrates the "wedding day of the Lamb and His Bride"
(see St. John's vision in Rev 19:6-10).
The Gospel of John 6:60-69 ~ Jesus Asks: "Will You Leave?"
60 Many of Jesus's disciples who were listening said,
"This saying is hard; who can accept it?" 61 Since Jesus knew that his
disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? 62 What
if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 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. 64 But there are some of you who do not
believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the
one who would betray him. 65 And he said, "For this reason, I have told you
that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." 66 As a
result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and
no longer accompanied him. 67 Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want
to leave?" 68 Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and are convinced that
you are the Holy One of God."
This passage concludes Jesus's "Bread of Life Discourse" in John chapter 6. What Jesus said that many Jews found offensive was His statement concerning the necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood to have His gift of eternal life (Jn 6:51, 53-56). The Jews were scandalized and asked, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (Jn 6:52). What Jesus was teaching was intolerable to an orthodox, Old Covenant Jew. The people listening to Him believed He was speaking literally about eating His flesh and blood and was demanding cannibalism, which was forbidden under the Law and punishable by death. There was also the prohibition against consuming raw meat or drinking blood (Lev 17:10-12).
The Noahide Law (the laws set down for humanity after the Great Flood in Genesis 9:1-17) and the Law of the Sinai Covenant that came centuries later forbade the consumption of raw flesh or blood. The penalty for anyone who violated this prohibition was to be completely cut off (excommunicated) from the covenant community: As for anyone, whether of the House of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, who consumes any blood, I will set my face against that individual and will cut that person off from among the people, since the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, because it is the blood as life that makes atonement. That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you, not even a resident alien, may consume blood (Lev 17:10-11 NABRE). The prohibition is repeated nine times in Scripture (see Gen 9:4; Lev 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-12, 14; 19:26; Dt 12:16, 23-28 and 15:23). The expressed purpose of blood was its use in the blood rituals that expiated sins in the Liturgy of worship.
The Jews were scandalized because what Jesus commanded by consuming His flesh and blood would cut them off from their families in the covenant community and liturgical worship in the Temple. But Jesus was not talking about His human flesh. In the Holy Eucharist, believers eat Christ's glorified Body and drink His glorified Blood. Some have argued that Jesus was only speaking symbolically, or when His disciples began to walk away, He would have stopped them (Jn 6:66). He was not speaking symbolically and intended for His New Covenant believers to separate from the Old Covenant.
In Jesus's Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven, He fulfilled the Old Covenant. He satisfied the ritual purification and sacrificial rites, making them no longer necessary. He also transformed the Liturgy of Temple worship by establishing a new ritual meal in the Eucharistic banquet. Therefore, the only part of the old Sinai covenant that remained was the moral law. However, Jesus intensified and internalized the moral law (i.e., Mt 5:28) and established an internationalized covenant open to the people of all nations on earth. Jesus fulfilled all blood/animal sacrifices in His one perfect sacrifice. The Toda/Todah, "Thanksgiving" sacrifice of praise in a sacred meal in the presence of God, continued in the Eucharist. The word eucharistia, from the Greek for "Thanksgiving," is the word used for the Toda in the Septuagint Greek Old Testament translation. The Eucharist fulfills the Rabbinic prophecy that in the age of the Messiah, all sacrifices would cease, and only the Toda would continue (Levine, JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus, page 43; Joseph Ratzinger, Feast of Faith, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1986, pages 58-59; Lev 7:11-15/7:1-5).
In response to the Jewish crowd's distress, Jesus asked, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?" Some of them would witness His Ascension when He took His place at the right hand of the heavenly throne of God, offering Himself to the Father as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of humanity (see Rev 5:3-10). In verse 62, Jesus referred again to the vision in Daniel 7:13 and asked them if that would be enough proof for them to accept His authority and divine identity.
In John 6:63, Jesus continued, saying, "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." The misinterpretation of this verse is a stumbling block for those who are wavering in accepting the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. All life comes from one source; the Spirit gives life: God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth (Jn 4:24). Jesus does not fully reveal the mystery of God the Holy Spirit until His glorification through His death and resurrection. However, He continued to speak about the Holy Spirit to His disciples and the people:
He spoke openly of the Holy Spirit with His disciples in connection with prayer and His Gospel of salvation that they will carry to the world (Lk 11:13). When Jesus said that "the spirit gives life," He was referring to God the Holy Spirit who interacts with humankind to give the gift of life. "Human life is sacred because from its beginning, it involves the creative action of God, and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end" (CCC# 2258).
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of
no avail.
This part of the verse is the often misinterpreted critical statement.
The "flesh" Jesus refers to cannot be His ordinary human flesh, or He would contradict
what He has already taught in verses 50-53. In verse 53, Jesus said: "Amen,
amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you do not have life within you." In verse 63, Jesus spoke of God
the Holy Spirit giving human beings life. Humanity is God's most incredible
creation, and yet that creation has nothing to offer that can compare with what
Jesus is offering. There is no salvation through human flesh, and the "flesh"
Jesus refers to in verse 63 is the "flesh" of human beings that has nothing
to offer. Man cannot work out his salvation. Through Jesus's glorified
flesh and His glorified blood made present by the power of the Holy Spirit, our
souls will be nourished and receive the gift of eternal life. As St. Peter
Chrysologus wrote: "The Father in Heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to
ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the
Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of
the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each
day with food from heaven" (Homilie 67: PL 52, 392).
Even if you do not accept that Jesus is not referring to His flesh but human flesh in general, one must concede that it is not His human, Jewish flesh that gives us life. When we partake of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, we receive all of the glorified, resurrected Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, effused without limit with God the Holy Spirit. Jesus's glorified flesh is the flesh that gives life.
The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
"The words" are a reference to Jesus's teaching about the
promise of eternal life through the gift of His flesh and blood when He said: "the
bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat it and not die" (in
verse 50). His words reveal something divine which only God the Holy Spirit can
supply. It is from the Spirit that the source of life for all people of the
world will come, and only Jesus can completely understand that gift. We cannot
fully grasp this miracle without the power of the Holy Spirit acting in our
lives. Jesus will teach the disciples in His Last Supper Discourse: "The
Advocate [Paraclete], the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name, he
will teach you everything and remind of you of all that I told you"
(Jn 14:26). The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "The Holy Spirit will lead us
into all truth and will glorify Christ. He will prove the world wrong about sin,
righteousness, and judgment" (CCC 729 also see 728).
There were three "scandals" or stumbling blocks that prevented belief for many of the Jews:
64 But there are some of
you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not
believe and the one who would betray him. 65 And he
said, "For this reason, I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is
granted him by my Father." 66 As a result of this, many of his disciples
returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.
When Jesus referred to the one who would betray him,
he spoke of Judas Iscariot, who would betray Him to the chief priests the
following year in Jerusalem (Mt 26:14-16; Mk 14:10-11; Lk 22:3-6). These verses
are undoubtedly a crucial point in the text. The crowd, including some of
Jesus's disciples, believed He spoke literally and not symbolically. The critical
point not to miss is that when they walked away, Jesus did not stop them! If
He were only speaking symbolically and then let them leave, He would be perpetuating
a lie, which is a sin. Jesus is without sin. They left, and He did not stop
them because He was not speaking symbolically; He was speaking literally.
67 Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to
leave?" 68 Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and are convinced that
you are the Holy One of God."
Peter answers for himself and the other Apostles. When he
refers to "the Holy One," Peter is using one of the expressions that
designate God in the Old Testament (see Is 40:25; Hos 11:9; Hab 1:12; etc.),
and in the New Testament, "the Holy One of God" refers to the divine Messiah
(Mk 1:24;
Lk 1:35; 4:34;
Acts 2:27). Thus, Peter answered Jesus's challenge by
affirming his and the other Apostles' belief in the divinity of Jesus the
Messiah.
Peter's affirmation of faith is a lesson for us all. When we become frustrated with the Church because we do not understand why certain abuses continue or when priests disappoint us in their pastoral missions, it is good to remember what Peter asked in this passage when he said: "Master, to whom shall we go?" There is nowhere else to go. As Peter told the Jewish Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus, "Only in him is there salvation; for of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved" (Acts 4:12, NJB).
The Church is the Body of Christ. We are the Body because we consume His Body, and there can only be One Body. Therefore, our duty as professing Christians is to safeguard, reform when necessary, and protect that Body. After all, the question to consider when confronted with abuses or failures of human leaders within the Church is: if you had known Judas, would you have walked away from Christ and forfeited your gift of eternal salvation because of him? Or would you have chosen to stay? Your choice is the same today. Will you trust in Jesus, remain in union with His Holy Church, protect her from enemies within and without, and declare your faith as Peter and the Apostles affirmed theirs? Or will you walk away like those in the crowd and forfeit God's gift of eternal life?
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Psalm 34:3 (CCC 716*);
34:8 (CCC 336*)
Ephesians 5:2 (CCC 616*); 5:21-26 (CCC 2204*); 5:21 (CCC 1269*, 1642); 5:25-27 (CCC 772*); 5:25-26 (CCC 757, 1616); 5:25 (CCC 616*, 1659); 5:26-27 (CCC 757, 1617*); 5:26 (CCC 628*, 796*, 1228*); 5:27 (CCC 773, 796, 1426); 5:27 (CCC 773, 796, 1426); 5:29 (CCC 757, 796*); 5:31-32 (CCC 796, 1602*, 1616); 5:31 (CCC 1627*); 5:32 (CCC 772, 1624*, 1659)
John 6:60 (CCC 1336); 6:61 (CCC 473*); 6:62-63 (CCC 728*); 6:62 (CCC 440*); 6:63 (CCC 2766); 6:67 (CCC 1336); 6:68 (CCC 1336); 6:69 (CCC 438)
God calls everyone to enter His Kingdom (CCC 543*, 544*, 545*, 546*)
The Church is the universal sacrament of salvation (CCC 774, 775*, 776)
Do God the Father's will to enter the Kingdom (CCC 2825*, 2826*, 2827*)
Follow the Narrow Way (CCC 853, 1036*, 1344*, 1889*, 2656)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; revised 2024 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.