20th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Reflection: Using scriptures in self-serving ways
By SISTER MARY McGLONE
In our history, we Christians have missed the mark on carrying out much (most?) of what Jesus tried to teach. In the name of Christ, a shameful number of men went crusading to destroy unbelievers. The Council of Trent found it necessary to prohibit such egregious abuses of the Eucharist as paying priest celebrants according to how long they could hold up the host for the people to adore.
In the U.S., some Christians saw it as their duty to carry out outlandish “proofs” that allowed them to put “witches” to death. In the name of freedom of religion, we have privatized our faith to the point that many feel free of responsibility to the common good, believing that all God desires is that we will each save our soul.
Worst of all, we have found ways to justify all of this by citing Scripture — selectively.
St. Paul warned the Ephesians about this kind of distorted theology, saying: “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons, but as wise … do not continue in ignorance.” He said, “the days are evil.”
Each of the deformations of Christianity mentioned above came from self-serving interpretations of Scripture, interpretations that employed fear and magic as well as bigoted exercises of power over others.
Today, our first reading introduces Lady Wisdom, a figure often identified with the Holy Spirit or Christ. She is making an offer to all who can hear. Interestingly, “hearing” does not refer to sound waves but to an attitude: “Let whoever is simple, turn in here … forsake foolishness that you may live.”
She offers, “Come, eat of my food and drink,” the food that nourishes understanding. Of course, her prerequisite of simplicity means that people who come to her table want to move beyond their current thinking!
Lady Wisdom’s offer is a prelude to Jesus’ invitation to partake of the living bread: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”
Taking his words as cannibalistic, his listeners entirely (purposely?) misinterpreted the comparison he made between his invitation to them and his relationship with the Father. Jesus stated it clearly, “Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”
Jesus was inviting them into a relationship of real mutuality with him, one that mirrored his relationship with the Father. They couldn’t understand this because, as we saw last week, they wouldn’t accept the idea that Jesus came from the Father.
Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in [her/him.]”
Obviously, this refers to much more than what we send to our stomachs. To take someone in like food is to allow that person to come to life in us. Christ invites us to give him a dwelling place in our heart, mind and psyche. As we do so, we begin to allow all that we are and do to find its source and purpose in him.
This takes us far beyond the physical act of eating. This is an open invitation to the mysticism of living through, with and in him. This banquet is too much to take in all at once.
How are we to know if we are following Paul’s advice to seek the will of God rather than interpreting like the Crusaders? Wisdom told us that the “simple” would enjoy her banquet. The simple, like the poor in spirit, not only accept, but rejoice in the awareness that they have much to learn.
The word most repeated in Wisdom and Jesus’ teaching is life. In John, life is an unrestricted term. Jesus came for the life of the world. Anything done in him creates life for all. People who create or enhance life will find themselves caught up in an unlimited spiral of energy: Giving life gives them life and they are drawn into the eternal life of God.
Sometimes we accept a spirituality that reflects the situation of a beggar dressed in rags and starving, all the while sitting obliviously on a pot of gold. We settle for what poor theology and materialistic society present, failing to take in what we are really being offered.
Jesus’ ministry was not about miracles done and delivered. Everything he did was a sign pointing toward what was much greater than our limited or limiting comprehension.
Instead of accepting inadequate interpretations of the Gospel, Christ invites us into an ongoing, mystical spiral of tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord. We eat his body and drink his blood when we allow him to live in us to the point that we will keep sharing his life forever.
Reading 1
(Proverbs 9:1-6)
Wisdom has built her house,
she has set up her seven columns;
she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine,
yes, she has spread her table.
She has sent out her maidens; she calls
from the heights out over the city:
“Let whoever is simple turn in here;
To the one who lacks understanding, she says,
Come, eat of my food,
and drink of the wine I have mixed!
Forsake foolishness that you may live;
advance in the way of understanding.”
Responsorial Psalm
(Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7)
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Reading 2
(Ephesians 5:15-20)
Brothers and sisters:
Watch carefully how you live,
not as foolish persons but as wise,
making the most of the opportunity,
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,
but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Gospel
(John 6:51-58)
Jesus said to the crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”