Gospel for Sunday, Aug. 25: John 6:60-69
XXI Sunday Year B
“60 Many of his disciples, having heard, said, “This language is harsh; who can understand it?” 61 Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were murmuring about this very thing, said to them, “Does this scandalize you? 62 What if you saw the Son of Man ascending where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some among you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were those who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him. 65 He continued, “This is why I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by my Father.”
66 From then on many of his disciples pulled back and no longer went with him.
67 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, “Perhaps you also want to leave?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life; 69 we have believed and known that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot: for the latter was about to betray him, one of the Twelve.”Jh 6:60-69
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
From: C. MIGLIETTA, L’EUCARESTIA SECOND LA BIBBIA. A biblical-spiritual itinerary, Gribaudi, Milan, 2005, with an introduction by H. E. Msgr. Giacomo Lanzetti
“This <<Logos>> is hard!”
To Jesus’ speech, many of the disciples reacted with rejection: “Many of his disciples, having heard, said, ‘This language is hard; who can understand it?’… From then on many of his disciples turned back and no longer went with him” (Jn. 6:60, 66).
There are three rejections that the disciples oppose Jesus in the Gospels. The first is the perspective of Christian Marriage, that the spouses love each other “as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her” (Eph 5:25), in eternal fidelity (Mt 19:1-9): this determines the reaction of the disciples, who exclaim, “If this is the condition of the man with respect to the woman, it is not fitting to marry” (Mt 19:10). The second rejection relates to the Eucharist: faced with a God who becomes bread, who gives himself as food to men, “many of his disciples drew back and no longer went with him” (Jn 6:66). The third rejection is that of the Cross: when Jesus “began to say openly that he must…suffer much…, and be killed…, Peter drew him aside and began to protest, saying, ‘God forbid, Lord; this will never happen to you’” (Mt 16:21-22). The rejection of the Cross summarizes the other two: it is “scandal… , foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23) a poor, weak God, who dies as an evildoer, taking upon himself all the sorrows of the world, out of love, only out of love; the Eucharist, in which God identifies himself in a piece of bread, is a great sign of this love that comes to the point of emptying itself completely in total self-giving; Christian Marriage is a living prophecy of divine love (Eph 5:25), which is always only oblative, which never “divorces” itself from us despite all our infidelities, which is making itself the spouse’s servant (Eph 5:25-29), which is a call to unbreakable unity (Eph 5:31).
Jesus asks us to enter the logic of love, which is the logic of the Cross, the Eucharist, and Christian Marriage. But “this ‘Lògos’ is hard: who can understand it?” (Jn. 6:60), where “lògos” is both the Word of Jesus and Jesus himself, the Lògos, the Word made flesh (Jn. 1). Jesus is hard, hard to follow: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:24-26: cf. Jn 12:24-26). This speech is foolishness to the world; it cannot be understood according to the flesh, but only in the Holy Spirit: “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life” (Jn. 6:63).
To choose Jesus is to take a stand between the flesh and the Spirit, between worldly and divine logic, between darkness and light (Jn. 3:19-21). Compromises, half-measures, partial commitments are not allowed: “Because you are lukewarm, that is, you are neither hot nor cold,” the Lord says to the Church of Laodicea, “I am about to vomit you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:16); “The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword; it penetrates to the dividing point of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and scrutinizes the feelings and thoughts of the heart… Everything is naked and uncovered in his eyes, and to him we must give an account” (Heb. 4:12-13; cf. Jn. 6:61, 64). We too must take a stand, for the Lord and his program of total love, or against him.
And this choice must be renewed every day: it is not enough to have joined the Church once and for all: “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (Jn. 6:70). In the Christian community there is Peter the Pope who will deny him, there is Judas who will sell him for thirty denarii, there is Thomas the unbeliever, there are James and John who demand positions of power in the Kingdom: permanence in faithfulness is not guaranteed…
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.