Homily for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

Ex 16:2-4, 12-15

Ps 78:3-4, 23-25, 54

Eph 4:17, 20-24

Jn 6:24-35

 

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church, Burkburnett, TX

St. Paul Catholic Church, Electra, TX

Christ the King Catholic Church, Iowa Park, TX

 

          In the first reading, the Israelites have become so fed up with the new life God has led them to in the desert they begin to think that a life of slavery was better, easier, and preferable to following Moses. They dramatically complain about not having any bread to eat and whine that they all will surely die of famine. They are not used to living in freedom. When you are a slave, at least your master feeds you. But now what? God gives them manna from heaven so the Israelites can make bread every day to eat. But that bread only lasted a single day.

          Our Gospel reading this week continues the Bread of Life discourse in John 6 we began last Sunday. As you recall, Jesus had just fed over 5000 people with five small barley loaves and two tiny fish. The people wanted to make Jesus a king, so he left them and made his escape in the night. They found him in Capernaum and began to question him. Jesus knew they only followed him across the sea because of the miracle he worked for them. Recalling the manna story from our first reading, Jesus pleaded with them to elevate their thinking and not to work for the bread of this world that passes away, but to work for the bread of eternal life He will soon give them. Jesus is speaking about the work of the Father that He does in us, which leads us to faith in Jesus Christ. But he is also speaking about our work of submitting to God’s work and action within us. Biblical scholar Francis Martin writes “Our work is to yield to the Father’s work within us and so believe in his Son and receive him as the source of our eternal life.^[1]” To strengthen us for this work, Jesus offers us the Bread of Life, His very Body and Blood in the Eucharist; our daily bread.

          We heard St. Paul today exhort his beloved Christians in Ephesus to “no longer live as the Gentiles do…but to put away the old self and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self.” This instruction is for us too, especially in these chaotic times. If we are to call ourselves Christians, we too must put away the old way of life with its old thinking and embrace the new way of life and thinking Jesus Christ calls us to. What is this new way of life? Simply put, it is to be like Jesus Christ who “always did what was pleasing to the Father, and who always lived in perfect communion with him.” (CCC 1693) To live a new life in Christ is to be free of slavery to sin, and it means we have to work for it. It means we do not wish for the old life in Egypt when the desert road gets long. The new life of the Christian soul, baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus means we leave behind seeking whatever we want however we can get it. It means our minds direct our wills and our wills control our emotions and passions. The new life of a Christian means we do not long for the perishable manna of this world, but seek instead the true Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, in all we do.

          God has given each of us the freedom to make our own moral decisions. Every choice has a consequence. The decisions we make can either lead us to our salvation or lead us to our destruction (CCC 1969). For those of us who would call ourselves Catholics, it seems to me that we have three options before us on how to lead our lives. There are places Christians do not go. There are things Christians do not do. There are words Christians do not speak. There are political stands Christians do not take.

          First, we can lead our lives doing whatever we feel is good for us at the time. At first glance, this sounds attractive, but remember that our old selves are prone to choosing the old bread – to want what is not good for us – and causing us to act badly in order to get it. This is the life of the ‘cafeteria Catholic’ who picks and chooses which doctrines of faith and morals they want to embrace or reject. The problem here is that in a real cafeteria, everything is actual food, whereas rejection of Catholic faith and morals can be a deadly poison.

          Second, we can lead our lives based on obligation. We try to do what Holy Mother Church asks of us, but only because of a sense of obedience. We go to Mass because the Church says we have to. We go to confession because we are supposed to. We avoid sin because we are afraid of hell. It is a start, I suppose, and better than nothing, but this way of life is insufficient, though. It is sterile and devoid of a personal relationship with Christ.

          The third way of life for a Catholic is the way of love, that leads us toward perfection. It means doing what the Holy Trinity asks us to, freely as a child of God. We follow God because he first loved us. With this new self, God helps us along the way with the graces we receive in the sacraments and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is living as a friend of God. It is freely choosing life in and with Christ Jesus.

          As we prepare to receive the True Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist, it does us well to reflect on the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch: “I take no pleasure in corruptible food or the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ who is of the seed of David; and for drink I want his blood, which is incorruptible love.”

St. Joseph, Servant of Christ, Pray for Us!

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^[1] Francis Martin and William M. Wright IV, The Gospel of John, ed. Peter S. Williamson and Mary Healy, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), 121.