We believe that Sacred Scripture is the inspired Word of God—the rule for our lives. Still, there are hard passages of Scripture that confound us, cause us to wince or even cringe. We come upon two examples in today’s liturgy.
In the Gospel, many found Our Lord’s teaching on the Eucharist, a “hard” saying. In the original Greek, “hard” used here, means more than something difficult to understand. Here it denotes something stern or unyielding. It was Our Lord’s uncompromising teaching that his disciples consume his very flesh and blood. This was so “hard” that it caused many disciples to walk away.
The other “hard” saying is found in St. Paul’s epistle: “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord…as the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.”
These are harsh words to the modern ear. They appear out-of-date with our politically correct culture. Don’t they relegate women to an inferior place in marriage? Is this passage an excuse for husbands to lord it over their family? How can be open our hearts to see this passage as coming from God?
St. Paul sees Christian marriage as a mirror of the intimate relationship of love between Christ and his bride, the Church. Just as the Church submits herself in loving service to the Lord in everything, so a wife should submit herself in loving service to her husband.
But we must go further. When we read on, we come to another hard saying that should cause husbands to wince! St. Paul exhorts them: “Love your wives even as Christ loved the Church.”
Christ loved the Church, his bride through the sacrifice of the cross, by emptying himself in love for her. A husband is to cherish and nourish his wife as Christ cherished and nourished the Church, without counting the cost and without ceasing. St. Paul begins the passage with the appeal: “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
The model of authority in a marriage and in a family does not lie in domination of others but in humble service, Our Lord exemplified this when he washed the feet of his disciples, the night before he would give his life for his Bride, the Church.
This teaching is expressed beautifully in a text a friend included in the booklet she provided to the congregation on her wedding day. It is called, “God’s Wedding Gift.” In it, God addresses a groom on his wedding day. So, husbands, pay attention!
“The person at your side today is mine. I created her. I loved her always…before you…and more than you. I did not hesitate to give my life for her. I entrust her to you. Take her hand with confidence and fidelity.
When you met her, you found her beautiful. It was my hand formed her beauty. It was my heart that placed tenderness and love within her. It was my wisdom that formed her emotions, intelligence, and all those qualities you found in her.
But you cannot limit yourselves to those attractions. You must commit yourself to responding to her needs and desires…the need for serenity, joy, affection, tenderness, contentment, fun, acceptance, dialog, fulfillment in work, and many other things.
But above all, remember that you both need Me. It is I and not you who is the beginning, the end, and the goal of your whole life. Help one another to meet me in prayer, in the Word, in forgiveness, and in hope. Have faith in me. We shall love her together always.
It is I who placed within you your love for her. It was the most beautiful way to tell you, “I entrust her to you.” With the words, “I promise to love and honor you all the days of my life” is the way of telling me that you are happy to receive her and care for her. From that moment, ours will be a trinity of love. I shall enable you to love one another in God, gifting you with a share of love that will transform your human love and make it like unto mine. This is my wedding gift: the grace of the sacrament of marriage.”
…A gift realized when husband and wife are subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
From Understanding to Faith
Deacon Kevin O’Boyle
“Do you also want to leave”? With these words from today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges his Apostles to move from the relative comfort of understanding-the realm of easy logic and reason- to the challenge of true faith which picks up where our senses fail. This kind of challenge is something we see in all our readings this morning. And it is a challenge we all face in our faith lives.
In the first reading, Jacob, who led the Israelites the last few steps into the promised land after Moses died, and who helped them take that land as their own was now challenging the people, asking them who they will serve. The people had the benefit of having seen the great feats God had done for them. In seeing this they understood how God cared for them. This allowed them to develop a faith in that God, whom they would choose to serve’ although they could not see Him. Faith is that which develops, perhaps through understanding, to take us beyond what we can see-beyond perhaps what we can reason. That is not to say that faith is completely irrational-although some without faith may think that. There were false gods that the people native to the Promised Land worshiped, The Israelites could have tried to follow one of them. The Israelites could see neither the God of their fathers nor the future. But they understood what the true God had done for them and through that developed the faith to put their trust and allegiance in Him.
The Second Reading presents this challenge in a different and perhaps more personal way. It is usually against our nature to embrace being subordinate to another. But Paul lays this out in a way people could understand by referencing the way Jesus made himself subordinate, accepting death on the cross for each of us. We are called to a new understanding of this relationship as the leader is called to love the subordinate as Christ loved the Church. Thus, “husbands should love their wives as their own bodies”. The two became one flesh in marriage. We serve each other as Christ loved and served the Church. The two bodies have become one- no longer his or hers but ours. We are called from our understanding of how we care for our own flesh to a faith that calls us to love each other in marriage as Christ loves the church – His own Body, of which we are all members. We move from what we can see to what we cannot see but believe in faith.
Turning now to today’s Gospel reading we see the opening words, “This saying is hard, who can accept it”. We must turn back to the prior section of Chapter 6 of John, to learn that the disciples were speaking of belief in the Eucharist. Many disciples were leaving Jesus over this teaching. Certainly, the truth of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is not something we can see. We can attach words like transubstantiation to explain what it is we believe - that the substance of bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ by the words of the priest acting in the place of Christ Himself. The power of the Holy Spirit called down on the simple bread and wine will transform it in the words of consecration. Not a mere symbol, but a real presence. We cannot see this with our eyes. The accidents of appearance of the bread and wine remain the same, but the substance has changed. We can see and accept this through faith that moves beyond our senses. As Catholics we are called to this belief in the words of Jesus. But to say we fully understand how it happens would be difficult. It is faith that steps in and allows us to believe. Faith based on our belief, expressed so well by Peter, that “We have come to believe and are convinced that you (meaning Jesus) are the Holy One of God.” But sadly, it seems today, if we are to trust polls, not all of us share this true belief. It is up to us who do believe to help catechize those who do not. It is up to those who do not to reexamine the words of Jesus (“Do this in remembrance of me”) and teachings of the Church and accept that which we are all called to believe. This is a challenge we all face today. Our Lord asks each of us, “Do you also want to leave”. Let us pray that we always have the faith which sees beyond sight to answer, Lord, to whom would we go? It is something to think about this week. God Bless.
