Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven

 

 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

 

- Matthew 16:13-20 

 

Yesterday we read that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."  My study Bible comments on today's entire passage that Christ's question, "Who do you say that I am?" is the greatest question that a person can ever face.  This is precisely because it is the question that defines Christianity.  Peter's correct answer to the question prevents the Christian faith from being seen or known as simply another philosophical system or path of spirituality.  This is because Jesus is the one and only Son of the living God.  Such a position excludes all compromise with other religious systems.  As Jesus indicates in His response to St. Peter here, St. Peter's understanding could not be achieved by human reason, but only by divine revelation through faith (see 1 Corinthians 12:3).  My study Bible points out that Christ means "Anointed One," the equivalent of the Hebrew title "Messiah."  It also asks us to note that Christ first draws out mistaken opinions about Himself.  He does this to identify incorrect ideas, as a person is better prepared to avoid false teachings when they are clearly identified.

 

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  My study Bible explains that Peter/rock is a play on the word for "rock" in both Aramaic and Greek (petros/petra).  This rock does not refer to St. Peter per se, but rather to "the faith of his confession" according to St. John Chrysostom.  The true Rock, my study Bible tells us, is Christ Himself (and so says St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:4), and the whole of the Church is built on the faithful confession of Christ.  The gates of Hades are the powers of death.  In the Old Testament, my study Bible says, "gates" suggest a fortified city (Genesis 22:17, 24:60; Isaiah 14:31).  By shattering its gates, Christ has opened the stronghold of death to set free the souls of the righteous.  So therefore, the Church also shall not be stopped in her proclamation of salvation.  Moreover, my study Bible tells us that the term church is mentioned only twice in all the gospels, here and in Matthew 18:17.  This Church is the true Israel and the Body of Christ; her citizenship is heavenly.  

 

"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.  My study Bible says that the keys of the kingdom is a reference to a special authority that will be given both to Peter and the other apostles after the Resurrection (see Matthew 18:18; John 20:23).  St. Peter was not a leader over the others, but rather among them.  This truth was confirmed at the Council of Jerusalem (see Acts 15) where the apostles and presbyters met as equals, and where St. Peter advised, but St. James presided.  This is the New Testament witness concerning St. Peter -- his role should neither be expanded, nor should it be diminished in opposition to such claims.  My study Bible also notes for us that binding and loosing is a reference primarily "to absolve sins," according to St. John Chrysostom (see John 20:23).  But it includes all the teaching, sacramental, and administrative authority of the apostles.  This authority was in turn transmitted to the bishops of the Church, and it continues in effect to this day.

 

There is a kind of dual impact of the information revealed in today's reading.  There is first of all the authority which Jesus confers to His apostles, and particularly through St. Peter, who was known as "first among equals" in the continuing spirit of conciliarity which guides the Church and is its aim.  But there is also the powerful, extraordinary understanding that Jesus is the Christ -- and that "flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."  Let us remember that when Jesus will speak to the apostles of the sending of the Helper, the Holy Spirit,  He tells them that the Holy Spirit will be sent from the Father, and through Christ's prayers (see John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).  This is very important, because it truly teaches us that Christ's life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension has the effect of bringing humanity into deeper communion not only with Christ, but also the Father and the Holy Spirit.  For if the Father -- as Jesus says in today's passage -- is working in St. Peter to effect this revelation, then how much more is promised through the fullness of the effects of Christ's mission to us as Incarnate Jesus and His completion of that mission in Resurrection and Ascension?  We really cannot estimate the fullness of what this means, and the fruits it will bear, has borne, and will continue to bear in our lives and in our world.  We simply don't know how to calculate what God does among us, and what God will do.  But we can look around ourselves and see what that has meant, even if we can't know its fullness.  See, for example, the work of the secular historian and award-winning author Tom Holland, titled Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, in which he examines the effect of Christ upon our world through the present day.  Moreover, this "remaking" of the world is ongoing, continuing not only through the present time but through the future we don't yet know.  We are assured of this in Revelation 21:15, in which "He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'"  The English translation does not completely capture the meaning of the Greek, in which the word "make" is in a continuing present tense, better translated as "I am always making all things new."  For this is the reality of the Church and the fullness of Christ and Christ's ongoing work in our world, and we simply cannot know all that this entails, including all the possible dimensions it might indicate of which we are unaware.  But we can know the graciousness and love of God for the world and for us human beings, for so God has granted to us this enormous, inestimable gift of salvation, to be with God in the fullness of eternal life and what that might entail for us and for our world.  Let us marvel at this extraordinary gift, coming to us through St. Peter's confession on behalf of all of the apostles, and indeed of all of us, and through the revelation of our Father who is in heaven, as Jesus says. There is no greater honor nor gift in potential for all of us.  Let us truly place the value of this blessed treasure as is appropriate to is, for taken in this perspective, our faith is everything.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it

 

 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

 

- Matthew 16:13-20 

 

Yesterday we read that the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Jesus asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?  -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."   My study Bible comments here that "Who do you say that I am?" is the greatest question a person can ever face, for it is the question that defines Christianity.  It says that Peter's correct answer to this question prevents the Christian faith from being seen as merely another philosophical system or path of spirituality, for it names Jesus as the one and only Son of the living God.  This position excludes all compromise with other religious systems.  Peter's understanding cannot be achieved by human reason, but only by divine revelation through faith (1 Corinthians 12:3).  Christ means "Anointed One," and is the equivalent of the Hebrew title "Messiah."   Let us note Jesus' astonishing statement to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."  This is a statement that implies even God the Father's revelation to human beings.  My study Bible also remarks that we should note that Christ first draws out erroneous opinions about Himself here ("Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets").  He does this to identify these incorrect ideas, as a person is better prepared to avoid false teachings when they are clearly identified.

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  Peter/rock is a play on the word for "rock" in both Aramaic and Greek (petros/petra).  According to the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, this rock refers not to Peter per se, but rather to "the faith of his confession."  The true Rock is Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 10:4), and the Church is built on the faithful confession of Christ.  The gates of Hades are understood to refer to the powers of death.  In the Old Testament, my study Bible comments, gates suggest a fortified city (Genesis 22:17, 24:60; Isaiah 14:31).  By shattering its gates, it is Christ who opens the stronghold of death to set free the souls of the righteous; this happens through Christ's Passion and experience of death.  My study Bible adds that so also, the Church shall not be stopped in her proclamation of salvation.  Furthermore, there are only two places the term church is mentioned in all the gospels:  here and in Matthew 18:17.   This Church, my study Bible explains is the true Israel and the Body of Christ; her citizenship is heavenly.

"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.  My study bible comments that the term keys of the kingdom refers to a special authority that will be given both to Peter and to the other apostles after the Resurrection (see Matthew 18:18, John 20:23).  Peter, it explains, was not a leader over the others, but rather among them.  This truth was affirmed at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) where the apostles and presbyters met as equals, and where Peter advised, but James presided.  My study Bible comments that other claims in later centuries must not be confused with the New Testament witness regarding Peter, nor should the role of Peter be diminished in opposition to these claims.  To bind and loose is a reference primarily to the authority "to absolve sins" according to St. John Chrysostom (see also John 20:23), but this also includes all the teaching, sacramental, and administrative authority of the apostles.  This authority was in turn transmitted to the bishops of the Church and continues in effect to this day.

Today's reading invites us to think about authority.  What constitutes authority in the Church, and in the wider body of the Church as a whole?  Certainly the role of faith cannot be diminished, as today's reading continues on that theme that has been central of our recent readings in Matthew.  But let us also note discipleship as an important factor as well.  These men are the ones who have been with Christ from the beginning.  They have invested their lives in His ministry and teachings.  So we have a combination of both faith and discipleship, each growing together in these apostles.  We tend to divide faith and works, and especially the discipline of following Christ's teachings and the practices of the Church.  But in Peter, the two meet, and when we define these things properly, they go hand in hand, and must not be separated.  Each "needs" the other for wholeness.  In the Epistle of James, he writes of Abraham, "Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'  And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only" (James 2:22-24).   While we may consider that "works" includes prayer, almsgiving, and fasting, we must understand that the work of discipleship is the constant fashioning of our own character through the discipline of the teachings of Christ, and the spiritual heritage we all share through the Scriptures and also traditions of the Church.  We might have the greatest faith, but without humility of character before God, what good is our faith?  If we are not aware that God is at work in us, that we will all come to times when repentance is necessarily, how much fruit do we bear of our faith, and even more importantly, how can we grow in our faith?  For even Peter himself will be chastised for his lack of faith, his reliance upon himself, his lack of awareness of his own weakness in a time of temptation.  In fact, in our very next reading, Jesus' discipline will be given with a rebuke to Peter, with the remark, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (Matthew 16:23), when Peter cannot accept Christ's prophecy of His Passion.  In chapter 26, we'll read Jesus' prophecy of Peter's denial of Him, Peter and the other disciples' failure to remain awake and pray with Christ in the garden, the mistake of defending Christ with a sword, and finally Peter's denial that He even knew Christ (see Matthew 26:31-75).  These are failures in a time of tremendous demand, confusion, temptation, pressure, even terror.  But leadership and authority are tested through such times, and Peter's repentance, restitution, and leadership will continue.  It is in this disciplining of faith through the transformation of character that real leadership and authority are honed, built, tested, and grown.  And this, also, can be the story of our own lives of both faith and discipleship as we seek to bear Christ's cross into the world, and participate in our own ways in His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  We look to leadership for these qualities of both faith and discipleship, developed through experience, honed through appreciation and reception of what has come before, and maybe most importantly developed through the humility of service.  Peter has revealed a tremendous secret through faith:  the identity of Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God."  But the character Jesus reveals about this disciple, by changing his name from Simon Bar-Jonah to Peter, is one that will continue to be hewn in the fire of faith, of experience and difficulty, and in the challenges that lie ahead.  Like a statue that is formed from a hunk of stone, Peter's identity will continue to be refined and built, tested and challenged, through many experiences of sacrifice and courage to come.  So it is with us, faith plus discipleship must carry authority and leadership, and so we look today to the Church to continue her work of building up living stones.

 

 

Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water

Aivazovsky, Ivan Konstantinovich.  Storm on the Sea at Night.  1849. The Grand Palace at Peterhof, St. Petersburg, Russia

 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.  And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.  Now when evening came, He was alone there.  But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.  Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.  And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!"  And they cried out for fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."  And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."  So He said, "Come."  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"   And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."

When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.  And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment.  And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

- Matthew 14:22-36

Yesterday we read that when Jesus heard that Herod feared He was John the Baptist risen from the dead, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.  But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.  When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."  But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."  And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  He said, "Bring them here to Me."  Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.  And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.  Now when evening came, He was alone there.  But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.  Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.  And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!"  And they cried out for fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid."  My study bible comments here that this is the second Christ permits His disciples to be caught in a storm (see 8:23-27). The first time, He was with them.  This time, Jesus has left them on their own.   This is a parallel to our own lives, in which our own difficulties and temptations prepare us for a step further.  My study bible says that in this way, Christ strengthens their faith that He will be with them in the middle of life's storms.  It is I is literally translated as "I Am," the divine Name of God in the Old Testament (see John 8:58, Exodus 3:14).  Christ reminds His fearful disciples of His identity as Lord, an absolute and divine authority in their lives.

And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."  So He said, "Come."  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"     My study bible explains that it is Peter's faith that allows him to walk on the water.   It tells us to take note that Peter doesn't ask to walk on water per se, but rather to come to Jesus.  His desire isn't to perform miracles rather to be with Christ.  Peter may participate in this divine miracle so long as his focus is kept on Christ.  Once he is distracted, he begins to sink.  

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"  This Greek word translated as doubt means "wavering" or "hesitation."  The cause of Peter's sinking wasn't the storm.  It was his doubt.  Therefore, my study bible points out, Christ does not rebuke the wind, but Peter.

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."  This is the first confession of the disciples that Jesus is the Son of God.  They know that only God can be worshiped, and so their confession of His divinity includes worship (the Greek word translated as worshiped means to prostrate oneself, kneel, or bow down as in a position of worship).

When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.  And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment.  And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.  My study bible writes that Christ permits miracles through touch to show that His very body is life, in order to show that contact with His flesh is life-creating (see 9:20-22). 

Why does Peter get into the water to walk?  It seems that he wants assurance that what he is seeing in not a ghost, but really Christ Himself.  That is, the One who has said, "It is I; do not be afraid" is the one of whom Peter wants to be completely certain.  In some sense this perspective tells us something very important about our faith.  Faith isn't blindness -- it is instead a trust, a confidence.  When one speaks of acting on faith without knowing or certainty first, that is because we have trust in the One who tells us to go forward and who has given us His gospel message.  Whatever we are "blind" to does not convey blindness but rather not knowing, and that is a different thing altogether.  My study bible points out that Peter's real desire is to go toward Christ, and not to perform a miracle himself of walking on water.  He's not looking to prove he has a superpower or special grace.  Instead, his focus is actually on his faith, and he wants to have faith in Jesus more than anything else.  It's quite a marvelous thing to consider what my study bible says here, that Peter is fine so long as he keeps his focus on Jesus and doesn't get distracted.  There is a metaphor there for all of us.  It tells us that what we need is in front of us, that we can't approach our faith with certainties, that it's possible all kinds of things will be open to us when we need them in certain circumstances.  Here are the disciples once again in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and it's the fourth watch of the night (3:00 in the morning), while Jesus has remained behind to pray.  Why does He stay behind to pray?  The Eucharist has just been revealed in this feeding (even if the disciples are a long time away from understanding it).  Jesus has been revealed as the Lord (even if, yes, again, the disciples are a long way from understanding it).  It is just a testament to the profound moment in this time of turning in His ministry, when for a certainty the state power is already against Him, and it will only grow more so.  Jesus doesn't want to be made a king John 6:15.  He isn't going to be a Messiah according to the popular expectations.  He has His own path to go, in which He must be guided by the Father.  In that context, walking on the water becomes a part of the ministry, a part of the way He has to reveal to His disciples what is necessary.  It has to be relevant.  In so doing, He reveals Himself to them as divine, as the Lord, and so not simply the glorified human being the Messiah was expected to be.  He shows us the way also through Peter's response of faith -- and then lack of faith.  We can come to Him any way we really need to, but what we need is faith.  Just like in baseball or any other sport, we're always told, "Keep your eyes on the ball."  Well, for today's reading, we learn that through all the storms of life and all the horrible day-to-day things we read about and fear, the injustices of our world, the unfairness of brutality, and the deceitfulness of riches -- while we are in or on our game -- we ask what is it we are supposed to do?  We keep our eyes on Christ.  We keep our focus on Him so that He leads our way through this world of unfairness, and so that we can come to Him through it all.  Let's not forget Peter walked on the water until he took his eyes off of Jesus, and Jesus will be there for you and for me as well.  Let's not forget that the early followers of Jesus saw the world as an arena, a contest, like an athlete.  They knew it was a struggle and we are caught in the middle of something  Let's not forget where we need to keep our focus today.

For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind

 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself." 

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner."  He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know:  that though I was blind, now I see."  Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."

- John 9:18-41

It is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and Jesus has just passed out of the temple as the leaders took up stones in order to stone Him for blasphemy (see Wednesday's reading).  As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went back and washed, and came back seeing.  Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."  They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself."    In John's Gospel, the term the Jews refers to the leadership in the temple; they have been interrogating this man who was blind from birth but has received his sight from Christ.  We note the hint of fear of the leaders in the response of the parents; they will not answer for their son, but demand that the leaders ask him.  This also hints at the adoption by Jesus of this man.

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner."  My study bible points out here that with Jesus not present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner, but earlier when He asked them face-to-face,  "Which of you convicts Me of sin"? (8:46), they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! was an oath formula that was used before giving testimony.  This healed man will indeed give God glory in his confession of faith in Christ (v. 38).  We see how faith works; the more he is pressed, the more fervent his faith becomes -- while the Pharisees lapse into deeper darkness.

He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know:  that though I was blind, now I see."  My study bible calls this formerly blind man a model of Christian witness.  It says that many people do not bear witness to Christ because they fear they will be asked questions which they can't answer.  But this man's answer to those who are much more educated than he is provides the solution:  he admits what he does not know, yet follows up with what he does know.  There is a formula which is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others:  "That I don't know, but what I do know is this."

Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.  The Pharisees grow increasingly exasperated, as they cannot force out of this man what they wish him to say.  Instead, he stays with the truth he knows, and this drives them to desperation.  That they cast him out again gives us a sense about adoption by Christ; he is in some sense abandoned by both his parents and his community, in effect because of his healing by Christ.  It is a kind of illustration of Psalm 27:10, and will be an important theme of Christian monasticism.  My study bible says that the unprecedented nature of opening the eyes of one who was born blind is a confirmation of Christ's divinity.  This was one of the signs of the coming Messiah (Isaiah 35:5; 42:7) and a prerogative belonging solely to God (Psalm 145:8).

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  My study bible says that having opened the blind man's eyes, the Lord also opens his heart and illumines his spirit.  This man moves from knowing almost nothing about Christ (v. 25), through the conclusion that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner (v. 31), through confessing that Jesus must be from God (v. 33), and finally seeing Him as the divine Son of God.  

And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."  Christ's coming into this world brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge (12:47-48), but rather because of humanity's accountability to Him, my study bible says.  Those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness.

Today's reading brings up themes of abandonment by "the world" and adoption by Christ, all familiar concepts particularly to the first centuries of the Church, but which remain with us alive and well today.  Because this man is healed by Christ, because He has been changed by encounter, his old relationships no longer create support for him.  His parents are not willing to stand up for him to the authorities; they confess they know nothing about what has happened to him.  We don't see much rejoicing here over this astonishing miracle -- there is too much fear because of the interest of the religious leaders and their suspicion and animosity toward Jesus.   As for the religious leadership, their interrogation of this formerly blind man simply results in increasing harassment and anger.  Finally, they simply cast the man out.  We must remember that they are the regulators of all community.  But it is Christ who takes him up.  It is Christ who has healed him and, in parallel with having received his physical sight, Christ also reveals Himself to this man, both ways of "illumination."  While the healed man has been discarded from his community, He finds a true object of worship, Christ the Son of God.  It is, in effect, new leadership and new community he steps into.  As noted above, this whole idea of community or communion of believers would be highly significant in the Church, and particularly in the establishment of monasticism.  Monasticism -- those earliest monks of the desert and the communities which would eventually build up around them -- will be a way of detachment from the world in order to more fully depend upon and love God, to be in depth of communion with God.  Moreover, the earliest martyr figures will be those who are cast out of community due to their faith commitment to Christ.  This is particularly and strikingly true for women martyrs, who so often are young women who prefer a marriage to Christ over marriage and status in community.  It helps us to understand the value placed on virginity both among these martyrs and monastics:  marriage is to the Church, to Christ.  That is, a full consecration of life and devotion to Christ is seen in the understanding of virginity, the fullness of communion being the heart given over to love of God with no worldly attachment to compete.  In our modern world, this may be very hard to understand.  But detachment from distractions, a focus on what is indeed true for us (which my study bible repeatedly notes is exemplary in the healed man in today's reading), and setting out our priorities in life remains a great goal in the midst of our social world today.  The importance of finding that which truly matters does not cease to be relevant when we are constantly given input from all kinds of media, entertainment, and a busy world around us.  Perhaps in such circumstances and with so many pulls, ties, and "shoulds" all around us, finding the one thing necessary perhaps matters all the more.  Certainly the difficulty of detaching from all the "musts" and "shoulds" the world will offer us by way of technology, money, and a full array of worldly goods to be had remains, and is perhaps stronger for all the innovations of the past century and more.  We are called to something higher, better, and deeper midst all of it.  Let us look to this healed man to think about what is truly needful for ourselves, where our true support and confidence can be found, even in a world that seems to offer so much.  When we look around ourselves, security and "home" often seem to be, paradoxically with all our progress, in short supply.  Jesus says, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  How are we illumined or enlightened?  What keeps us blind?  What is the way to true sight, beyond all the obstacles and temptations that get in the way?

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."   From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

- John 6:60-71

Yesterday we read that the leaders in the synagogue in Capernaum quarreled among themselves about Jesus and His teachings in our recent readings, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."   From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.    My study bible notes here that even His disciples took Jesus' teaching on His Body and Blood as a hard saying -- and that many walked with Him no more.   Of course, within all the denominations and movements of Christianity there are still those who find this a hard saying and reject the sacramental eating of Christ's Body and Blood, thereby not "walking" with this teaching.    The nature of this Mystery is extremely difficult; therefore some have sought to define it rationally or to explain Christ's teaching away, making it purely metaphorical.  My study bible says, "Either extreme is dubious; to reject this sacramental teaching is to reject the witness of the Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history.  (See also yesterday's commentary.)

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.  Jesus Himself notes that many of His followers have deserted Him, and He turns to the twelve to ask if they also want to go away.  But there is power in Peter's answer; Peter, speaking for the Twelve, turns to the truth He knows.  Jesus has the words of eternal life.  Moreover, He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  This is a unique place, not simply another philosophical way of life or path to spirituality.  Nevertheless, Jesus knows He will be betrayed by one of these twelve.

We come to a point in Jesus' ministry where His teachings are so controversial, they stir up so much antipathy and consternation, that His followers begin to desert Him.  To eat Christ's flesh and to drink His blood remains a "hard saying," unless we can grasp a notion of Mystery, something beyond our capability to understand precisely how it works.  This is the realm of faith, where we accept that Christ is mystically present in the Eucharist, and so this has been the teaching from the earliest apostles.  Even though others fall away, there is something more here to be found:  as many no longer choose to follow Him, so the disciples' faith grows stronger, with the exception of the one who will betray Him.  Peter tells the truth:  ""Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  This is the kind of reckoning we have that comes at rare and memorable moments in life, when we're faced with a depth of struggle and suddenly have a glimmer of truth -- how we really feel about something or someone, what the truth is for us.  Who else has these words?  Where would they ever find them?  We can all ask ourselves the same questions.  Is Jesus crazy, or does He say things that have no sense to them?  No, His words are beauty and truth, and they are the words of eternal life, and all that He teaches must be taken in context with the rest.  Furthermore, there is more to the experience of the Twelve with Christ.  Again, Peter uses language that makes it clear He is speaking for all of them:  "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  This is the product of their experience, and experience is all-important to our understanding of our faith.  Where else do we find what we find with Christ?   Do His very life, and very words, not sustain and and come to us in ways that we come to believe and know that He is Christ, the Son of the living God?  Experience is important, and ours is an experiential faith.  It is one of communion, and not merely abstract philosophy.  What do we find in our worship?  In our prayers?  Do we not, with experience, come to understand these words are true, and that His very life works in our life to bring salvation, help, change, transcendence, hope?  This is the reality the disciples have come to know and to share.  It is the sign of growth in their faith, and so we should come to understand that our own lives of faith are a process, a journey, a path -- a way, in the true sense of the original Greek word (ὁδὸς/odos) which also literally means "road" (See John 14:6).   If we look at Christ's word and teachings, at the experience of the Twelve, even at those who no longer walk with Christ, we see that we are indeed on a road, and so much depends on which direction we're taking on that road.  We're either on that road with Him, or we're not.  All of our bumps and turns and detours or pauses along the way may be distractions and difficulties, but so often it is a question of reconciling our own experience within the heart so they become learning curves.  Sometimes a stumbling block is just that -- something to catch our attention and come back to this road a better way, with a better grasp of just what is asked of us and what our lives with Him are all about.  Peter will go through several of these "stumbling blocks" in the Gospels (for instance, here).  Which way are you walking?  Jesus teaches, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).   But we need to understand that our goal isn't perfection in the usual sense in which we think of its meaning.  Rather, the word Jesus uses in the original Greek of the Gospels has the root of the word for "end" (τέλειος/telios) -- meaning complete, full, mature, and has come in context to be understood as indicating the fullness of the Christian character.  What we want is the long journey of faith, experience, the fullness of going toward the end of that road, Christ Himself.  He points us to the Father, whom we should be like -- as we are on that road on the way there, in the process of always becoming, in His words and truth, and in the fullness of the Eucharist, in Him, in the eternal and abundant fullness of life itself.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

- John 6:60-71

Yesterday we read that the leaders of the synagogue quarreled among themselves over Jesus' words, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Than Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.   My study bible remarks here that even His disciples took Christ's teaching on His Body and Blood as a hard saying.  Many walked with Him no more.  It notes that there are many who still reject Jesus' words regarding the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking His Blood.  Because of the difficulty of grasping the depth of this Mystery, many have attempted either to define its nature with a rational explanation or to explain away His words completely, regarding them as purely metaphorical.  But, it notes, the words here are quite explicit; to reject them is to reject the witness of the Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history.  The Gospels are consistent in that witness; see also Luke 22:19-20. 

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.  At this turning point in Jesus' ministry, when many disciples turn away because of His saying about His Body and Blood, there is a monumental choice made here, on behalf of the twelve.  Peter makes his confession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.   This confession of Christ's identity as Son sets Christianity apart from other philosophical systems or paths of spirituality.  He is Creator; He states over and over again in our recent readings that everything that He is, says, and teaches is from the Father -- saying, "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father" (6:46).   This conveys an exclusive position as Son.   Let us make note also that the confession of faith, as is always essential to the Gospels and to our faith, comes from the experience of the faithful.  Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  My study bible adds that Peter's understanding can't be reached through human reason, but only by divine revelation through faith (1 Corinthians 12:3).  .  Christ means "Anointed One," equivalent to the Hebrew title "Messiah."   We note also Jesus' awareness of the coming betrayal by Judas, and the note of the presence of evil in His words ("Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" ).

Central to today's reading is the concept of the Spirit.  Jesus teaches, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."  He has made clear throughout the dialogue of chapter 6 that He has come from the Father; He is the bread which has come down from heaven.  Here He is telling His disciples that the reality of life is based in the Spirit, and that even the words He speaks are spirit, and they are life.  In other words, the true realm of the spiritual is that which He brings, and teaches, and mingles with our own sense of life and earthly reality.  It is the basis for all life; it, in fact, life itself.  It is what gives life.  These words apply to our understanding of the mystical nature of the Eucharist, the Mystical Supper, His Body and and Blood.  They apply to how our faith works in us, and why change in us is possible through faith.  They apply equally to the response of Peter, on behalf of all the disciples, in his confession of faith.  Jesus says above, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  We have the ties to the spiritual reality of the universe at work even with us at all times; through Jesus' words, we understand that the Father also works in us, and works with our faith.  All of this is entirely mysterious to us, and is understood that way by Christ.  John's Gospel is very clear in the message that what Jesus gives us are "earthly things" -- such as Baptism and the Eucharist, meant for our participation in spiritual life even as we are a part of this world.  The fullness of the mystery of the life of God the Father, Son, and Spirit are not things He expects us to grasp; only He is aware of that (see John 3:10-12).  In the great mystery of the Eucharist and other sacraments, it is important to understand that these are given us as part of our participation in heavenly life, in the fullness of life indeed, that which is given by the Spirit.   The fullness of life, Jesus is saying, comes only through this participation, this link, this abiding.  Let us make note, also, of that which is counter to God, also an aspect of spiritual life.  Jesus has done all things according to the will of the Father, and yet, He says, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"   This too is a part of the mystery of the fullness of spiritual life and our participation in it.  There will be those forces that oppose God; they are those spoken of in the Scriptures as conveying captivity, enslavement, ignorance, darkness.  They are not equal to God; it is Christ who is the "stronger man."  (See Luke 11:21-23, in which Jesus speaks of exorcism, and refers to His role as Liberator, Redeemer, Savior, and Son.)  Included in today's reading is the mystery of theodicy, the question of why evil is permitted in our world.  Christ, as Son, could indeed simply eliminate all enemies, supposedly to create a kind of paradise for us, but this is not God's way.  It is not the Father's Way for Him even to avoid the cup that is coming (the Cross) -- see Luke 22:42-43.  This is not the way evil is defeated nor the way in which human beings will be liberated.  We are invited into His struggle, His way, as His disciples and followers.  We are also invited to the Cross (see Matthew 16:24-26).  As faithful, our job is to remain faithful to His word, His teaching, and His presence with us.  Let us abide in Him, as He teaches, and use all the sacraments and tools we are given to be strengthened in that faith, including our prayers for one another and our communion in Him.   To meet adversity with grace is perhaps the greatest achievement for which we hope in faith.

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."   From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

- John 6:60-71

On Thursday we read that Jesus taught, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."   Yesterday's reading taught us that after this the leadership quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."   From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.   The mystical reality of the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is indeed a difficult teaching to grasp!  But nevertheless, this is the teaching that we are given.  Even His disciples took it as a hard saying, and many walked with Him no more.   Among those who read this blog, there may be many who reject the Mystery of this sacrament.  Over time, there have been attempts to rationally define its nature, or on the other hand to give Jesus' words a purely metaphorical meaning.  But given the repetition and explicit implication of Jesus' teaching throughout this chapter of John, both become remote.  In the witness of the Scriptures there is a different indication, and also the teaching of the Church throughout its history.   From the earliest times of the Church, the Greek word eucharist ("thanks") served as the root which referred both to the Liturgy and sacrament of Communion.   We note also Jesus' repetition of the teaching that "no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."   Father, Son, and Spirit work together within us and in our lives of faith -- and that includes the Mystery of the Eucharist.

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.  This is the great moment of the confession of faith, in which Peter clearly speaks for all the Twelve.   Peter's statement, as Jesus says in Matthew's reporting of this confession, comes via revelation through faith. ("Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven," Matthew 16:17; see also 1 Corinthians 12:3.)  To confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God is to affirm His uniqueness as Messiah and Son.  We also note the presence of the one who will betray Him here, whom in John's telling, Jesus openly points out was chosen by Him, and is a devil.  The note of betrayal from within is another sign of the difficulties and struggles for this faith.  By the time of the writing of this Gospel, persecution was fierce.

The mysteries of faith involve deep struggles.  One may find oneself content in the spiritual life, but the events of life come into play and ask for some sort of reconciliation in our own spiritual understanding.  These may be grand, worldly events.  Oftentimes they are personal events and obstacles to the things we thought were good or that we wanted for ourselves or someone else.  But the examples we have of faith are right before us, with perhaps the greatest obstacle and struggles imaginable.  Jesus says, right after Peter's confession of faith as many disciples turn away, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  This indication of betrayal, I would imagine, is rather devastating to hear.  How is it possible that the One who knows hearts and minds and thoughts of others has chosen one who will betray Him?  How is it possible that Jesus is truly "the Christ, the Son of the living God" -- and yet will be betrayed?  How is it possible that with God's power, this mission will seemingly not succeed?  All the events of the Passion are yet to come, but clearly there are signs that the authorities are not only skeptical but wary of Jesus.  Considering the expectations of the Messiah, that Messiah would be a worldly king leading Israel into all good things, this is a perplexing and devastating crisis indeed.  But "expectations" are often the key to overcoming crises in our lives, and that goes in particular for spiritual crises.  What is it we base our understanding on?  Are we of limited experience and knowledge when it comes to the things of Mystery?  Quite obviously, we are.  This central mystery of the rejection of Christ becomes the scandal of the early Church:  the "stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles"  (Corinthians 1:23).   But in each crisis there are seeds of growth, new opening and new understanding.  It is we who need to shift and change expectations, to open up to new possibilities that we hadn't understood nor considered.  Later on in John's Gospel, Jesus will teach, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain" (12:24).  There is a reason why expectations fall apart and die.  When we turn to our faith, and particularly to the Mystery that is always going to be present in our faith, we will find answers that only suggest themselves because our own limited understanding has come somehow crashing down.  Life, and particularly the life of faith, is always a journey.  Christ beckons us forward with a struggle, not a simple and easy path that conforms to all our worldly expectations of what life should be about.  He asks of us growth, endurance, persistence, and wakefulness.  That is, eyes wide open to the here and now, remembering that we are to be His good servants, always ready for His knock.  In the life of faith, we are conformed to an image He creates, not the one we make of ourselves.  It is Christ who has the words of eternal life.  Therein is Mystery, and the mystical life.  Let us remember, and continue on the road He sets for us.

The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

- John 6:60-71

In recent readings in John's Gospel, the current theme began after Jesus fed 5,000 in the wilderness.  The people wanted to make Him King by force, but He escaped them, eventually coming to Capernaum.  The people followed Him there.  He spoke in the synagogue about the food which endures to everlasting life.  He taught them that He is that bread of life. The religious leadership quarreled among themselves, asking, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Jesus taught, "The bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  In yesterday's reading, He said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.   Jesus' difficult sayings have an effect, and He loses disciples:  many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Even His disciples feel this is a hard saying, impossible to understand.  The sacrament of the Eucharist, of the Body and Blood of Christ remains a profound Mystery that is still disputed in different ways, be it with rational explanations for the saying or making His teachings purely metaphorical.  The ancient early Church had instituted the Eucharist right away; by the time of the mid-second century Church writings show that it was a core of worship.  It was considered a sacrament and a Mystery, and remains so.  Throughout history, it is part of the witness of Scripture and the unanimous teaching of the Church.

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.  Here is Simon Peter's answer to the ultimate question about Christ's identity.  There is nowhere else to turn, nowhere else to go: He is the one whose words have eternal life.  This is the answer of faith, and the confession of faith.  In the Gospels, it is Peter who speaks for all the disciples.  It is Jesus who brings up -- here at this juncture of a crucial question of faith -- the one who will betray Him, the one without such faith, even one chosen by Himself.

Here we come to a crux in Jesus' teaching, a turning point.  His saying is hard, how are they to understand it?  The sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the Eucharist, is still a hard saying, so to speak.  It remains a disputed Mystery.  But perhaps that is just the point.  Faith is not concerned only with the purely rational, but rather with information from Sources far beyond what our understanding of the rational, and of facts at hand, can explain away.  Faith, we remember, really means that we put our trust in something -- or rather in Someone.  And faith works at such a depth in us that it becomes not about choosing which brand of soap we want to use based on "information" we have about its ingredients, but rather about trust, a deeper level of knowledge or information that can't come through purely intellectual understanding.  It involves the heart, the center of who we are.  Moreover it involves our capacity for relationship with Persons who are not 'only' human beings who live on our level of comprehension, but of Divine Persons.  God's full substance or essence isn't comprehensible to us.  We can't understand what it is to be the Son or the Father or the Holy Spirit in the same way we can understand, for instance, who our brother is, or our spouse.  (And here's a mystery about what it really means to be a person:  if you think carefully, you will find that you don't fully know the depth of another person either, no matter how deeply you know them.  As persons, we're not completely quantifiable.  This is part of the nature of personhood which makes us something "like" God and created in God's image.)  Just as we choose to put faith in or trust in certain people, so we have faith in Christ and faith in what He teaches.  Here are His words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood.  We know how He will give His flesh for the life of the world.  We know of His voluntary death on the Cross, and we know of His Resurrection.  But the depth of these mysteries, the mystical reality of the work of God, isn't something we can know fully and rationally.  It isn't something we can prove in a lab -- and it's not something whose meanings and myriad values in our own lives, touching on all kinds of circumstances in which we may find ourselves, we are ever going to exhaust.  This is the nature of Mystery:  it continues to unfold on depths we hadn't suspected even existed.  Even within ourselves and in our own experience of our faith, we won't exhaust the possibilities, for instance, of just how the Cross may uplift us or give us life when we experience something of "death."  Mystery is a crucially important reality to accept even though we can't fully understand it.  There are simply things that any educated and intelligent person of faith must accept to which the answer really is, "I don't know."  It's an important answer that acknowledges not only the limits of our knowledge, but in fact the only answer that acknowledges the fullness of the things we don't know.  It is the only truly wise answer to the fullness of life and existence.  But in faith, we find we're on a voyage of discovery.  It is an internal journey that will involve all the things we experience outside of ourselves as well.  In this Mystery of sacrament we find a depth of relatedness that touches on all things in ourselves:  past, present, and future.  We may find ourselves reviewing old hurts in light of the Cross, and resolving conflicts we hadn't managed to deal with that are years old.  We may find ourselves with the courage to face something we've hidden from ourselves or others.  That is just the nature of Mystery:  it keeps giving what we don't know; it is inexhaustible in its Truth.  Let us accept His words of spirit and life without limiting them.  Let us know and experience the truth of faith, the perception of something so deep within us we don't really know its Source.

On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven

 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

- Matthew 16:13-20

Yesterday, we read that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."  And He left them and departed.  Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.  Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?  Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?  Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?  How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?  -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."  My study bible says that "Who do you say that I am?" is the greatest question a person can ever face.  This question defines Christianity.  Moreover, I would suggest that the answer defines God and God's nature, at least to the extent that has been revealed to us, and thereby our relationship to the whole of existence.  Peter's answer defines the Christian faith as something other than just another philosophical system or path of spirituality; Jesus is the one and only Son of the living God.  Compromise with conflicting systems is excluded in this understanding; what is good and true and beautiful is elevated and expanded from this perspective.  Peter's understanding cannot be given simply through human reason, but is given through divine revelation through faith (1 Corinthians 12:3).  Christ means "Anointed One" in Greek, and is equivalent to the Hebrew title "Messiah."  My study bible also asks us to note that Christ first draws out erroneous opinions about Himself here.  This is so to identify incorrect ideas.  A person is better prepared to avoid false teachings when they have been clearly identified.

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  Jesus uses a kind of play on words here as both Peter and rock are the same word in Aramaic (the common spoken language of His time and place) and Greek (the language of the Scriptures, both Old and New, at the time of the writing of the Gospel).  That word is petros/petra.  John Chrysostom writes that the "rock" referred to by Jesus isn't Peter per se, but rather to the "faith of his confession."  The true Rock is Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 10:4), and the Church is built upon this rock -- the faithful confession of Christ.  The gates of Hades refers to the powers of death.  In the Old Testament, gates are suggestive of a fortified city (Genesis 22:17, 24:60; Isaiah 14:31).  My study bible says that Christ shatters its gates, and thereby opens the stronghold of death to set free the souls of the righteous.  In the same manner, the Church will not be stopped in her proclamation of salvation.  The term church (Gr. ekklesia) is mentioned only twice in all the gospels, here and in 18:17.  My study bible says this Church is the true Israel, and the Body of Christ; her citizenship is heavenly.

"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.  The keys of the kingdom, says my study bible, refers to a special authority that will be given to both Peter and the other apostles after the Resurrection (see 18:18; John 20:23).  Peter isn't given to be a leader over others, but among them.  This is clearly confirmed at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) where the apostles and presbyters all met as equals -- and where Peter advised, but James presided.  My study bible says that Peter's role should neither be exaggerated nor minimized.  Binding and loosing refers primarily to the authority "to absolve sins" according to St. John Chrysostom (see John 20:23), but also includes the teaching, sacramental and administrative authority of the apostles, says my study bible.   This was in turn transmitted to the bishops of the Church, and continues today.

Jesus clearly indicates here a spiritual Kingdom, not bound by worldly authority and neither bound simply to earthly existence.  This is a Kingdom that brings heaven and earth together as one, just as we are taught that the angels worship together with us in the liturgy.   Jesus teaches us to pray to our Father in heaven, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  There are no bars here, nothing held back or excluded.  This is the fullness of time He teaches us about, the fullness of the world's creation -- for a union, a true assembly (the meaning of the word ekklesia in Greek, or Church).  Nothing is kept separate from true faith.  As we participate in the liturgy, even His body and blood, we are invited all in, to all of it.  And this has to be the great good news -- that human beings are fully eligible for participation in this Kingdom.  That the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it says so much more than we nominally understand by these words.  These "gates of death" are all the barriers we may find in life to realizing God's love and our participation in the life of Christ.  It is every little thing that contributes to a "way of death" as we walk in this world, the things that keep us from God's love and our own fullness within that perspective of love.  This is the true power of Christ and the Church in our lives:  to take us back from everything that contributes to death or limitation of who we are and the fullness of our lives in this multi-dimensional picture of creation and existence.  At Easter, in Christ's Resurrection, we say that He "trampled death by death."  So, too, when the things "die" in us that keep us limited, that keep us from realizing the promise of grace in our lives, that hinder us from expanding in our awareness of God's love at work in us, so death is trampled by death.  We give up limitation -- often through forgiveness -- in order to expanded, and to live, to gain Christ's life in abundance where we didn't have it.  We are set free in so doing, "saved," and the gates of Hades can't hold us from this place of life -- life that is always working, like the enzymes in the leaven in Christ's parable, within us, among us, and in surprising ways.  St. Paul said, "I die daily."  The image this may suggest to us is like that of our physical bodies, where cells die each day to be replaced by new ones, a constant renewal.  So it is with our active faith; it is a venture into the Kingdom, into mystery, into new things to be learned so that we expand, and old things discarded that limit and keep us from better understanding.  Let us remember what we are to be about, and what we participate within.  There is so much more to be found, discovered, revealed on this path -- this journey of His Way, the promise of the Kingdom that lives with us and within us.