Fr Luke Macnamara OSB
Our first impressions of Jesus are that he is hugely successful in his ministry. While we cannot ignore his end on the Cross, for the most part we celebrate his successes: his preaching to great crowds, his many healings and exorcisms, his ability to still storms, etc. Today we get a more realistic view. We learn that many of the disciples left him and stopped going with him. In fact it appears as if only the Twelve remain. The large crowds at the Capernaum synagogue have evaporated.
What provokes so many to leave? We have a clue since they say: “This is intolerable language, How could anyone accept it?” Jesus’ teaching asks too much of them. Does it ask too much of us? The second reading from the Ephesians is often paired with the Gospel of John chapter 6 in the lectionary. There is a common theme of self-giving love.
In the Gospel Jesus gives us his body to eat, his flesh to drink. The language is symbolic of the extent of Jesus’ love and gift of himself for us, which will be manifest at the Last Supper and at the Cross. As a pregnant mother lovingly gives of her body and of her blood to the growing infant inside her that the child may have life, so Jesus lovingly gives of himself for us, that we might have eternal life. This is a great and costly gift, but one that leads to eternal life.
In the letter to the Ephesians, the reading opens with the line “Give way to one another in obedience to Christ.” This sets the scene for the further teaching for wives and husbands to be obedient to one another. The self-giving love is primarily directed to Christ who loves us first and infinitely more, and this is the context in which we are empowered to exercise this self-giving love for one another. Marriage is a privileged relationship in which to exercise this self-giving love, to which all the baptised, married, or celibate are called to practice.
Where might we practice this self-giving love in our lives? There are many possibilities, but they begin here at this altar. It is here that we offer our very selves along with the gifts of bread and wine that they and we be transformed into the body and blood of Christ, that gives life to the world. By virtue of our baptism we are empowered to exercise our priestly role in communion with Christ in this self-gift. We make this gift of ourselves in love which leads to our transformation already here and now for our true destiny, eternal life. Our participation at this altar enables us to practice this self-giving love in our lives.
Simon Peter responds to Jesus’ question as to whether the Twelve also will go away: “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life.” Simon understands Jesus’ teaching on self-giving love as the path to eternal life, a path discovered by many married couples through the challenges of life, also by true friends, faithful neighbours, and all who love. Yes this love comes as a cost to us, but it produces life, most immediately for those we serve, but also true and eternal life for our ourselves.