TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: John 6:60-69

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Jesus gives a discourse describing his total self-giving to us, and the response of his listeners is to complain that his words are too hard to accept. Why do we have trouble grasping the unconditional love of God for us? Don Fabio says that this passage points to two different attitudes we can take when contemplating the words of Jesus. The first attitude (that which originates in the flesh) is to understand his words in terms of normal human relations, where people only give when they receive something in return. This attitude views the self-giving of Jesus with suspicion and incredulity. The second attitude is the one displayed by Peter and is an attitude that originates in the Spirit. We must place ourselves in faith before the Son of God, acknowledging that only he has the message of eternal life, and seeking to understand his Eucharistic words in terms of the unconditional self-giving that is foreign to purely human relations.

Why are Jesus words regarding his self-giving so hard for us to accept?

Jesus had just made one of the most beautiful discourses that is to be found in the Gospels, the statement of the complete, unconditional giving of himself to us as our food. The response of the people is to complain, "This is intolerable language! Who can accept this kind of talk!" Why are Jesus words so hard to accept? Because they are surprising and do not fit in with our normal idea of how to relate with others. We expect human inter-relationship to consist in a form of exchange between equals. We do not expect, nor do we really want, to be offered something as a free gift. We are embarrassed or suspicious when someone gives us a gift without reason. When we go into someone else's house we feel that we have to bring something with us. The idea of only receiving without giving in return is not something that comes naturally to us.

There are two attitudes we can take when contemplating Jesus' words: An attitude informed by the Holy Spirit, or an attitude informed by the flesh

We continue to place ourselves before God with the attitude of not wishing to abandon ourselves completely to his love for us. The Holy Spirit seeks to teach us a different attitude, and this is what Jesus is referring to when he say, "What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?" Jesus is asking that his followers inform their attitudes with a contemplation of the redemptive self-giving of the Son of Man that is unfolding before their eyes. Instead, his followers are interpreting Jesus words according to the "flesh". Jesus here does not intend to disparage the flesh. We are Christians, not Platonists, and we believe that the human being is a union of body and spirit. But what Jesus is warning about here is an attitude that springs from the flesh, that springs from human relations, and he is contrasting it with an attitude that comes from the Holy Spirit. In fact, later on he says, "No-one can come to me unless the Father allows him." In order to understand what Jesus is saying regarding the Eucharist, it is not sufficient that we base our thinking on our experience of human relations. Instead we must base our thinking on a contemplation of what God has done in giving himself to us unconditionally. Most of us have been Christians for a long time, but we have never really opened our hearts fully to God, to his self-giving, to his love that has no conditions.

Peter demonstrates the right attitude, and places himself before Jesus in the faith that only Jesus has the message of eternal life

Peter replies "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the message of Eternal Life, and we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God". In Peter we see the correct attitude for following the Lord. This attitude does not seek to understand everything Jesus says in human terms. It consists rather in the acknowledgement that there is no life to be found anywhere else except in Jesus. If Jesus is the source of life, then all our belief and our understanding must be founded on the words of eternal life that come from him, the words that help us to believe and know that Jesus is the Holy One of God. I invite all the readers to place themselves before God in this way that Peter has done, contemplating what God has done for us, what God has gifted to us. Our attempts to understand the words of Jesus must find their point of departure in this attitude, and not in the natural instinct of the flesh to view all things suspiciously, even that come from God.