Today’s message is about choice making , to make a decision to follow Jesus , to be faithful disciples of Jesus or to reject the Catholic Church. So often we hear people who claim themselves Catholics but they don’t believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Others say : I am a Catholic but I support the birth control. Or I am a Catholic but I support death Penalty. Discipleship is a choice to commit ourselves to be faithful to follow Jesus or to reject Him. What is your decision ? Do you want to leave Jesus ? Very challenging message. The choice – making determine our actions, all we do and how we interact with the people. What is your choice ?
In our first reading, before challenging the people of Israel, Joshua reminds them the good things God has done for them . Then he asked them to make a choice : to serve God or to serve the world. The response was positive . People of Israel chose to serve God. In choosing God they chose a new way of God. In today’s gospel, after talking about the bread of life , some followers of Christ were disappointed. What they heard was not what they expected to hear from Christ. This teaching is too difficult for us! You are complicating our lives! They could not take it anymore. For this reason, many of them stopped to follow Jesus. Disciples who have been with Jesus for some time left him and stopped going with him. They rejected the teaching of bread of life when Jesus says : whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood , has eternal life. It was very hard for them to accept that language. They rejected Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist. Notice that when Jesus fed 5000 people in the desert they were excited, happy. They wanted to make Jesus their king. However, when Jesus spoke about the Eucharist and said to them that whoever eats his body and drinks his blood , has eternal life, they rejected his teaching and walked away. When they did not hear from Jesus what they expected to, they quit following Jesus. And they returned to their former way of life.
Then, Jesus turns to the twelve and asks them ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ Do you want to quit teaching doctrine because your kids had received all the sacraments? Do you want to stop loving our community because of worship guide ? What is your decision ? Remember all the good things God has done in your life. Peter on behalf of the twelve said : ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe, we know that you are the Holy One of God’. The apostles chose to follow Jesus and gave their lives serving. What about you and I ? Today we are called to renew our commitment to follow Jesus. Commitment demands 100% of ourselves…not 50 or 70%. To commit is to accept of whole the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of Catholic Church. Commitment transforms and changes our lives. So when we choose to follow Jesus, we commit ourselves to imitate his life, his thoughts, attitudes, values, his way of seeing things , even at great cost to ourselves. It is demanding and challenging to be Catholics and be disciples of Jesus. It doesn’t mean that we always follow Jesus perfectly. But we must keep trying.. Like the apostles, we renew our act of faith by saying : “Lord to whom shall I go, you have the message of eternal life. I believe and I know that you are the Holy One of God”.
