XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time  B  (25 August 2024)

1. On this XXI Sunday of Ordinary Time the Gospel concludes the discourse on the bread of life that Jesus gave in the synagogue of Capernaum. St John does not narrate after the Last Supper the institution of the Eucharist as the synoptics do, but he develops here a long catechesis on the Eucharist probably addressed to the first Christian communities that were experiencing many divisions and contrasts internally, while from outside they were persecuted because of their conversion to Christ. The discourse closes with Jesus' invitation to make a decision and this constitutes an essential motive, a real provocation, similar to what we read in the first reading from the book of Joshua, where the people, having finally reached the promised land, are provoked by Joshua to decide: "If it seems evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose today whom you will serve". Similarly, the listeners in Capernaum are put to the wall by Jesus: surely what he says is hard to understand and take in, but one must choose whether to accept or reject, abandon him or follow him, trusting him totally. Here is the inescapable question that the Lord addresses to every believer because the mystery of the Eucharist constitutes the heart and the provocation of Christianity. We are at the paradox of faith: Jesus pronounces words that from a human point of view are incomprehensible and unacceptable, and yet they give life. What to do then? To leave and abandon him like so many, or to let oneself be attracted by Christ and, like the apostles, choose to follow him? Peter on behalf of all proclaims: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and we know that you are the Holy One of God'. For the Christian, every Eucharistic celebration, ever present memory of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, is a provocation to renew this adherence of faith. To the term "Eucharistic celebration", which has now entered the language of contemporary theological discourse, must always be joined and underlined that of the sacrifice of the cross. The Protestant world willingly agrees with the term Eucharistic celebration but refuses to speak of the sacrifice of the cross made present and actual on the altar. And so, with the change in liturgical vocabulary, one could risk diminishing our faith as well. I have encountered priests who have unfortunately abandoned the Holy Eucharist as a sacrament, and the Mass for them is not the sacrifice of the Cross, but a service to the people to unify them and urge them to commit themselves to justice, solidarity and peace. It is necessary to return often to this page of John's Gospel that has guided the spirituality of centuries urging a simple and profound faith in the Eucharistic mystery before which one must let the words of Christ nourish and penetrate one's heart without pretending to be able to understand them and then explain them. This is the great lesson of the Eucharist: it is not in books that we can find the explanation of the Mystery. We can only welcome as a gift the bread of life without pretending to understand it all. By adoring and celebrating the Eucharist with faith we allow Christ to live in us and to lead us as and when he wishes into the heart of this mystery of Trinitarian Life that in the Eucharist totally envelops us and transforms us.

2. In truth one can easily realise that the whole of the fourth gospel revolves around the fundamental question for the Christian: do I believe or do I not believe? If Jesus is truly the promised Messiah, the Son of God, it is foolishness, even folly, not to welcome with wonder and gratitude the gift of himself that, without any merit on our part, God the Holy Trinity gives us in the consecrated bread and wine. Jesus had already insisted: 'My words are spirit and life; but there are some among you who do not believe' and - the evangelist specifies - 'Jesus in fact knew from the beginning who were those who did not believe and who it was who would betray him'. True, from that moment some, indeed several, abandoned him and it is at this point that Peter, on behalf of the Twelve, renews the adherence of our faith. All this takes place in Capernaum and one wonders why the evangelist considers it useful to specify it three times, in verses 17, 24, 59, if the paschal mystery, the betrayal, death and resurrection of Christ are consummated in Jerusalem. The reason is because it is precisely in Capernaum, in Galilee, on this occasion that Jesus announces his passion and the abandonment of some occurs that foreshadows and prefigures the drama of the cross. Jesus is rejected by many, the crowd of over five thousand who had witnessed the multiplication of the loaves and fishes leaves, and only the Twelve decide to stay with Christ.  Unlike the synoptic gospels, Saint John neither recounts Peter's profession of faith at Caesarea Philippi, nor does he report the announcements of the passion. There is, however, the equivalent here: the announcement of the passion is contained in these words: 'the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world' while Peter's profession of faith is inherent in these words: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and we know that you are the Holy One of God".

4. The discourse closes with Jesus' dramatic announcement: 'Is it not I who have chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" And the evangelist comments: "He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; for he was about to betray him, and he was one of the Twelve". When one thinks of Judas, one considers him to be thirsty for money and power, but one does not consider that the first time his betrayal is mentioned is precisely when Jesus announces the Eucharist and his story is linked to the Passover of the Jews: the first announcement of the Eucharist takes place on the occasion of the first Passover and the institution of the Eucharist takes place on the occasion of another, his last Passover. It is true: the first rupture in Judas' soul occurs when Jesus announces the gift of his body and blood as the food of life and the betrayal was fulfilled when during the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist. The first time Judas appears as the betrayer is precisely when Jesus revealed himself as the bread of life. On that occasion, there were three types of abandonment and detachment from Christ: The crowd abandons him because Jesus refuses to proclaim himself as a king capable of ensuring material well-being and instead proclaims himself as the bread of life; many of the disciples also abandon him because they consider the Eucharist to be a scandal; the Twelve remain, but not all of them: Judas from that moment on enters into the diabolic plan. There is here a lesson not to be underestimated by us, priests at the service of the Christian people. The Eucharist is linked to the life and mission of the priest, his faithfulness and holiness as well as his fall and betrayal are connected to his relationship with the Eucharist. The first weakening of a priest's life begins when he begins to neglect the love, devotion, visible spiritual care with which he loves, adores, cares for and celebrates the Mass, when the sensitivity of his love for the Blessed Sacrament, of which he is the instituted custodian and faithful servant, fades to the point of disappearance. Let us pray for the fidelity of priests!

+ Giovanni D'Ercole