GOSPEL, John (6: 60-69)
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John
The Words of Eternal Life
60 Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that should betray him. 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. 67 Jesus said to the twelve, “Will you also go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
“This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6.60) Although Jesus scandalized the Jews, He continues his discourse and invites us to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
Jesus’s speech about the bread of life points to a fundamental statement in (John.6:51)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
This is at the heart of the Church’s life. We live to make the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection present, to share the body and blood of the Lord, to hear the Word of the Lord.
Many were frightened and left Jesus. A kind of crisis was established among Jesus’ disciples. We can even say that this scripture is a turning point in the flow of the whole of St. John’s Gospel.
Jesus asks, “Do you also want to leave?” S. Peter replies, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” Peter had understood that his Lord’s words were different from the words of the other teachers. The words of men belong to men and have no higher service. Jesus’ words are spirit and life because they come from Heaven, they are “words of eternal life” (John 6, 68) because they contain, express and transmit that the fullness of life has no end, because it is the very life of God.
Jesus is risen and lives. Additionally, the words that He addresses all of us with today, are every bit as relevant and life changing as were in the past and for all cultures.
If every day we strive to hear the Word so that we may apply it, then it follows we must endeavour to practice it and believe consequently that only in the Word, eternal life exists.
PRAYER
We praise you, Father, for inviting us to sit at the table where your Son, Jesus Christ, multiplies his bread for the hungry of the world. He makes us to be generous in serving the poorest and to be willing to share everything we have with our most needy brothers, as you did. Amen.