The Words of Eternal Life ~ A Reflection on the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

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

Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21 (9a)

Eph 5:21-32

Jn 6:60-69

In John's Gospel this week, we hear Jesus ask a critical question of his disciples:  "Do you also want to leave?"  They are watching as many of Jesus' followers leave their company to return to their former lives.  These people can no longer walk with Jesus because they are not able to accept his words and believe the truth he speaks.

We don't know what happened to the people who left that afternoon.  Perhaps at some later time in their lives, many of them came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God.  Notice that Jesus does not condemn those who left.  

How and when we come to faith is a journey that is different for each of us.  We pray that we will respond to the graces that God gives us for this journey; for we believe the words that Jesus spoke:  "...no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father."  We have become adopted children of the Father and brothers and sisters to Jesus... thus we can share in his inheritance.

When Peter heard Jesus ask the question, "Do you also want to leave?", he responded immediately... speaking not only for himself, but for the rest of Jesus' friends also.  "Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  Peter had made a very simple but powerful profession of faith through those words.  In fact, they even resonate as truth down through the millennia to us today.

In the first reading from the book of Joshua, we see that the Israelites were faced with a similar situation.  Who would they worship?  Who would be their God?  They were now in territory surrounded by peoples who worshiped other gods.  Should they give up their faith in the God who had delivered them out of Egypt and assimilate with the surrounding peoples?

Joshua, their leader, had made his decision already and he did not hesitate to tell the people that he and his family would continue to serve the Lord.  But Joshua allowed the others to come to their own decision.  The people recalled the miracles that their God had performed for them and they knew that their God had protected them throughout their journey.  No way would they abandon him now.  Their gratitude, love and faith in his continued guidance gave them no other choice but to acclaim him as the God they would serve.

The psalmist surely echoes the joy and faith of those Israelites, as well as all of us, with these words from today's 34th Psalm:

I will bless the Lord at all times:
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord...  


 ~ Image:  Father Humberto's Blog