The 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 22, 2021

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.”

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  Here is the saying to which the Lord’s followers objected: “For my flesh is food indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me: and I in him. As the living Father has sent me and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eats this bread shall live for ever” (John 6, 56-59).   Literally, the Greek text says: For the flesh of me is true food and the flesh of me is true drink.  He that eats of me, both my flesh and my blood, abides in me.  All this to say that the Greek is even stronger than the English translation.  There can be no misunderstanding: the Lord was speaking of his very flesh and blood as food and drink that must be eaten and drunk so that he — the Son of God — might abide in the one who does.  It ought to come as no surprise, then, that his followers observed, “This saying is hard.”  The Greek word rendered as “hard” also means “violent”, “harsh”, “stern”.  The saying of Jesus was “hard” in that it was difficult merely to listen to.  It was “harsh” because it required people to do that which seemed impossible.  It was “violent” in the visceral reaction people had to the Lord’s words and because they turned upside down how they understood God, the Manna, and the Messiah.  They were “stern” because the Lord did not back away from the stunning teaching he had delivered and insisted that his followers believe it and carry it out.

“Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”  The Lord asks the crowd, What is harder to believe: that you must eat my Body and drink my Blood, or that you will see me, the Son of man, ascend on my own into heaven?  For both are true.  

“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.”  The words Jesus has spoken give life.  To believe that he speaks the truth is to receive the grace to know and to believe what he says.  And the signs the Lord performs lead us to believe that he speaks the truth.

“But there are some of you who do not believe.  For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”  That is, the Father grants all to come to the Son, but few indeed will accept the invitation.  Jesus phrases it the way he does in order to encourage those who come to him that they are obeying the will of the Father.  “Many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22, 14).  That is, only a few choose to accept the invitation.  

“As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”  This in spite of all the signs.  The last sign was one especially for them.  They had not simply watched another person being fed or cured; they had eaten the miraculously produced bread and fish themselves.  Their lack of belief here shows that although they were ready to believe in a messiah, they were not interested in believing in Jesus.  As with the people of his own home town of Nazareth, “they were scandalized” (Matthew 13, 57).  The Greek word translated here as “scandalized” means “caused to stumble”.  They “stumbled” because they would not accept the feeding of the multitude as a sign that Jesus spoke the truth and that they should believe it even if it were “a hard saying”.  

“Do you also want to leave?”  We can hear sadness in the Lord’s words.  So many had walked away when he offered to lay down his life for them.  Though the Lord knew that his Apostles would continue to follow him, he asks them so as to challenge them, and to give them an opportunity to pledge their loyalty to 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.”  Peter speaks for them all.  His answer is revealing to us, for he does not say that he understands what the Lord has just taught.  He says that he and the others have “come to believe” that he is eminently trustworthy as having come from God.  Therefore, he and the others would come to understand and to believe about the Flesh and the Blood.

We too may struggle to understand the Lord’s teachings.  They are profound and they run against our fallen human nature and our pride.  Yet we accept them on his terms because we believe in him.