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Commentary on Luke 14:1, 7-11 Read Saturday of Week 30 of Ordinary Time – Gospel »

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Commentary on John 6:30-35

Today’s passage from John continues the discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life. Again the Jews ask Jesus for a sign, a sign like the manna that their forebears enjoyed in the desert. They quote Scripture at him:

Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
(see Exod 16:4-5; Numbers 11:7-9; Ps 78:24)

As a gift from God, the manna was said to come from the sky (“from the heavens”). Some think it was identified with a natural substance which can still be found in small quantities on the Sinai peninsula. Here it is understood as something preternatural, and Jesus sees in it a forerunner of the Eucharist. Also the manna, thought to have been hidden by Jeremiah, was expected to appear again miraculously at the Passover as a sign of the last days. As described in the New International Version Study Bible:

“A popular Jewish expectation was that when the Messiah came he would renew the sending of manna. The crowd probably reasoned that Jesus had done little compared to Moses. He had fed 5,000; Moses had fed a nation. He did it once; Moses did it for 40 years. He gave ordinary bread; Moses gave ‘bread from heaven.’”

Jesus replies that the manna was not the real bread from God; it was only a sign or symbol. It fed the body, but not the spirit:

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

They say to him:

Sir, give us this bread always.

Clearly they were speaking in a materialistic sense. It reminds one of the Samaritan woman at the well who asked for the water which would prevent her ever again being thirsty and spare her having to come to the well every day.

Jesus now tells them solemnly:

I am the bread of life.

The “I AM” strongly identifies Jesus with God and this is the first of seven “I AM…” statements that appear in John’s Gospel. The phrase—in Greek, ego eimi, recalls the name of God revealed to Moses in the burning bush (see Exod 3:14). Both the manna and the recent feeding of the 5,000 are action-parables of God (“I AM”) giving himself to his people.

Jesus goes on to clarify the meaning of his statement:

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

To “come to Jesus” is to bond oneself closely to him and all he stands for. And we have seen what “believes in” entails. It implies much, much more than just “receiving Jesus in Communion”.

To eat that Bread of Life, we have to soak ourselves in the life of Jesus, to penetrate deeply into the Word of God that comes to us in the Gospels and the rest of the Scriptures, and to assimilate his Way into our own lives. The Eucharist we celebrate is the sign of that Bread of Life which, in fact, is available all day long to those who are in close contact with Jesus.

Those who live in that close relationship with Jesus are the ones who are truly alive—here and now. Am I one of them? How deep is my faith, my Christianity, my knowledge of and commitment to the gospel, and my understanding of the place of the Eucharist in our Christian life?

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Commentary on Acts 8:1-8

There is an old saying that “it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good”. We can see an example of this in today’s reading. The first half of today’s reading sets the stage for what is going to follow. First, it is linked to what has just been described in the preceding verses, the martyrdom of Stephen, followed by widespread persecution of Christians. This, in turn, will lead up to the unexpected conversion of the chief persecutor, Saul.

The martyrdom of Stephen was followed immediately by a savage persecution of the infant Christian community. A Pharisee named Saul was among the most dedicated attackers (in the name of God, of course), dragging people from their homes and tossing them into jail. It was the beginning of a phenomenon that has been the lot of Christians in many parts of the world ever since, right down to our own day. Even now, there are Christians in jail for no other reason than that they openly profess faith in Christ.

While the Apostles remained in Jerusalem, many Christians began to scatter to the countryside of Judea (the province in which Jerusalem was situated) and the neighbouring province of Samaria, just to the north. This was to inaugurate the second stage of the Church’s expansion. The third stage would begin with the establishment of Christian communities in Antioch in Syria.

The persecution seems to have mainly targeted the Hellenist Christians, and it was this group, scattered by persecution, which gave the church its first missionaries. We are immediately introduced to one of them—Philip. This was the beginning of the great missionary outreach of the Church which has not yet come to an end in our own time.

The Apostles would have been Aramaic-speaking Jews and, by staying behind in Jerusalem, they gave encouragement to those in prison, and would be a centre of appeal to those scattered. The Church in Jerusalem now effectively went underground—and not by any means for the last time.

However, we can now see that the persecution in Jerusalem was a blessing in disguise. While the persecution scattered Christians, they were now bringing their message to new areas. Eventually—often as the result of persecution—they would carry it to the very ends of the Roman world.

Among the fugitives was the deacon Philip. He was one of the Seven who, with Stephen, had been chosen for special ‘service’. He is now a full-blown evangelist, who preached the good news about the Messiah-Christ, healed the sick and drove out evil spirits. The result was that “there was great joy in that city”. Probably the reference is not to the town of Samaria, a Hellenistic city (at this time called Sebaste), but to the whole province. And those who were being evangelised were ‘Samaritans’ in the Jewish sense of the word. These were those related by blood and religion to, but cut off from, Israel’s Jewish community, and deemed to be living in heresy (recall the scene between Jesus and the Samaritan woman beginning in John 4:9).

Again and again it has been demonstrated that when the Church is persecuted—when people want to wipe it out—the Church finds new vitality and the courage to stand up for what it believes. It is when we are taken for granted and even worse, ignored, that we are in the greatest danger. It is then that we are in real peril of being marginalised because we are no longer the “salt of the earth” or a “city on a hill”. Sadly, that is what is happening in many prosperous parts of the world today. Is it happening to the society in which we are living?

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Commentary on John 6:35-40

Again in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his listeners very clearly that he is the Bread of Life. All those who partake of this Bread will never again be either hungry or thirsty. The whole life of Jesus—his actions and words and his relationships with those around him—are a rich source on which we can draw.

In a sense, of course, we will always hunger and thirst for this full life, but by approaching and imbibing him and his spirit, our hunger and thirst are ever being satisfied, even while we continue to hunger and thirst for more. There will never be a time when we will want to stop eating and drinking from this Source; when we do, we will stop living.

Jesus reproves his listeners for their lack of faith in him.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

The question is: how much of Jesus did they really see? How deep was their perception of who he truly was and is?

That may be our problem too. Without a deep trust and total commitment to Christ and all he stands for, we may find that we do not have full access to that Bread of Life which we need so much. The search for the fullness of Christ is one that we will never complete in this life. We only hope that we never stop searching. There will never be a day on this earth when we will be able to say: “I know Christ fully.” Not even the whole Church can make that claim.

Yet Jesus intensely wants to share that Bread, that nourishment with us.

This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life…

Let us open our hearts today so that Jesus can fill them with his life-giving love. For he says:

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away…

Jesus has a mission. In a phrase repeated six times in this chapter, he says:

I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

And what is the will of the Father?

…that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.

This verse summarises the whole chapter. God wants everyone to be with him “on the last day”. On our part, we have to learn how to “see the Son” and “believe in him,” so that one day we can say with St Paul:

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.
(Gal 2:20)

When that happens, we will know that we have truly been filled with the Bread that is Christ.

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Commentary on Acts 8:26-40

Again we meet the deacon Philip, whom we see in preceding passages to be a very successful preacher of the gospel to the people of Samaria. The Samaritans were doing so well that Peter and John were now sent to baptise them in the Holy Spirit. In today’s reading, Philip gets instructions from God to take the desert road to Gaza on the south coast of Palestine. The distance from Jerusalem to Gaza is about 80 km (50 miles).

On his way, Philip runs into an Ethiopian eunuch, the finance minister of the queen of Ethiopia, who was on his way back to his country after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Eunuchs were commonly used in positions of seniority and trust, especially where the women of the royal household were concerned. They often became powerful and very rich.

‘Ethiopia’ corresponded in this period to Nubia, spanning from the Upper Nile region at the first cataract (Aswan) to Khartoum. It would now be part of the Sudan. ‘Candace’ (or Kandake) was the traditional title of the queen mother, who was responsible for performing the secular duties of the reigning king. The King was thought to be too sacred to have to deal with such administrative chores.

As we are told the eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, it is very likely he was a convert to Judaism or else a Gentile who believed in the God of Israel. As Philip catches up with him, the man is reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah. It was Isaiah 53:7-8, from the Fourth Song of the Suffering Servant which is read at the liturgy on Good Friday, and is a text long seen by the Church as pointing to Christ in his passion. It was also the usual practice at the time to read aloud, and that is why Philip knew what he was reading.

Philip asked him if he understood the passage. The man replied:

How can I, unless someone guides me?

This is something we need to acknowledge too. It is difficult (and perhaps not possible) to fully understand the meaning of the Scriptures unless ‘someone’ explains them to us. We cannot simply expect to know what they mean just by reading, nor should we expect that God will directly inspire us. We have to take the natural means available to us, namely, the experience and the knowledge of experts and people of deeper wisdom. The texts are separated from us by language and centuries of custom and lifestyles. Like the eunuch, we need interpreters to help us understand.

Here, the eunuch was quite at a loss to know what the passage was about, and said to Philip:

About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?

And Philip proceeded to show the official how the words applied to Jesus in his suffering and death, and this gave him the opportunity to proclaim the whole message of the gospel.

So completely won over was the eunuch that, as they passed a stretch of water, he asked to be baptised there and then. In other words, he was expressing his total faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Where was this stretch of water? There are several possibilities—a brook in the Valley of Elah (which David crossed to meet Goliath; 1 Sam 17:40) or the Wadi el-Hasi, just north of Gaza, or it could have been any other suitable stretch of water.

As soon as the baptism was done, Philip disappeared, but the eunuch continued on his journey home filled with happiness. This is typical of the joy which is associated in Acts with salvation.

Meanwhile, Philip’s work of evangelising was not done. He found himself in Azotus. It was one of five Philistine cities about 30 km from Gaza. From there he proceeded north all the way to Caesarea in Syria, a distance of about 100 km. Caesarea had been rebuilt by Herod. With an excellent harbour on the Mediterranean, it served as headquarters for the Roman procurators.

We now say goodbye to Philip, but he will reappear again some 20 years later, still in Caesarea, still an evangelist, and now enjoying domestic bliss (Acts 21:8).

As we read this story we might reflect that there will be times when we will be given opportunities to share the gospel with people who are searching for meaning in their lives. Will we be ready? If someone presents us with a question about a Bible passage or a belief of our Christian faith, will we have the answer? Will we be ready to go beyond the answer and lead our enquirer to a further level of understanding? If not, then, like the eunuch, it may be time for us to take steps to deepen our understanding of the Scriptures and of our Christian beliefs.

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Commentary on John 6:44-51

We continue to read John’s sixth chapter about Jesus as the Bread of Life. Today’s passage largely repeats what has been said already, but at the end a new element is introduced. Jesus reminds us that it is not we who find Jesus, but rather it is the Father who finds us and leads us to Jesus as the Way to God. Here Jesus quotes from the Old Testament:

And they shall all be taught by God.

These are words to be found in Isaiah (54:13) and are reminiscent of words spoken by Jeremiah:

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(Jer 31:33)

We see a lovely instance of that in the First Reading today about the eunuch who was led to Jesus by the deacon Philip. What was important here was the readiness and openness of the eunuch to be drawn to the truth.

Jesus again repeats that he is the Bread of Life, using that formal expression ‘I AM’ which points to divine origin. Unlike the manna that the Jews’ ancestors ate in the desert, this Bread brings eternal life:

This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

Jesus’ challengers were asking for a sign like manna, but Jesus says that it did not give real life:

Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

The Bread that Jesus will give will bring a never-ending life to those who eat it. Jesus is the Living Bread because he is the very Word of God and because he offers up his Body and Blood in a sacrifice of love, bringing life to the whole world.

And this Bread is his flesh, life-giving flesh. This flesh will be given for the life of the world—a looking forward to Calvary. Giving eternal life will cost the human life of the Giver.

With these words the chapter moves into its eucharistic meaning. The word ‘flesh’ (Greek, sarx) introduces the link between Eucharist and Incarnation. Jesus is the Word made flesh and that Word is the food that we all need to ‘eat’. To ‘eat’ here, while involving actual eating and drinking, really points to the total assimilation into oneself and into a gathered community of the very Spirit of Jesus.

The Eucharist, as we shall see tomorrow, is the great sign of the Christian community by which we both affirm and celebrate our union with Jesus. By our eating of the Bread-that-is-flesh we affirm our total adherence to all that Jesus is and stands for.

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Commentary on Acts 9:1-20

Today’s reading touches on one of the major turning points in the development of the early Christian community and indeed for the future of the whole Church in centuries to come. Luke gives three accounts in Acts (9:1-20; 22:5-16; 26:10-18) of this momentous event. The second and third accounts are given in Paul’s own words as parts of discourses he gave. Paul also speaks about the experience in the Letter to the Galatians (Gal 1:12-17). The incident probably took place in 36 AD, about 12 years before the Council of Jerusalem, which cleared the way for Gentiles to be fully incorporated into the Christian community. The Council was held in AD 49.

Saul, we are told, was:

…still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…

We know that he was directly implicated in the killing of Stephen, but there are hints, by Paul himself, that others died or came very close to it because of his actions (see Acts 22:4; 26:10).

His next target were the Christians in Damascus. For this he got letters of authorisation from the high priest, probably Caiaphas. The Sanhedrin had authority over Jews not only in Judea, but elsewhere in the diaspora as well. The Romans recognised the high priest’s jurisdiction over the members of the Jewish communities even outside Palestine and, according to 1 Maccabees (15:21), this even included right of extradition.

Damascus was located in the Roman province of Syria and was the nearest important city outside of Palestine. It was about 250 km (150 miles) north of Jerusalem, and it would have taken four to six days to get there. It had a large Jewish population.

Saul’s mission was to find men and women who “belonged to the Way” and bring them back in shackles to Jerusalem, where they could be tried and perhaps even sentenced to death. ‘Followers of the Way’ is a name for the early Christians, and refers to the pattern of life characteristic of the Christians. The term occurs a number of times in Acts and only there. Jesus, of course, we remember had said:

I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)

On his way, Saul was suddenly surrounded by a bright light and fell to the ground. (We are told in Acts 26:13 that it was about noon.) At the same time, he heard a voice saying,

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

To which Paul replied with another question, “Who are you, sir [Lord]?” In the rabbinic tradition, such a disembodied voice would have been understood as the voice of God himself. The solemn repetition of Saul’s name (“Saul, Saul…”) and the bright light suggested to him that he was in the presence of a deity and hence his use of the address, “Lord” (Kyrie).

The reply he gets is:

I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Here we have Jesus identifying himself fully with his followers.

Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. (Matt 25:40)

and

Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
(Matt 10:40)

In the New Testament letters, it is specifically Paul who will later remind us that the Christian community is the Body of the Risen Christ. To attack the Body is to attack Christ himself.

Saul is told to go into Damascus, where he will be given further instructions. Saul’s companions could hear what was being said, but could not see anything. Saul, meanwhile, rose to his feet unable to see, although his eyes were open. His companions lead the sightless and helpless Saul to the city. The recently all-powerful official is reduced to near impotence. For three whole days he was unable to see and he observed a total fast. The symbolism seems very clear: Saul, who was so confident that he was in possession of the truth, is shown to be very deficient in his vision of the truth.

In the meantime, a Christian called Ananias is told to go to a house in Damascus where Saul will be found praying. He was told to go to Straight Street, which is probably the same long, straight street that still runs through the city from east to west, and is in strong contrast to the other numerous winding streets of the city.

Not surprisingly, Ananias is rather reluctant to visit the man who has been arresting Christians right and left and says:

Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem…

The term “saints” was originally applied to the people of Israel, but later became the usual term for Christians. It occurs many times in Paul’s letters. Since God is the Holy One, those who are consecrated to his service can be called ‘holy’ also.

But the Lord insists:

Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

What an extraordinary turn of events! How strange are God’s ways! How often they go contrary to all our presumptions and expectations! The man, the committed Pharisee, who was so set on wiping out the Christian way, is to become Jesus’ chosen instrument to spread his name among the non-Jews, hitherto seen as utter infidels. He will become one of the main pillars, together with Peter, as a founder of Christianity. Through his writings, his influence will be enormous in the centuries following, right down to our own. And, in the process, he will pay a high price in personal sacrifice and suffering.

Ananias then goes to the house. He addresses Saul, whom he had been so reluctant to see, as his “brother”. He says he has been sent by the Lord, the same one who appeared to Saul on the road. The Risen Jesus had actually appeared to Saul; it was not a mere vision. It is on this ‘seeing’ that Saul would base his qualification to be an Apostle.

Ananias then lays his hands on Saul, giving him the gift of the Spirit of Jesus. Immediately the scales of blindness fall from Saul’s eyes and he can see again.

Saul rises up—hints of resurrection and new life—and is baptised. He begins eating again and regains his strength. And, almost immediately, the persecutor of Christians who had been breathing murderous threats was going to the Jewish synagogues proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.

Again, we see the strange ways of God. Ananias, the man who ‘received’ Paul into the Christian community, is someone who only appears here and never again. He was, in every other way, a very inconsequential member of the community. He is like most of us in that regard, but like him, God may send a Saul/Paul into our lives too and ask us—insignificant though we feel ourselves to be—to act as the agent to bring this person to God. In the life of every great Church leader or prophet are hundreds of unidentified people who played a crucial role in their becoming what they became.

Paul could now see, but not just physically. He could see the truth about Jesus and the inadequacy of his own previous ideas, however sincerely they may have been held. He was now ready for baptism and, for the first time since his experience on the road to Damascus, he broke his fast.

A completely new chapter in the development of the early Church was about to begin. There is obviously here a great deal for us to reflect on in our own lives, about our way of treating others, about our blindness and our constant need for conversion, and about our responsibility to share our faith with others.

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Commentary on John 6:52-59

The discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life continues in today’s Gospel. Understandably enough the Jews are deeply shocked at Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It sounds like a primitive recipe for cannibalism. If we were to put ourselves in their shoes and hear those words for the very first time, we too would likely find them very strange, to say the least.

For the Jews it was even more shocking because they had the greatest reverence for, even a fear of, blood. It was the source of life and should never be touched. To come in contact with blood was immediately to become ritually unclean.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), one of the reasons why the priest and the Levite did not come to the help of the injured man lying on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem was almost certainly because he was bleeding and they were on their way to the Temple to pray or offer sacrifice. The woman with the chronic bleeding problem (Mark 5:25-34) did not dare to reveal herself to the crowd or even to Jesus because she should not have been in such close proximity with people. She could have been harmed if they knew.

To this day, Jews only eat meat from which the blood has been previously drained (kosher). And here is Jesus inviting, even telling, people to drink his own blood! We have heard these words so often that they have lost their impact. Yet Jesus makes no apologies for what he has said. On the contrary, he tells his hearers that if they do not eat his flesh and drink his blood, they will not have life. Those who do eat and drink are guaranteed life. Because Jesus’ flesh is real food and his blood is real drink:

…whoever eats me will live because of me.

What are we to make of all this? What do the words mean? Obviously they are not to be taken literally. Rather, to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood is to assimilate totally into our very being the whole way of thinking and acting of Jesus, the very Person of Jesus. To be able to say with Paul:

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20)

Nor are the Body and Blood of Christ only to be understood in the context of ‘receiving communion’ in the Eucharist. Certainly there are Eucharistic references in what Jesus is saying, but we need to understand the Eucharist as a sacrament or sign of a much wider relationship with Jesus.

The Eucharist is primarily a community celebration of what we are—brothers and sisters who are the Body of Christ for each other and for the whole world. Jesus’ flesh and blood come to us through the Word that we hear during the Eucharistic Liturgy, as well as during the sharing of the Bread and the Cup. But Jesus also comes to us through every loving experience that we have in community. The Eucharist is not the whole of our eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ. It is the sacramental celebration pointing to our total experience of meeting Jesus in our lives. It is something which should be happening all through our day wherever we are, whatever we are doing.

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Commentary on Acts 9:31-42

Following the conversion of Saul, persecutions come to an end for the time being and the new Church enjoys peace all through Judea and Jerusalem, Galilee and Samaria. These were the places where, up to now, evangelisation has taken place. The communities experience the consolation of the Holy Spirit, in other words, the joy which their new faith brings to them. The work of the Spirit is constantly noted throughout Acts—which is why the book is sometimes called the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

We are then told of two miracles performed by Peter, another sign that the power of Jesus through the Spirit is working in him. The healing and whole-making and life-giving work of Jesus continues.

First, in the town of Lydda a paralytic is cured. Lydda was a town about 5 km (3 miles) north of the road connecting Joppa (Jaffa today) on the Mediterranean coast and Jerusalem, and about 20 km (12 miles) from Joppa.

In Lydda, Peter found a man named Aeneas, bed-ridden with a form of paralysis. As Peter had gone there to visit the believers, it is likely that Aeneas was one of the Christians. With the power of Jesus and in a similar manner, Peter orders the man to “get up and make your bed!” That is, to put away his bed which he does not need now during the day.

We are told that all the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon, after seeing what Peter had done:

…turned to the Lord.

The fertile plain of Sharon runs about 80 km (50 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, roughly from Joppa to Caesarea. In the context, however, the reference here is more likely to a village in the neighbourhood of Lydda instead of to such a large district. An Egyptian papyrus refers to a town by that name in Palestine.

Then, in the town of Joppa, a much loved woman who spent her life doing good for others, dies. In accordance with both Jewish and Greek custom her body was washed and purified and, awaiting burial, was laid out in an upstairs room. This laying out would happen if the burial was delayed. In Jerusalem, a body had to be buried on the day of death, but outside Jerusalem three days could be allowed. (Given the hot climate this is understandable. Muslims today also bury their dead very quickly.)

Her friends then hear that Peter is in nearby Lydda. In answer to their urgent request, Peter comes. Whether they wanted his presence either for consolation or for a cure, he was urged to come quickly before the burial took place. They tell him of all the good the woman had done, and the widows (the most insecure people of that time) show him the gifts she had donated to them.

As Jesus did with the daughter of Jairus, Peter tells all to withdraw from the room. Unlike Jesus, he kneels down and prays. The power he sought was not his own but his Lord’s. We are told Peter:

…turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

Again, they are words summoning her to new life as he helped her to her feet. Only then were the believers and the widows called in.

Not surprisingly, the news of this spread like wildfire through the whole town and was the cause for many to believe in Jesus and the gospel.

Jesus’ healing and life-giving work continues among us still. The only condition for us to experience it is our faith and trust in Jesus. It might be good for us to realise that each one of us can, in our own way, be a source of healing for others. The normal way for Jesus to act is through the agency of his brothers and sisters, the members of his Body.

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Commentary on John 6:60-69

Today we conclude the discussion of Jesus as the Bread of Life. Not only the Jews who heard him, but Jesus’ own disciples had great difficulties accepting his call to eat his flesh and drink his blood as a way to life and said:

This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?

And certainly on the basis of the words by themselves, we can sympathise with them; if we had been there, we would surely have had problems also.

Jesus is fully aware of their difficulty, and asks them:

Does this offend you?

If they have problems with this, how will they react when he rises from the dead and ascends to his Father? This is an indication that the acceptance of the resurrection was very much a matter of faith. No one literally saw Jesus rise from the dead or ascend to the Father. There was a faith conviction that these actions had taken place.

Jesus then points out where the problem really lies:

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

The disciples are hearing Jesus’ words only in the “flesh” and not with the penetrating eyes of the Spirit. There are some who cannot accept what he is saying. John comments:

For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him.

To understand the real meaning of Jesus’ words comes from the gift bestowed on us, the grace of faith:

For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.

And the Gospel tells us:

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

Faith is a gift. It is a gift open to all, but it is a gift to which one needs to be open to receive.

Jesus then turns to the Twelve and asks:

Do you also wish to go away?

Peter then, in the name of all, makes his profound act of trust and commitment:

Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.

In other words, the Apostles acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, God’s chosen Messenger who is uniquely united with him.

“Believe” and “know” are in the perfect tense in the original Greek, meaning ‘We have come to know and have come to believe and continue to do so…’ It indicates not just a momentary action, but an ongoing state.

Actually, we have here John’s version of Peter’s confession which we find in a different form and context in the Synoptic Gospels. Peter’s response to Jesus needs to become ours too. And, if we reflect more deeply on it, we know that Peter is right. There is really no viable alternative to the Way of Jesus, even when things happen which are difficult to understand or accept. The Way of Jesus is not just adherence to the tenets of a religious sect. It is to see that the Way he proposes is the way for every human being to live. To assimilate Jesus into one’s life is not just to become a good Christian, but a perfect human being, with Jesus as our model, who is himself God in human flesh.

Yet, how many Christians stop believing and no longer walk Jesus’ Way? Perhaps we too have wavered more than once. Let us ask for the faith and strength to stay with him and experience the life that only he can give. Above all, let us ask for the grace to see our world with the eyes of Jesus, and to help others to do the same.