Aug-22 Liturgical Study Twenty-first Sunday

 

Aug-22 Twenty-first Sunday 

1st Reading Joshua 24

Joshua goes beyond the traditional Jewish forefathers of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - to a time in the land of Ur, Mesapotemia beyond the river Euphrates when Abraham's father Terah, Abraham and his brothers Nabor and Haran, worshiped the pagan Gods. 

Against this background he exhorts the people to choose/worship/serve their God wisely. Having been liberated by Yahweh from Egypt where they served the Pharaoh as slaves, Joshua was the one to bring them to the promised land of the Canaan - bringing to fruition the promise Yahweh made to Abraham. Delivering to his descendants the very land Yahweh had promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:1; 15:17-21; 17:8), Isaac (Genesis 26:2-5), Jacob (Genesis 28:1-4, 13-15), Joseph (Genesis 48:3-4, 21), and Moses (Exodus 3:7-8). 

So before he dies, Joshua assembles the crowd at Shechem and asks them if they see it fitting to serve Yahweh as faithful servants. Reverence and obedience to Yahweh are the primary ways by which people give thanks for the generous gifts of life and freedom Yahweh has already given. Joshua leads by example and the Israelites are quick to remember and reaffirm their faith in Yahweh.

Psalm 34

Verse 2: The righteous and the wicked alike under the eye of God; one for protection and the other for punishment. The anger of God not only destroys the wicked, but also abolishes their name forever.

Verse 3: One of the advantages or benefits of being righteous is the privilege of praying or crying unto God, with the assurance that he will hear and deliver us from our current predicament and future peril.

2nd reading: Ephesians 5:21-32

St Paul uses the chiastic structure in making corresponding statements about wives&husbands relative to Jesus & the Church. In this literary format, the ideas are stated sequentially with one relation expanding in one direction until a main point or climax is reached; then the ideas are repeated in reverse order with the other relation expanding

A Wives, [submit yourselves] to your own husbands as to the Lord 

B For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church

C He himself is the Saviour of the body

D But as the church is subject to Christ, also the wives to their husbands in everything

E Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for her

F That He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word

X That he might present to himself the church in all her glory

F1 Having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless

E1 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

D1 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also the church.

C1 Because we are members of his body.

B1 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

BX This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and with reference to the church.

B2 Nevertheless, let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself

A1 And the wife is to respect her husband.

Gospel John 6:60-69

John chapter six begins with a huge crowd that needs to be fed. After the miracle of the 5 loaves and 2 fish, the crowd want to make Jesus their King so he can overthrow Israel’s enemies and lead them to glory. They track down Jesus across the lake in Capernaum, but Jesus challenges their shallow belief of who he really is and tells them that he is the ‘Bread of eternal life’ - and that they need to gnaw on his flesh and drink his blood - this is extremely troubling to his disciples who are Jews that believe eating flesh with blood is strictly forbidden. In effect Christ is saying that he is not just another holy man, nor just a prophet but in fact he's true God from true God the Father. (The Gospel according to John starts with these words:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us). Christ the Eucharist is the center of our faith. He is ‘God become man’ but this makes some disciples disenchanted and they start grumbling and choose to leave him. Peter reiterates his relationship with Christ: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life”. (Recall Peter's testimony in Matthew 16:16: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” To which Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven")  

Today is no different: few disciples practise their Christian faith and truly open themselves to knowing Christ, loving him and having a true relationship with him with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We treat religion as a buffet table, doing what pleases us while thinking we are his true disciples.