Jesus told us in yesterday’s gospel “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:53) Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” And then he said “who ever eats me will live because of me”.
The Jews argued among themselves saying “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? In today’s gospel, Jesus’ disciples also had trouble with his words and started to complain, saying “This teaching is hard; who can accept it?” You can just imagine how the disciples reacted to Jesus’ words. They must have thought he was talking about cannibalism. We cringe at hearing this word ourselves. Jesus knew exactly how they were reacting to this but he said “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless.”
Jesus knew the big picture. The disciples did not. All they saw was the present moment they were living in, but Christ personally knew his Father in heaven, all of the heavenly hosts and the entire scope of mankind’s salvation. We are a lot like the disciples too though. Some of us get caught up in the present moment and lose sight of the big picture. We waste so much of our lives on trivial things that do not have any lasting value. There is no harm in watching a little television to relax or surfing the internet a bit, but if we get too caught up in these things it can drain our lives of real relationships with one another.
A lot of people say they wish they had time to volunteer in parish activities, or at a food pantry, work with the homeless or whatever, but they say they’re just too busy. But, it’s amazing just how much free time we really do have, when we just quit watching so much television. How many hours do we spend in front of the television or computer? If we are willing to honestly look at how and what we’re spending our free time on, we might see that we do have the time to volunteer and maybe make a difference in someone else’s life, even if it is just an hour a week. We can’t see the big picture of our efforts, but the Lord can. He said in today’s gospel that “it is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless”. The comforts and pleasures of our lives are useless in the long run. The spirit of love that we share with our families, friends and those who are in need is what will last through eternal life.
That’s exactly how the first reading today describes Tabitha. All the widows were crying and showing Peter the tunics and clothing that Tabitha had made for them when she was alive. The spirit of love that she shared with her community, lived on after her death. Not the material things, but her beautiful spirit of love and service to those in her community. No doubt this is what touched Peter’s heart when he decided to ask the Lord to give Tabitha her life back. This is an important thing to remember today, about Tabitha’s life. She set the example for all of us too. The widows in her community, Peter and the Lord himself confirmed Tabitha’s life of holiness and service and that is probably why the Lord gave Peter the power to bring her back to life.
This is what happened with the disciples in the gospel too. It sounds like a large group of Jesus’ disciples got up and left because they did not believe what Jesus told them. But, like the widows who believed in Peter in the story about Tabitha, Jesus’ disciples did believe in the Lord. When Jesus asked them “Do you also wish to go away?” Of course it was Simon Peter who answered him:
“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
We too, should trust the big picture of our lives to Jesus. It’s hard because our circumstances and emotions fluctuate throughout our lives and all we can see is the present moment we live in. Sometimes we may feel like throwing in the towel too, and quitting a job, a relationship, a friendship or whatever. When we feel like that, Saint Peter said it best when he said “Lord, to whom can we go?” We can go to Jesus in prayer and give it all to him, the things that we don’t understand that is happening in our lives, and trust that he really does know what is best. Christ knows the big picture of our lives and he will guide us in the ways of spirit and life as long as we remain in his friendship. We will remain in his friendship through the sacraments of confession and most especially through our communion with him, in the Eucharist we receive at every mass. May we always receive the Lord’s gift of himself with love and devotion.
