Difficulty in believing
Gospel Reflection
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.”
John 6: 60-69
How hard is it to believe in the words of Jesus Christ?
Apparently it is very difficult, otherwise, if it were easy then we won't have all these problem of corruption, greed, and all these other social ills today, right? Everyone would be taking care of each other, no one would be left behind. Because we would all be living out the commands of Christ, that is to love God above all things, and to love our neighbor as Christ loved us.
But why?
It seems that for many, for most of us, our faith is kind of optional. "Just in case" ba... just in case if it is true. That is not belief, that is not faith. That is ensuring your security just in case Christ's message is true. Sigurista.
And come to think of it, that was the problem of the devotion of the brown scapular before and even until now. With the Sabbatine privilege, where those who wear the scapular are assured of heaven. Well, the scapular sold like pancakes, or kung dito pa sa atin, para lang kwek-kwek, ang bilis mabenta, everyone wants one. But no one wants to live out the commitment of wearing the scapular. They just want an assurance that Mama Mary would take them out from the fires of hell, on the first Saturday after their death.
It is amazing how we can be gullible because we don't really want to live a holy life, it is very difficult, we'd rather take the easy way, like wearing the scapular while sticking to a teaching that is questionable, simply because it is more convenient to believe in.
Our readings today reveal to us the difficulty in believing Christ and in living out the life that he wanted us to live, that is in living out the will of the Father for us, his children.
We've heard in our first reading today (Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b), this was also read Saturday of the 20th week in Ordinary time, how Joshua challenged the people of Israel as to who to serve - foreign Gods or the Lord who rescued them from slavery.
Their experience with the Lord made them believe that truly their Lord is God and so they promised to serve the Lord, but we all know that eventually this becomes lip service as they become slaves of their own laws forgetting what it really means to serve God.
And just how do we serve God? Paul's letter to the Ephesians (Eph 5:31-32), which is our second reading for today would tell us that this, our faith in God, we could live out when we humble ourselves and fully trust in the grace of the Father, believing that He would only want what's best for us. This humility is made manifest by our ability to serve others, to submit ourselves to each other. "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ."
We know full well that it is Christ who is our king, but if we cannot humble ourselves before our brothers and sisters whom we can see, how would we be able to submit ourselves to the will of God, which we cannot perceive with our senses? How would we be able to allow ourselves to be directed by the Spirit if we could not let go of our pride, of our achievements, of our name, fame, and wealth? Let us empty ourselves, learn how to be humble, and learn to accept authority, trusting full well that God is in control.
If we cannot do this, if we cannot accept this, then we may just be like the many disciples of Christ who could not accept his teaching. What teaching would that be? That He is the Bread of Life, that He is divine, that He came from the Father.
They could not believe this because they could not let go of their knowledge of Jesus, the Jesus whom they knew from when he was still a little boy. They might even feel that they are better and they know more than him.
With them, with people such as these, they would surely not be able to see the hand of God working in their lives, that God has truly come in the person of Jesus. No amount of convincing could change their mind, sadly, they'd be missing out on the beautiful grace of salvation.
This is just like what we are experiencing now, with this pandemic. The other day a friend of mine from my blogging days was disturbed with how many Americans do not believe in the pandemic and are fighting for their so-called right not to wear masks. She was worried because her granddaughter was going to enter kindergarten this week and "what if the other kids or the parents won't be wearing masks?" and she said the number of cases of children getting COVID in the US is increasing. She was so alarmed, and many of the anti-mask people, well, they would say that God will protect them, and mock those who wear masks as having a weak faith in God.
Now, what if this is really how God is protecting us? Giving us the knowledge on how we can avoid getting COVID by wearing mask?
If we cannot let go of what we know, if we cannot humble ourselves, if we refuse to listen, if we cannot be faithful to each other as fellow workers in the vineyard, then we might just miss God's voice, the gentle breeze.
Pope Francis, reflecting on our Gospel reading today said:
From Peter’s question we understand that fidelity to God is a question of fidelity to a person, to whom we bind ourselves to walk together on the same road. And this person is Jesus. All that we have in the world does not satisfy our infinite hunger. We need Jesus, to be with him, to be nourished at his table, on his words of eternal life! Believing in Jesus means making him the centre, the meaning of our life. Christ is not an optional element: he is the “Living Bread”, the essential nourishment. And so as Peter replied to Jesus when they were asked if they would also leave him: You are the Holy One of God, you have the words of eternal life, you are life eternal, where else is there for us to go.
Jesus is our destination, let our faith in this flourish, grow, and bear fruit.
Image: Luke Richardson | Unsplash
