Deacon Tom Anthony

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 122

Reading 1 Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b

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,
Joshua addressed all the people:
"If it does not please you to serve the LORD,
decide today whom you will serve,
the gods your fathers served beyond the River
or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.
As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

But the people answered,
"Far 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,
out of a state of slavery.
He performed those great miracles before our very eyes
and protected us along our entire journey
and among the peoples through whom we passed.
Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The LORD has eyes for the just,
and ears for their cry.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Many are the troubles of the just one,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him;
he watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Reading 2 Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32

Brothers and sisters:
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is head of his wife
just as Christ is head of the church,
he himself the savior of the body.
As the church is subordinate to Christ,
so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church
and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
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.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the church,
because we are members of his body.
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.
This is a great mystery,
but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

or

Brothers and sisters:
Live in love, as Christ loved us.
Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church
and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
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.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the church,
because we are members of his body.
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.
This is a great mystery,
but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

Alleluia Jn 6:63c, 68c

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Jn 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."

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 Being a Christian can be very challenging at times. We are taught that we are separate from this world but are also required to live in it. We follow Jesus Christ as the Son of God and see Him as the ultimate authority; dominant in all of our thoughts and actions. It is through Jesus Christ that we are all witnesses to God’s Creation and the beauty of everything around us. To us, nothing else can compare to a life with Jesus Christ and the joy that can be found when we continue forward in a relationship with Him. Our lives are surrendered to Him and we live by His will and not our own or the will of those see themselves as leaders in society. Not only does this put us in conflict with society and the temptations of the flesh but it goes against our natural disposition to rebel against God so that we can pursue our own godliness: Original Sin. Making matters worse, in our brokenness we may find ourselves trying to define God by our own terms and limitations. Our perceptions of who God is are influenced by own experiences and what we are comfortable with instead of who He really is.

When Jesus spoke to his followers about being the Bread of Life that came down from heaven and whoever eats His flesh and drinks His Blood shall obtain eternal life, it went far beyond what many perceived Jesus to be. It challenged them and confused them because the revelation that Jesus presented did not fit their accepted understanding of who He was. After all of the instruction and after all of the miracles performed, many walked away confused and angry. Instead of opening their hearts, minds, and souls to what was being offered, they walked away; abandoning Jesus and embracing the physical world. Who Jesus really was and what they thought Him to be couldn’t be settled or accepted based on what they accepted as reality. The physical world and their world won. Their spirituality lost.

We are all presented continuously with the same choice that those who failed were offered. There is a constant danger of us limiting Jesus Christ and His Church to purely human terms. We tend to put Jesus in a box, putting restrictions on Him because we are restrained in much the same way. We can easily forget that nothing is impossible with God. Society and Satan tempt us to only look at Jesus in his humanness and one who can only influence our thoughts and actions on a very limited scale. When this happens, then the influences of His Church are then limited. We only see its physical presence, with all of its fault and shortcomings, and in reaction limit its influence also. It becomes so easy to forget that the Church is broken and scattered because of the human influence which abound through it; influenced by all of us who exercised our will over it instead of the will of God. With this limited understanding and acceptance, it then becomes easy for us to just walk away from everything and go back to what we were comfortable with: sin and free will.

To combat this, a complete surrender needs to occur. Jesus Christ unequivocally is the Son of God and His Church is offered to us for guidance, love, and worship. All doubt, conflict, and faults which may lay in contrast to this vision are present only because of us. It is the human condition: imperfection. This imperfection can only be removed through a constant pursuit of the truth and ultimate joy which is Jesus Christ. The truth followers of Jesus had one thing in common above everything else: they abandoned their previous lives and everything they knew in exchange for what Jesus offered. They became blind in order to finally see. We must do the same thing. In a true relationship with Jesus Christ all of our preconceived notions must be slowly abandoned. As we engage in this process we will then be able to become closer to Him and feel ourselves being transformed by the process.

It is not easy dismissing our opinions and perceptions of what things are, especially when we might find ourselves in the minority at times; being judged and ridiculed as a result. Yet, what we experience is exactly what Jesus and His followers experienced. To be strong we have to be weak in the eyes of the world. To rise above all the sin and brokenness we have experienced, we have to reject the way of life that society presented to us and have embraced for a large amount of our lives. The real way and what is true is beyond what we see directly in front of us. There is so much more with Jesus Christ and the Christian Way. God is pure and perfect. God is love. We are His children and, as His children, we are receivers of His instruction and love constantly as long as we listen and are receptive to it. Let Him define it. Not us.

Deacon Tom