The 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 25, 2024

John 6, 60–69

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that 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.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 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.”  As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon 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.”

Today’s Gospel Reading concludes chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel which has furnished readings for the past several Sundays.  It is necessary to keep in mind as we read this how the episode started with the miraculous feeding of the five thousand by the Lord Jesus, and his subsequent revelation to them that this was a sign for the manna with which God the Chosen People on their way to the Promised Land, and that this too was a sign for the true Feast sent down from heaven: his Flesh and his Blood, that they might have eternal life.

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  The Greek word translated as “hard” can also mean “violent”, “harsh”, and “stern”.  It is the basis for our word “sclerosis”.  They are saying that the Lord’s teaching about his Body and Blood is much more than “difficult”.  It seems to go against nature.  Therefore, “Who can accept it?”  The word translated here as “accept” has as its first meaning “to hear”, and a secondary meaning of “to obey”.  It is much stronger even than to “believe”, since believing may not involve a cost, but obeying always will.  All the same, the crowd had been prepared to hear and also to obey by the tremendous miracle of the loaves and fishes.  

“Does this shock you?”  The word translated here as “shock” is the basis for our word “scandal” and properly means “to stumble”.  Jesus is asking the people, Does this cause you to stumble?, or, Are you stumbling?  That is, Is your faith faltering?  He then makes a further revelation: “What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”  This comes across as a promise, as a reward for their faith.  If they believe in his teaching about his Body and Blood, they will merit to see him ascending into heaven.  For some, whose faith was already weak, this may have sounded like a warning: If you cannot believe my teaching about my Body and Blood, how can you believe in my Resurrection and Ascension?  He then offers them aid in their effort to believe: “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.”  That is, you cannot believe this on your own, but the Holy Spirit will help you.  Protestants who reject the Lord’s teaching cite this verse in support of their belief that the Lord was speaking symbolically of his Body and Blood, as though it said, The words I have spoken are symbolic and life.  But what the Lord actually says only strengthens the argument that he was speaking quite literally of his Flesh and Blood.

“For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”  Without grace, we cannot go to the Lord.  We cannot know who he is or understand his teachings, or obey his commandments.  There is no faith unless through a specific grant of it to us by God.  And there are those who have been granted grace who then reject it: “Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.”

“As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him.”  As a result of their refusal to even ask for help to believe, as the father of the possessed boy did: “I do believe!  Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9, 24), they left the Lord.  They went back to their former — sinful — lives.  They had been so close to eternal life.  Enough of the crowd departed that the Lord turned to his Apostles and challenged them: “Do you also wish to leave?”  Perhaps there was a pause as the Twelve gathered their thoughts.  This had not been an easy teaching for them, either.  Then Peter spoke up, and he spoke for all of them: “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.”  Peter reveals here and on subsequent occasions the extent to which these men had sold out for Jesus.  There was nothing really to go back to.  Jesus was the one they had waited for, looked for, hoped for.  There was no one else, no place else for them to go.  This did not make the teaching they had heard any easier for them, but they wanted to understand, they wanted to believe and to obey.  They were in love with Jesus, and understanding would follow with time and persistence.

We should not fail to see how the Lord fulfills the feeding of the Hebrews with manna: the miracle of food from heaven in the desolate wilderness giving the people strength to enter the Promised Land, then the people rejecting it and dying in their sin before reaching it.  In John 6 we see the descendants of the Hebrews rejecting the Bread of Life who stands before them.  How necessary it is for us to rejoice continually in this Food which God himself sets before us, to receive It and to be nourished with It until we enter the Promised Lamd of heaven!