Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Are there any Bears fans here? I have a question for you: if I reached into my wallet, how much money would I have to offer to get you to root for the Vikings? I know what you’re thinking: “You keep your wallet where it is, Father, because there ain’t enough money in the world to make me a Vikings fan.” Fair enough. I am a Notre Dame fan, and you could fill up the collection plate with hundred dollar bills, but you’d never get me to root for USC or Michigan.
In both cases, the reason why is loyalty. Each of today’s readings is about loyalty, though much more important types of loyalty than what we show our sports teams. When the first reading takes place, Joshua and the Israelites have spent their lifetime conquering the Promised Land after the death of Moses; here Joshua is an old man and he is putting a choice to the people. They’ve arrived, the land is theirs, and he tells them: Now you have to decide whom to serve. The God of our fathers Abraham and Moses got us here, and he has given us his law. Other nations have other gods, maybe with laws that aren’t so demanding. You are free to make a choice. You can serve whichever god you wish, Joshua says, but “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
And the people agree to serve the Lord. But if you continuing reading in the book of Joshua, you’ll see that Joshua asks the people a second time. Are you sure? Because if you agree to serve the Lord, then God will hold you to his law. You are free, but your choice is binding.
So loyalty, as we see it in the book of Joshua, is a commitment freely undertaken. It’s not to be weighed lightly because it is binding. The same is true of the commitment the second reading deals with, marriage. Here we start to get a hint as to why the marriage commitment is unbreakable: because, as St. Paul says, “the two shall become one flesh.” The reading makes clear that loyalty has to go both ways, wife to husband and husband to wife. It means a loyalty so deep that both spouses sometimes need to be willing to sacrifice their own desires for the good of the relationship. We consider marriage a sacrament precisely because such faithful love—to the point of self-sacrifice—reflects the love that Jesus himself shows for his bride, the Church.
This brings us to the Gospel. Today’s passage comes at the end of John 6, the bread of life discourses that we’ve been hearing for the past 4 weeks. You’ll remember that Jesus has been in a heated argument with the crowd over his statement, “I am the bread of life.” The crowd rightly thinks this is a strange thing to say, but instead of backing down, Jesus escalates the argument, making his claim more and more explicit. He ends up claiming, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in you… [and] my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” This is why the disciples say at the beginning of today’s reading: “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” And most of them leave.
By the end of the reading, Jesus is left saying to the Twelve: “Do you also want to leave?” Peter answers with an expression of loyalty which at first seems a little uncertain: “Master, to whom shall we go?” But then he expresses a faith that leads to faithfulness: “You have the words of eternal life… you are the Holy One of God.”
Believing Jesus’ words in John 6—“my flesh is true food, my blood is true drink”—is a question of faith. Faith does not mean believing without a reason; it means believing based on our trust in another person. And in the case of our faith in the Eucharist, that at Mass bread and wine truly are transformed into the body and blood of Christ, it means believing that the words of Jesus—this is my body, this is my blood—are more trustworthy than our own senses. It means trusting in Jesus’ loyalty, his truthfulness, his fidelity to us; that what he promises is the truth. When we say “Amen” when the priest says “The body of Christ,” it’s our version of expressing Peter’s faith: “Master, you have the words of eternal life.”
And here’s why a reading about marriage would be paired with a reading about communion. Because the two shall become one flesh. When Christ gives himself to us in communion, his faithfulness, his loyalty is total. He is willing to sacrifice his own body for us. And there is no expression of union more complete than his body becoming one with our body when we receive the Eucharist.
And just as the “I do” of marriage demands fidelity on the part of the spouses, so the “Amen” of taking communion demands loyalty on our part, a commitment to live in communion with Jesus, becoming one flesh with him. Like marriage, this means good times and bad. Today’s Gospel reading alludes to one of those bad times, the betrayal of Judas. Despite this betrayal, Jesus remained faithful to his promise; he did not abandon the Church then, as he does not abandon us now. Despite our sins, he is a faithful spouse.
The promise and challenge of being Catholic is making his faithfulness our own. It means when we see others falling away, as they do, saying to ourselves “As for me, I will serve the Lord.” It means not giving up even when we are hurt or betrayed by others’ sinfulness. It means turning to him when we are not sure where else to go, trusting, “Master, you have the words of eternal life.” And, like Peter after the crucifixion, it means returning to Christ even when we have failed to be completely loyal disciples. It means the body that is crucified is our body too, and it means that when Christ gives his flesh to be one with ours we too rise with him.
Readings: Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Eph 5:21-32; John 6:60-69
Holy Family Catholic Church, Oglesby, IL
2018
Tony Lusvardi, S.J. 