We might hope that in the waning days of summer the Church
would cut us some slack by giving us some light fare in the Sunday
readings – something not overly challenging. But, no, today’s
readings are anything but light. They are a full court press!
That is most obviously
the case with the reading from Ephesians which, to be honest, is a
preacher’s nightmare! Who - at this moment in history, in this culture
of ours, with all the realities and challenges of modern marriage, and
our commitment to women’s rights and gender equality – who wants to make
a case for wives being subordinate to their husbands! No matter that St.
Paul was actually arguing on behalf of the dignity of women in a society
where women had no rights at all and were more possessions than persons.
No matter that by likening the relationship of husband and wife to the
relationship Christ has with the Church St. Paul was giving marriage
great dignity and declaring it a source of grace and holiness that can
belong only to a sacrament. No matter. St. Paul’s intentions
notwithstanding, it would take someone far more gifted than me to make
that passage from Ephesians appear to be anything other than a faded
relic, an uncomfortable and rather embarrassing holdover from a very
different time and culture. Which it is!
And the challenges of
today’s readings don’t stop with Ephesians! Both Joshua in the first
reading and Jesus in the gospel offer serious challenges.
Joshua, at a pivotal
moment just before his death, in the presence of all the tribes of
Israel who had been so favored by God in their deliverance from Egypt
and in their conquest of the Promised Land – so favored by God yet so
unfaithful to God – Joshua puts before the people the question of their
lives, the question to end all questions: Whom will you serve – the gods
of this place, the false gods of the Amorites whose country you have
taken over – or the Lord our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the God of Moses, the God of the Burning Bush, of the Exodus, of Mount
Sinai? Whom will you serve?
And then there’s Jesus.
He has just revealed himself as the Living Bread come down from heaven,
and promised to give his very self, his own flesh and blood, as food and
drink. He has put this “hard saying” before his disciples with no
equivocation and no apology, and he has watched many of them turn away
from him to return to their former way of life. He then turns to his
closest friends, the Twelve, and puts to them a question – a pivotal
question – that sounds a little like Joshua’s question: “Do you also
want to leave?” he asks.
As usual, it is Peter
who speaks up, speaks for the others. His answer to Jesus is
reminiscent of the answer the people had given to Joshua long ago when
they said, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord…we will serve the Lord
for he is our God.” Peter’s answer to Jesus was reminiscent of
that but even more direct and much more personal, “Master, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life!” Peter’s words
were not only an answer to a question, they were a profound prayer, and
a life-altering commitment.
And now, my friends, the
ball is in our court (speaking of a full court press!). That question of
Jesus, “Do you also want to leave?” is ours to answer. Like the Twelve,
we have a choice. We do. And like the Twelve, we also have a history.
Like them, we have walked with the Lord, some of us for a very long
time. We have feasted at his table more times than we can count; we have
witnessed his wonders in our lives and in the lives of others: miracles
of grace, glimpses of glory. But like the Twelve, we have also at times
been disappointed by him, disillusioned – maybe even scandalized – when
his ways clearly showed themselves not to be our ways and his demands
seemed excessive. And so we do get to choose. In fact, we must choose.
It’s a choice we make once, yes, but a choice we must constantly renew,
for we change, we grow, we move forwards, we slip backwards, and
sometimes we lose our way and forget who we are, and where we’ve been,
forget that, with Peter, we, too, once said to Jesus with youthful
innocence and idealism, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life.”
My friends in Christ,
today we have an opportunity to say those words again as we approach the
table of the Eucharist – “Lord, to whom shall we go?” But saying the
words is one thing. Actually going to him in faith is what really
counts…!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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