Exodus 16:2-4.12-15; Psalms 78; Eph 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35
Perishable vs Imperishable
Dear friends, today is the 18th Sunday of the Ordinary time. Today, Jesus is talking to us about perishable versus imperishable. Most of the things we experience through our physical senses are perishable, meaning they have a limited time of existence. This includes our own lives as human beings. However, there are other realities that we do not see and that will endure forever. The proximate example is our physical bodies vs our souls. We all know that one day our souls will be separated from our bodies in death. Immediately we die, people will start referring to our bodies as “remains” and our existence in this world in the past tense: “He/She was…”. The question is, knowing the existence of this unescapable reality, human beings still tend to care so much about perishable things as opposed to imperishable ones.
In the first reading today, the people of Israel forgot all the good that the Lord had done for them especially rescuing them from the slavery in Egypt. Instead of hoping in the Lord when things became difficult as they traversed the desert, they started complaining to Moses. They even wished that they had not left Egypt in the first place. Can you believe that! They forgot all those years of slavery and the agony they endured in Egypt under the Pharaoh’s tortures just because of the pangs of hunger. They forgot the promised land ahead of them because of the present predicament. We are not different from these people either because our own behaviour sometimes amazes us. Many people prefer to be slaves and fill their stomachs rather than toil and hunger for their freedom. As slaves, there is very little we can do to realize our full potential as human beings. However, when we persevere the cost of freedom, we can actualize our humanness as God wishes us to.
In the Gospel, Jesus is astonished by the behaviour of the people who followed him because they had eaten bread and filled their stomachs. Immediately he saw the crowd surging towards him he realized that they were going after free bread. They did not care at all about his teachings. Today we have many worshippers like these people. The so-called ‘Prosperity Gospel’ has taken the place of true worshipping. Some people go to worship places to attain immediate prosperity. Many want to become rich fast but do not want to hustle for it. They want prosperity without the process. Everyone is seeking a shortcut to riches and greatness. Are you one of these people?
Discovering this demand, clever people have invested highly in the business of ‘Prosperity Gospel’. In the last few decades, many religious denominations have emerged with the message of prosperity without having to toil for it. Lazy people flock to these gatherings to have miracles performed on them. And believe me when it comes to miracles, even the most educated become docile. No one questions the authenticity of so-called “prophets”.
The people in the Gospel today missed the opportunity to learn from Jesus about the everlasting bread he was trying to give to them. As we will see later in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, when Jesus stops giving the physical bread and begins talking about himself as the living bread, many will stop following him.
This is what happens when people go to places of worship seeking things other than nourishment for their souls. They behave like the seed that fell on rocky ground where there was not enough soil. They sprout very fast but also die immediately. When they realize that what they were seeking is not coming by, they stop worshipping or go to try another place of worship. They are not after being transformed to become better persons but to have quick fixes to their problems. St. Paul talks about giving up the old self for the new one in Christ. This seems to scare many and thus the Gospel of repentance and transformation doesn’t sell as much as the Prosperity Gospel. Are you scared of being transformed?
Endurance in faith pays off. Those who endure the hard work in faith, eventually reap the fruits of their faith. There is a Swahili refrain that says, “Mchumia juani hulia kivulini”, which literally translates as “he who toils under the sun eats under the shade”. Jesus told his disciples that many would grow cold feet because of suffering and persecution for his sake. However, those who will persevere until the end will be saved (Mt 24:13). It does not matter how we start; it matters our endurance to the end. Many start well and with a lot of enthusiasm in their new faith, assignments, marriage, ministry, etc., but with time, they grow cold and even fail to deliver on their mandate.
Dear friends, let us learn from our Lord Jesus who endured all the sufferings and attained his place at the right hand of God.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 