Twenty-first Sunday In Ordinary Time
JOHN 6:60-69 (Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Psalm 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21; Eph. 5:21-32)
In this final gospel reading from the Bread of Life Discourse the concern of the author of the Gospel of John is to deal with objections to the difficult teachings of the discourse. He begins with a sad note, “Many of Jesus’ disciples, after they heard what was said, replied, ‘This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?’” What specifically was their objection? Recall the three steps of revelation in the discourse. First, the true bread from heaven refers to the teaching (the Torah) that Jesus brings from the Father. Secondly, the true bread from heaven is Jesus himself as the Father’s ultimate teaching (Torah). Thirdly, the flesh and blood of Jesus to be consumed as food and drink is the true bread from heaven.
Recall that in the discourse itself there was no objection to the first revelation. The objection to the second revelation was the fact that the objectors claimed to know Jesus’ origin. John quotes them saying, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’” John handled that objection by stating that only those who had the gift of faith could accept that revelation, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.” The most serious objection is to the third revelation. It is answered in due course by Simon Peter. Jesus asks, “Do you (plural) also wish to leave?” Simon Peter answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” It might be at this point that one would expect Jesus to respond to Simon Peter, “Flesh and blood (human knowledge) has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” These words, however, are spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew after Peter’s public profession of faith in Jesus as “Son of the living God.”
Jesus knew of the anguish suffered by many of his disciples over these revelations. He said to them, “Does this scandalize you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” This statement seems more of a response to the objection to the second revelation, that Jesus himself (but not as Eucharist) is the true bread from heaven. That objection was based on his human origin, “whose father and mother we know.” But Jesus has another Father of whom he spoke earlier, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.” As he came to the earth from that Father of his eternal origin, so he will return to that Father. In John 17:4-5, Jesus will pray that his return to the eternal Father will be accomplished, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work for which you sent me, and now, Father, do Thou glorify me in Thy own presence with the glory I had before the world was made.”
The argument John seems to make here is this, if the truths revealed in this discourse cause such scandal, how will they react when they realize that Jesus, seen now as merely a human being (Son of man), returns to the divine glory he had from eternity? This brings to mind another statement attributed to Jesus, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I AM,” John 8:28. If the statement about the Son of man ascending where he was before res-ponds more directly to the objection against Jesus calling himself the true bread from heaven, the next statement certainly responds to the revelation that Jesus’ flesh and blood are the final and true food and drink which bestows eternal life. John attributes these words to Jesus, “It is the spirit that gives life. The flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
This statement has been a major cross for interpreters. What does it mean? A possibility: Human nature, the flesh, cannot understand or accept what has been revealed in the Bread of Life Dis-course, “The flesh is of no avail.” It is the Spirit that will enable disciples of Jesus to accept the revelations of this discourse. Of that same Spirit Jesus said at the Last Supper in John 14:26, “The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things….” Note the unified action of Spirit and Father. Thus Jesus repeats what was said earlier, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” The Spirit will enable a disciple to give the assent of faith to the revelation conveyed in this discourse. “It is the Spirit that gives life,” in this case the life which is faith prompting us to say “Yes” to the presence of the flesh and blood of Jesus as true food and true drink to be taken in the Eucharist.
John has one more matter to which he must attend – the disciples who would leave rather than accept these “hard sayings” referred to earlier in their words, “This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?” John adds, “After this, many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.” They did not want to be seen with him. John is thinking especially of his own Christ-ian Community and those who abandoned it because they refused to believe in the presence of Jesus’ flesh and blood in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Their refusal and abandonment of the Christian Community reminds him of one of Jesus’ immediate disciples, Judas Iscariot. Although it is not a beautiful thing to contemplate, John compares them to Judas the betrayer. In contrast to Judas, John offers the example of Simon Peter. He describes Jesus saying to the Twelve, “Will you also go?” Simon Peter answers for the Twelve and for all faithful Christians of all time, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
