TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?

HOMILY FOR THE 21^ST SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

A group of primary school children were once on an excursion with their teachers in a distant place. At a point when the visibility was so reduced, the bus broke down. The driver came out, and started fixing the vehicle. So much time had passed now that it was getting darker. Due to this difficulty, the children in the bus were scared. There was a festival of cries as the children were almost uncontrollable. Many food and drinking stuffs were offered to them by their teachers to pacify them, all to no avail. But there was little Alfonso who was in the bus comfortably seated. He was happy and having fun with those food and drinking stuffs that the others had rejected. Afraid that the commotion had gone into his brain, and made him loose his senses, and since it was abnormal for someone to be happy in such a situation, one of the teachers approached Alfonso and asked: why do you seem to be happy amidst this troubling situation? Are you not scared and frightened like the rest? The little boy replied: why should I be scared? The driver is my father. If we take ourselves as this little Alfonso, think then how often we cry and lament even when we are sure that the driver of the bus is our father. In the face of an uncertain moment, what reason would you have to continue to hang on?

It is almost human to be scared and to look for another solution when the times turn tough, and especially when the expected turn out to be unpleasant. More to this is when that tough situation demands one to make an instant decision. And we can all imagine how tough it can be to make a decision when under pressure. This is the picture with which we can use to understand the situation in the First Reading (Joshua 24:1-2a, 15 -17, 18b) and in the Gospel Reading (John 6:60-69) of today. The situation was tough for Joshua who having seen that he was getting old and would join his forefathers became afraid and uncertain whether all the tribes of Israel would continue to keep the covenant God made with their fathers. He needed them to renew this covenant; thus he summoned them. Most probably, having perceived how the culture of the land (Amorites) where they have occupied may influence them negatively and having recounted all that the Lord has done for them, he dared them to make a decision to serve the Lord. To make his points very piercing, he used himself and his household as a point of contact: but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. In this statement, Joshua rededicates not only himself and his household to God, but also the whole tribes of Israel. His statement ever since has become one that represents strong decision for God in the midst of social pressures that present themselves harmful to the Christian faith. This is also what the statement of Peter in the Gospel does for us.

Peter who was the leader and the spokesman of the apostles (just like Joshua) answered Jesus: to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life. We must not forget that this answer of Peter had some backgrounds. The consequence of Jesus’ teaching of Himself as the bread of life in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John met with series of oppositions. Something interesting about these oppositions is that it began with the Jews (John 6:41.52) and ended with the disciples (John 6:60.66). As always said, a man’s greatest enemy are those of his households. It is much easier to understand pressures from the externals than the pressures that are in the internals. This is what we meet in the Gospel. Many of Jesus’ disciples (surely not only the twelve) who have been witnesses to the arguments that went on between Jesus and the Jews finally took their stand. They said: this teaching is difficult; who can accept it? They were complaining/murmuring. As if their complaints were not enough, they made up their minds to leave Jesus for their formal ways of life. They left Jesus and no longer went about with him. Let us briefly assess these two reactions of the disciples.

The first is that they murmured against Jesus and His teaching. To this reaction, Jesus leads them into another deeper reality and mystery of himself. He forecasts ascension and tries leading them to a life of the spirit. His thesis is that on the day they will see him ascend to heaven, it will be clearer to them to accept the difficult teaching. It does not end in difficulty. There is also ascension. This implies that the ascension into heaven would be the most astonishing moment of encounter with Christ, which also would serve as the guarantee of the claims of Jesus as the bread of life from heaven. His ascension would become a sort of a vindication of his claims. The bread they were searching for surely was meant for their flesh, but he offered them the bread for their spirit. Little wonder he said that the life giving power is the spirit; the flesh is of no help. To understand this in a simple way. This is not to relegate the human body which is an instrument towards realizing all the divine potentials in us. The real value of any thing depends on its aim; that is, the spirit in which it is done. We do not eat just for the sake of eating. We eat to stay healthy and alive. When we eat without the appropriate spirit (gluttony), we may end up doing ourselves more harm than good. This is the same in sports. We do not just play soccer or jog for their sakes; otherwise it becomes a waste of time. We engage in sports to keep fit and to live on. Thus, the things of the flesh gain their value from the spirit in which they are done.

The second is that after this deeper awareness from Jesus, the disciples still went on their ways. Most probably, it became clearer to them that the “free material food” they were seeking was not going to be offered again. They may have followed Jesus for what He could offer to them, and most probably to be providing free food and easy wealth, but having discovered that there was something else Jesus was trying to lead them into, they resigned to their former ways. Their initial intention was not to meet a man who would be talking to them about some heavenly mysteries, but someone who would simply make them to belong to the group of the wealthy.  They defected. This is a great sign of disloyalty. This is then an eye-opener that these people were never loyal to Jesus. They were fair-weather followers. Well, we can also today see ourselves in these people. No one can actually give so much as Jesus, but if we come to him simply to get and never to give, we will certainly turn back. There is something we need to forego of ourselves when we decide to follow Jesus.

There came the great profession of faith by Peter. Peter and the other apostles were determined. This reply was a great show of loyalty. Through it, they rededicated themselves and reassured Christ of their continual discipleship. This profession served to show that the apostles had begun to perceive Jesus as the messiah. This profession was not that the twelve had understood Jesus so well. It was that they had faith that following Jesus, the Messiah is better than their confusion or difficulty. They believed that Jesus was greater than that particular situation or difficulty. For Peter, Jesus alone had the words of eternal life. No one else. Here is an undivided attention to Jesus. They realized just as Robert Schuller had titled one of his books, that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. It is always good to realize that the driver of the bus remains our father.

A certain jogger once slipped and fell into a cliff, while embarking on his usual early morning habit. He was however lucky to grab a protruding stone as he fell. The cliff was about a hundred feet deep, and there was no way he could have made it out without external aid. In agony and out of fear, he cried out: is there someone out there? No answer came for a time. He shouted all the louder the second time. After some brief moments of silence, a voice came thundering out from the blues: This is the Lord. Frantically, the man yelled: well, if you are the Lord, make haste then and rescue me. After another brief moment of silence, the voice came back: let go off the stone, and I will come and save you. Again, there was some moments of dead silence, after which the jogger screamed all the louder: is there anybody else? Is it not true that it appears difficult to understand why the Lord must tell our jogger to hands off the stone so as to save him? Is it not also interesting to have seen how the jogger simply neglected that voice that dares him to hands off? This is how it is when we hold on to our beliefs more than we give God some chances in our lives. To hands off from the stone is to act like Peter and the other apostles that even in not being certain of the future, the Saviour would keep their hearts with Him. The driver is their father; yes, the driver is our father. When you throw a baby in the air, she laughs because she knows you will catch her. That is trust. Keep trusting in the Lord as I wish you a blessed week ahead. God bless you.