Sunday 25 August 2024
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord – Psalm 33(34):2-3, 16-23. Ephesians 5:21-32. John 6:60-69.
Open our hearts to the wonder of the Messiah
I often wonder what would have been my experience of being in the crowd when Jesus speaks of the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have life within. It would have been a difficult teaching to hear, especially if you saw Jesus as a prophet or a teacher. There is a vulnerability and a strength in this reading. Jesus had the strength to say it as it was – he knew and spoke the truth despite knowing how difficult it would be for people to accept.
The Apostles, having experienced what it was like to love Jesus and witness that love through miracles, companionship and teaching, surrendered any doubts in that moment when asked by Jesus if they too would like to leave him.
Their faith in Jesus as the Holy One from God freed them from human thinking and reason and opened their hearts and minds to the wonder of the Messiah. Dear Jesus, help us to see beyond our human restrictions that inform our view of you and the Father, so that we may surrender, over and over again, all doubts and mysteries to you.
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