Sunday Lectionary: The Big Question

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time: August 26th, 2012

The Readings this Sunday ask a basic question: whom do you choose?

In the First Reading, Joshua asks this question of Israel. Whom will they serve? Yahweh or some other god? In the Gospel Reading, after hearing the “hard teaching” of the Lord about His Body and Blood, Jesus asks the Twelve if they wish to leave along with some of the other disciples.  Peter answers the  question in the same way I hope we would all answer: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”.

We have a fundamental choice in life. Do we choose God, or do we choose something or someone else? As we hear God’s Word this week and gather around the altar to “taste and see that the Lord is good”, let us renew our commitment to the Lord and say with Peter “We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God”.

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Reading I: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b

Our First Reading comes from the very last chapter of the Book of Joshua, where Joshua, in his final official act as leader of Israel, addresses the people and asks them the question we might ask ourselves: whom will you serve?

Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

Questions:

• What is the context for this passage? Where are the Israelites? What’s happened? Who’s “Joshua”?
• What challenge does Joshua give?
• How do the people respond?

Commentary:

Joshua…

Joshua is the leader appointed by Moses to lead Israel after him (the priestly authority went to Eleazar). Joshua’s name was originally “Hoshea”:

These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.) – Numbers 13:16

(Joshua shares the same name as Jesus. The Aramaic name given to our Lord when transliterated into English is “Yeshua” and means “The Lord saves”. When this name was rendered in the Greek New Testament, the word “Iesous” was used. Later, when the Greek manuscripts were translated into Latin, it was was rendered “Iesus”. In modern English this has become “Jesus”)

Joshua was the man chosen to represent his tribe when the spies went into Canaan:

The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur; … from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun…” – Numbers  13:1-4, 8

It was Joshua who led the Israelites into battle against the Amalekites:

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. – Exodus 17:8-13

Joshua and Caleb were the only two men who entered the promised land who were also over the age of twenty at the time of the Exodus.

Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. For forty years —one year for each of the forty days you explored the land —you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die. ”

So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. – Numbers 14:30-38

The others were not granted this blessing because of their infidelity and lack of faith.

…gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. 

Joshua gathers together all the leaders of the nation to address them.

The place where they gather is called “Shechem”, literally “shoulders”, because it is between the “shoulders” of Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim.

When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling…”

Joshua challenges them: whom will they choose to worship? Yahweh or some other god or gods?

“…As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”

Joshua makes his declaration in the hope that others will follow suit.

But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

The people affirm that they will worship the Lord and remain faithful to His covenant with them.

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

This Sunday we have the thanksgiving (“Todah”) psalm which we’ve been hearing for the last few weeks.

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the LORD; the lowly will hear me and be glad.

The LORD has eyes for the just, and ears for their cry. The LORD confronts the evildoers, to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.

When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

Many are the troubles of the just one, but out of them all the LORD delivers him; he watches over all his bones; not one of them shall be broken.

Questions:

• What invitation is given by David?
• What does the psalmist say he will do?
• How is God described?

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This passage is worth better and further explanation than what I provide here. However, since in the JP2 Group we will not be studying the Second Readings for the next few months, my commentary here will be brief.

Reading II: Ephesians 5:21-32

For the last few weeks we have been working our way through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  Paul has been exhorting the Ephesians. He has spoken of unity in the Church, spiritual renewal, virtue, vice and Christian living. This week he focuses upon the Christian husband and wife.

Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. 

 Questions:

• Why is this passage so often seen as controversial?
• What is Paul’s central message in this passage?
• What does he say to all his readers? What does he say to wives? What does he say to husbands?
• To what does Paul compare marriage?

Commentary:

Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. 

This is so often seen as a controversial passage, but I would suggest that it’s not seen as controversial for the right reasons! Paul begins this passage “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” That’s radical! It goes completely against contemporary thinking which exults the ego and the self. “No”, says Paul. The self-sacrificial love of Christ is to be the guiding rule in ALL our relationships.

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. 

Wives are to treat their husbands as they would Christ. This is not degrading or servile submission, but free and voluntary.

We receive our dignity from both being made in “in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:26) as well as being united together into one Body, “sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6):

“The union of Christ and the Church is holy. So is the proper union of husband and wife holy. Just as a congregation of heretics, however, cannot rightly be called the Church of Christ and cannot have Christ as its head, so it is that the union between husband and wife cannot be truly called holy if there is a disregard for the way of life taught by Christ” – Saint Jerome (A.D. 436), Commentaries On The Epistle To The Ephesians, 5,22-23

For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. 

The relationship between the Church and Christ is explained and Paul compares this to the relationship between husband and wife. This is drawing on the Old Testament imagery of God’s “courtship” of His people:

For your Maker is your husband — the Lord Almighty is his name — the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;  he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit— a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.  In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness  I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer. – Isaiah 54:5-8

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 

When people object to this passage, this is usually the verse that they skip over. This verse shows that the submission is not one-sided.  Husbands are not called to be dictators. They are not called to be oppressive. Husbands are to treat their wives in the same way that Christ treats the Church. That’s huge! Recall to mind everything that Christ endured for the love of His Bride! Husbands are called to imitate this.

There were washings involved in the Jewish marital customs. However, the context of the Church the “cleansing her by the bath of water with the word” refers to Baptism:

“By what ‘word’ is she ‘washed?’ ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ He did not simply bathe her; He adorned her, making her glorious, having no spot or wrinkle or anything lacking. Let us not seek from the wife something she does not have to give. For you see the pattern: the Church has received everything from Christ” – Saint John Chrysostom (A.D. 392-397), Homilies On The Epistle To The Ephesians, 20,5,27

So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. 

Husbands are to treat their wives as they would their own body. In the book of Genesis it even speaks of husband and wife being “one flesh”:

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh – Genesis 2:24

St. Paul says that marriage between a man and woman is an embodiment, a visible sign of the union of Christ with His Church. This is why we call marriage a Sacrament (The Latin word for “mystery” is “sacramentum”).

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Gospel: John 6:60-69

Next week we return to the Gospel of Mark. This week, however, we hear the concluding verses of John 6 which contains the “Bread of life discourse”, the chapter which we’ve been working through for the last few Sundays. Jesus is in the Synagogue of Capernaum, a year before Good Friday.

After recognizing Jesus as someone great (John 6:14) , the crowd hear Jesus say that He will raise them to life (John 6:44, 47) and that He is the bread of Heaven (John 6:51). His hearers find these sayings problematic, but rather than softening His teaching, He then goes on to say that one must eat His “flesh” and drink His “blood”, that His flesh is “real food” and His blood “real drink” (John 6:55-56). This last part proved too much for some…

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Questions:

• What is the context for this passage? What has Jesus been saying?
• How do the people (His own disciples!) react?
• How does Jesus respond to this?
• What does Jesus ask the Twelve?
• Who responds? What is his response?
• What is the “stumbling block” for many people concerning the Catholic Faith.

Commentary:

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” 

Jesus has said that they must eat His “flesh” and drink His “blood”. This is too much for some of His listeners. In the past few weeks as we’ve worked through this “Bread of Life Discourse”, Jesus has not shrunk from controversy, but been all the more blatant in His teaching.

It’s not that they don’t understand His teaching, they just can’t accept it. Earlier in this chapter Jesus had told them what they had to do to be doing the works of God:

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” – John 6:29

This is too much for them though.

i.e. difficult to receive, too much for their weakness. They thought He spoke above Himself, and more loftily than He had a right to do; and so said they, Who can bear it? which was answering in fact for themselves, that they could not. – St. John Chrysostom

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, …

Jesus knows their hearts and that they are having problems with what He has said.

They spoke, however, so as not to be heard by Him. But He, who knew what was in them, heard within Himself – St. Augustine

John no doubt uses the word “murmuring” purposefully, hearkening back to the Israelites in the desert:

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. – Exodus 16:2

…he said to them, “Does this shock you? 

Literally, is this a stumbling block for you? (The Greek word “scandalon”) .

“…What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 

He uses the title of “Son of Man” to describe Himself (as we’ve seen over recent weeks this alludes to the vision of the Prophet Daniel in Daniel 7:13).

Jesus is speaking here of His Ascension. These words would probably have called to mind the assumption of Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). It is also possible that Moses was brought to mind, since a tradition said that his body was taken by God, which is why it has never been found (Deuteronomy 34:6). Would the people believe if Jesus was taken up into Heaven like one of the Prophets?

It is also possible that Jesus could be referring to the crucifixion, when His flesh was offered for the world.

Jesus also speaks of His Heavenly pre-existence with the Father (“where he was before”):

The Evangelist wishes to show us, that He knew all things before the foundation of the world: which was a proof of His divinity. – Theophyl

The Fathers offer some commentary on verse:

The revelation however of these hidden things was a mark of His Divinity: hence the meaning of what follows; “And if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before; supply, What will you say?” He said the same to Nathanael, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, believe you? You shall see greater things than these”. He does not add difficulty to difficulty, but to convince them by the number and greatness of His doctrines. For if He had merely said that He came down from heaven, without adding any thing further, he would have offended His hearers more; but by saying that His flesh is the life of the world, and that as He was sent by the living Father, so He lives by the Father; and at last by adding that He came down from heaven, He removed all doubt. Nor does He mean to scandalize His disciples, but rather to remove their scandal. For so long as they thought Him the Son of Joseph, they could not receive His doctrines; but if they once believed that He had come down from heaven and would ascend thither, they would be much more willing and able to admit them. – St. John Chrysostom

Or, these words are an answer to their mistake. They supposed that He was going to distribute His body in bits: whereas He tells them now, that He should ascend to heaven whole and entire: What and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? You will then see that He does not distribute His body in the way you think. Again; Christ became the Son of man, of the Virgin Mary here upon earth, and took flesh upon Him: He says then, “What and, if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?” to let us know that Christ, God and man, is one person, not two; and the object of one faith, not a quaternity, but a Trinity. He was the Son of man in heaven, as He was Son of God upon earth; the Son of God upon earth by assumption of the flesh, the Son of man in heaven, by the unity of the person. – St. Augustine

It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.” 

Jesus is no longer talking about His flesh (since it gives life to the world). He’s talking about our fleshly natures and failed human reasons. His listeners have just been concerned with the physical aspects of life and the filling of their bellies.  He therefore says that without the spirit, the flesh is dead. He then speaks of grace and new birth:

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. – John 3:6

 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. – 1 Corinthians 15:45-47

He tries to remove their difficulties in another way, as follows, “It is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing”: that is to say, “You ought to understand My words in a spiritual sense: he who understands them carnally is profited nothing”. To interpret carnally is to take a proposition in its bare literal meaning, and allow no other. But we should not judge of mysteries in this way; but examine them with the inward eye; i.e. understand them spiritually. It was carnal to doubt how our Lord could give His flesh to eat. What then? Is it not real flesh? Yes, verily. In saying then that the flesh profits nothing, He does not speak of His own flesh, but that of the carnal hearer of His word – St. John Chrysostom

They had understood by His flesh, as it were, of a carcass, that was to be cut up, and sold in the shambles, not of a body animated by the spirit. Join the spirit to the flesh, and it profits much: for if the flesh profited not, the Word would not have become flesh, and dwelt among us. The Spirit has done much for our salvation, by means of the flesh. – St. Augustine 

“…But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 

Jesus doesn’t soften His teaching to make it more palatable.

It is interesting that John mentions Judas here (“the one who would betray him”).

And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

Grace is necessary. We cannot come to Jesus through pure human effort.

As if He said, Men’s unbelief does not disturb or astonish Me: I know to whom the Father has given to come to Me. He mentions the Father, to show first that He had no eye to His own glory; secondly, that God was His Father, and not Joseph. – St. John Chrysostom

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 

This is the only time in Jesus’ ministry that we see large numbers of people leave Him. How many people left? The text isn’t clear, but it’s probably a lot. They had taken Jesus’ words literally, couldn’t deal with them, and so left. If this was just a misunderstanding, wouldn’t you expect Jesus to clarify what He was saying? Since He doesn’t do this, we can only conclude that Jesus was speaking literally and meant every word He said.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” 

Many of the people in the broader group of disciples have left. Jesus now turns to his “inner circle” of followers. He doesn’t clarify His teaching any more, He simply asks them if they too want to leave.

Our Lord knew well the intentions of the other disciples which stayed, as to staying or going; but yet He put the question to them, in order to prove their faith, and hold it up to imitation: Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away? – St. Bede

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Peter acts as spokesmen for the Twelve (as usual). He asks a rhetorical question, demonstrating their belief that there is no other place to go. They might not completely grasp everything that Jesus is saying here, but they believe in Him and trust Him.

Let us in everything believe God, and gainsay him in nothing, though what is said be contrary to our hearts and senses…Let us act likewise in respect to the [eucharistic] mysteries, not looking at the things set before us, but keeping in mind his words. For his word cannot deceive. –St John Chrysostom (ca. 347—407)