Crunch time: Whom will you serve?

Homily for Ordinary Time – 21^st Sunday Year B 2015

Joshua 24:1-2,15-18; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69

Introduction

Life is full of choices.  Last week, when some friends took me out to eat, I was struck at how even having a meal involves several choices.

·        First we had to choose our drinks, choosing between water and ice-tea, soda and beer, wine and mixed drinks.

·        Then the waitress ran through this long list of the day’s specials of entrées, to say nothing about the offerings in the five page menu.

·        After selecting the entrée, she asked how I wanted it cooked, again giving me several options.

·        Then there was the choice of what two sides, and another choice between soup and salad.

·        And don’t forget the choices of appetizers and desserts.  Choices, choices, choices!

Scripture and Theology

Today’s readings also speak about choices, but choices with far-reaching consequences than choosing between “medium well” and “medium rare.”

·        In the first reading, Joshua asks the people of Israel: “. . . 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.”  It is a simple choice: serve the God of their Fathers or serve the other gods.

·        In the gospel, Jesus for his part asks the disciples: “Do you also want to leave?” It is a simple choice, stay with me or leave.

How do they respond?

·        Joshua tells his countrymen: “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD;" he chooses to follow the Lord.  And the people of Israel, after remembering all the good things that the Lord has done for them say: “Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

·        In the gospel, Peter speaking on behalf of the others says to Jesus: “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."

But why do Joshua and Jesus even have to ask these questions?  Why do they have to give this ultimatum, to throw down the gauntlet?

In the first reading, the people of Israel have just entered the Promised Land. There is a danger that they might be attracted to the gods of the people whom they have found in the land.  And so Joshua calls together the elders, leaders, judges and scribes of Israel and presents them with a choice, between the God who has been faithful to them and the new gods whom they have just met.  It is crunch time for the people of Israel, as they begin to live in the Promised Land.

In the gospel too, Jesus has to ask this important question.  For the last four Sundays we have heard Jesus teaching that he is the bread of life that brings eternal life.  This bread takes the form of his Word which he teaches and his own Body and Blood which he offers in the Eucharist.  And unless one eats of this bread, they will not have life.  But some disciples reacted to the teaching by declaring: "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"   “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  And so they leave him and return to their old ways.  It is at this point that Jesus, like Joshua, places the big decision before his disciples: "Do you also want to leave?"

Thankfully, as we have heard, both groups make the right choice.  To the question of Joshua “Whom will you serve?” the people of Israel choose to serve the God of their Fathers.  And to the question of Jesus “Do you also want to leave?” Peter chooses to stay with Jesus, the bread of life, the way to eternal life.

Christian Life

These questions of Joshua and of Jesus are asked of you and me as well.

·        Who shall we serve?  Perhaps the gods that tempt us to serve them rather than our God are different from the gods of the Amorites.  Today’s gods are money, autonomy, pleasure.  Joshua asks today, to decide if we will serve these gods or the God of Jesus Christ who has brought us thus far.

·        Do we also want to leave Jesus?  Perhaps the teaching that might drive us from Jesus is not the Eucharistic teaching that drove the disciples to reject the bread of life.  The difficult teachings for us today might be those that promote life and family by fighting against contraception, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, on the one hand, or the teachings that promote life by demanding that we care for the poor, the environment, the immigrant and even the prisoner.  We too might find it hard to understand why Jesus and the Church teach these things; and we might be tempted to leave.

If we find ourselves in these situations, we would do well to follow the example of Peter.  When Peter chooses to follow Jesus, he does not at all suggest that he understands fully what Jesus is asking of him.  In fact, the gospels and even the other writings of the New Testament are full of examples of how Peter and his fellow disciples time and again failed to get Jesus completely, including when they abandoned him on the cross.  Peter simply says: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  In other words while Peter does not yet understand fully what the Lord wants of him, he still trusts that the Lord will lead him on the path to heaven.

This week at Notre Dame Seminary where I work, we are receiving 40 new men who have come to study for the priesthood.  Some have left lucrative jobs including an army dentist, others have come from countries far and wide.  Some are in their early 20s, others are in the 50s.  But they have all said “Yes” to the Lord who wants them to serve him as priests.

But like Peter, they have made this decision, aware that there is a lot that they don’t know.  In fact, according to past experience, about a quarter of their number will eventually leave the seminary and will not become priests.  But they have said “Yes” to the Lord and have come to flesh out what that “Yes” means.  They will have struggles while at the seminary, in the rigorous academic courses, in the demanding regimen of prayer, in the difficult pastoral situations they will face.  But they have said “Yes, Lord, we will follow you to where you want to lead us.”  For some that will be the priesthood, for others faithful married life, for others a single life dedicated to the service of others.

And so, for us too, whatever difficulties we might have with Church teaching, whether it is the so-called more traditional-leaning or the so-called more liberal-leaning, let us remember that we have already given Jesus our answer when we said “Yes” at baptism and confirmation.  All that remains now is for us to work out and grapple daily with what that “Yes” means.

Yes we might complain that the choices at the restaurant are too many; but the really important decision is choosing to go out in the first place.  Everything else we do at table is small potatoes.  In the same way, compared with the big decision we have made to follow Jesus, all our other difficulties are small potatoes.

Conclusion

When we are faced with difficult choices, when we are faced with doubt, let us turn to Jesus saying: “To whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”