TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Josh 24:1-2,15-18, Eph 5:21-32, John6:60-69
Today the twenty-first Sunday of ordinary time, the church encourages us to always remain with Christ, the perfect teacher. At times, when we come to the crossroad of life, we become confused about which way to go or which path we should take. There are moments when we must make the right decisions, and the decisions and choices we make at such moments shape our future.
At a particular moment of my own life, I came to one such crossroad of choosing between responding to God’s call and abandoning it.
In today’s first reading, having almost come to the end of his mission, Joshua reminded Israel of how faithful the Lord has been to them. Finally, he challenged them: “if you will not serve God, choose today whom you wish to serve…” Their response was: “We have no intention of deserting our God…” They spoke well but unfortunately; they did not keep their promise. AS soon as Joshua was gone (Judges 1-12), they ran to other gods. The psalmist says: “those who run to other gods multiply their sorrow” (Ps. 16.4).
In the second reading, Paul employs the analogy of marriage to explain and remind us of Christ’s relationship with His disciples. Paul describes this relationship as a mystery with many implications. It is a relationship based on a mutual love for one another. Such a love is based on trust and faith.
The choice that Joshua offered his people is echoed in today’s Gospel when Jesus offers his own followers the choice to stay with him or join the ranks of unbelievers. After hearing Jesus’ teaching on the bread of life, many of the followers express their complete confusion. They find Jesus’ language intolerable. Many of them do choose to leave him. Then, like Joshua to the twelve tribes, Jesus turns to the twelve apostles and give them the choice to close the book on their shared past. So just as the twelve tribes told Joshua that they could not reject the Lord he had done for them, so Peter asks Jesus how they could turn to anyone else for the message of eternal life. The apostles exercise their freedom of choice.
There are a lot of lessons for us today. Many of us come to Christ thinking that everything must be easy. Some come with a very shallow faith. Yet, some of us have fixed expectations and just want to hear what we wish. So, if our expectations are not met, we quit and bid Christ farewell. So, we must ask ourselves today. How many times have we abandoned God and his church, especially at difficult moments in life.
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