In a debate class, the teacher presented hypothetical situations to
encourage his students to talk and argue for their position. One case was: “If
you were in a sinking boat with your mother and your sister, whom would you
save?” In another case, the situation was modified such that a man had his wife
and daughter with him. Whom would he
save? The condition was that only one could be saved. One had to make a choice.
The word “choice”
summarizes all three readings of today. In the first reading of today, wisdom
invites all who are listening, and especially the unlearned, to choose the meat
and wine that she has to offer in order that they have life of both body and
spirit. This is in contrast to what folly offers namely, stolen water and
pilfered bread which lead to death. It might seem obvious to make the choice
for wisdom and life rather than for folly and death. However, the invitations issued
by wisdom and folly are identical. One
needs the gift of discernment in order to make the correct choice.
This gift of
discernment is what the author of the letter to the Ephesians invites them to have.
It will help them to choose wise conduct over foolish conduct and to choose to
do the will of God rather than continue in ignorance. Accordingly, the presence
of true wisdom should be obvious in the life of the believer who, by virtue of
that wisdom, will not fritter away his/her energies in careless, thoughtless
living. Rather, the grace-filled disciple of Jesus lives each day empowered by
a full and thoroughgoing faith. The process of integrating faith with life is
one which begins in prayer and finds its fullest expression in prayer,
particularly in Eucharistic, liturgical prayer.
In the Gospel text
of today, Jesus invited those who had their fill of the physical bread that he
provided them, to realize that there was much more to life than merely satisfying
physical hunger. Jesus invited them to
choose to partake of the bread that he alone could give: the true bread that
indeed comes from heaven. This they would do if they made the deliberate choice
to eat his body and drink his blood. This scandalized and shocked his listeners. They could not accept that Jesus himself could
be the sacrifice and so offer them his flesh and blood. They questioned, they
quarreled, and they refused to make the choice for him.
Though on the
rational level it seems clear that any person will choose wisdom over folly,
meat and wine over stolen water and pilfered bread, and life over death, this
does not always happen. Often, the choice we make is for untruth over truth, for
darkness over light, and for death over life. This is because, at first glance,
untruth, darkness, and death seem so much more desirable and easy to choose. It
is because we think that the choice of truth, light, and life will mean that we
have to make changes in our life styles that we are not prepared to make. It is
because we mistakenly think that the stolen water and pilfered bread can bring
us the happiness that we seek, which seems so elusive.
Even as we
struggle with the choice that we have to make, Jesus invites us, beckons us,
even challenges us to make the choice for him and for his kingdom. This is
because to eat his flesh and to drink his blood is to become totally identified
with his very person, with his deepest thoughts, with his vision of life, with
his values, and with his mission to build the Kingdom of God. The flesh and
blood of Jesus is, above all, that part of him which he totally surrendered in
his suffering and death. He is inviting us to be with him, sharing totally and
unconditionally his mission and destiny. To opt for Jesus means to make a
choice for all that is positive and enhancing, for all that leads to life in
all its fullness. It is to make a choice for selflessness over selfishness, for
sharing rather than hoarding, for giving rather than receiving, for light
rather than darkness, and for life rather than death. It is to opt for a life
that is not closed in on itself but is lived in the full knowledge that, since
one is loved unconditionally, one can only love in return.
To eat the flesh
of the Son of Man and drink his blood means being filled with his spirit. This
is a spirit of generosity, a spirit of freedom, and a spirit that will give
thanks to the Father always, and for everything, in the name of Jesus Christ
From ignorance, lead me to truth; From darkness, lead me to light; From death, lead me to immortality (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.3.28)
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