21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Joshua 24:1-2,15-17, 18
Ephesians 5:21-32
John 6:60-69
A. Text/Context
• The gospel today is a continuation of last Sunday where in this period of time Jesus is already teaching his disciples many mysterious things that are difficult to understand
• And what do the disciples say about it? They said that this teaching is hard who can accept it?
• And so they were murmuring and even thinking that Jesus is already crazy (the teaching about his body and blood)
• The disciples do not have a background about the understanding about the Eucharist compared to what we have now
• And so this is the beginning that the number of his followers or his disciples has started to disintegrate
• The original 72 disciples have now dwindled to a mere 12. Now, Jesus asks the 12 do you also want to leave
• And so the loyal disciples answered headed by their spokesman Simon Peter said
• Master to whom we shall go you have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the holy one of God
• Beautiful words of Peter and they are they are words of loyalty and commitment
• The remaining 12 disciples have committed themselves to remain loyal to Jesus whatever happens
• So the theme of today’s gospel is on commitment that is why the 2nd reading is about commitment of love in marriage
• The 1st reading is also a renewal of commitment or covenant of the Israelites to God when they have already reached the promised land
B. Human Situation
• In our life as Christians sometimes we become very loose with what we have committed to do in life
• Every one of us has a chosen vocation in life. If we have chosen marriage, then let it be that what we do is in harmony or consistent with a married life
• That would mean that you will be a responsible father or mother to your children
• You have a commitment to fidelity in marriage. Of course there may be very serious and grave reasons why couples separate
• But a lot of marriages have fallen because the couples failed in the commitment, fidelity and responsibility check
• The men are acting as if they have no responsibilities back home as a husband and father
• The women are acting as if there are no obligations to fulfill as wife and mother
• Of course, we all know that even if you are already married you will still be attracted to other people
• That is now where the value of self-control comes in because the reality is that we cannot have everything that we want
• When this happens we need to go a little backwards for a self introspection and relish the day when you kneel before the altar of God begging him that you may find the right man or woman for marriage
• You aspired to become a public servant so that you made a commitment to serve the people no matter what the difficulties are
• In your days of idealism, you only have love for the native land and love for your own people
• Now you rose to become the big boss in a company or a government office and it becomes so easy to do things at the snap of your fingers
• Use it then to serve the people even more but not to trample or manipulate them because you are powerful
• If for the sake of honesty and integrity in service and in the exercise of your position and authority you have made more enemies than friends! So let it be
• Do not be discouraged even if you lose friends if you believe that God is on your side. Do not be afraid to oppose the tide of opinions against you. Fear no evil
• That is commitment. We must be able to see God in our commitment through the eyes of our faith not merely with our lips
• Majority of the disciples do not understand that sooner Jesus would sacrifice his own body and blood for the salvation of all
• He gave his body and blood: I am the living bread and whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life
• And the disciples were so shocked of these teachings
• Does this teaching shock you? What about if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before. It will be more shocking when Jesus will ascend into heaven and sit on his throne!
• So what is the problem of the disciples who abandoned Jesus? They do not trust in Jesus. They do not rely on the prophetic words of Jesus that after his final sacrifice on the cross he will go back to the Father. They did not see their commitment in the eyes of faith
• Simon Peter got the message so correctly that is why he said: Master, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life
• The remaining 12 apostles gave their total trust in Jesus although at this point in time they still do not know fully well that their commitment would lead to their martyrdom
• But what was the result of the commitment of the apostles? The church was established
• The Catholic Church was founded upon the blood of the apostles
• The true Church will remain no matter how small even if all its followers have become atheists or agnostics. The true Church will remain
• That is why you must never be afraid to make decisions. Fear is not from God. It is from the devil
• Satan does not want us to trust in God. He uses scare tactics so that we will be afraid to correct a mistake
• And the mistake will become a norm and the norm will even become a law that ruins our very own souls
• People who are committed will forward the plan of God for humanity and Satan hates people who are committed because his only desire is to destroy what God has planned
• Satan hates anything good about human beings because he is so jealous. Why? Because God has given us salvation, the hope of heaven even with our sinfulness
• But Satan has no more hope so that is why he will drag as many souls as possible to be with him into the eternal damnation
C. Challenge
• Jesus was not discouraged when out of the 72 disciples only the twelve have remained and even knows that one will betray him
• If the majority of the people will be committed to preserve the culture of life there will be no killing
• If married couples will be committed to each other there will be unity in the family
• If the priests and religious are committed to their vows, they will be very fruitful in their ministries
• If the youth and the teenagers are committed to the purity of their bodies there will be no sexual promiscuity
• If all our public servants are committed to genuine service there will be progress and prosperity
• God will be our final judge how well we lived our commitments in this world for the good of all
• We cannot afford to face the Lord that in the end we only serve our own selves
• Life can be very beautiful if we commit ourselves totally to what God wants us to do
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