Reading I: Proverbs 9:1-6
Reading II: Ephesians 5:15-20
GOSPEL: John 6:51-58
You’re Invited!
For the last several weeks, the Scriptures have been speaking to us about bread and wine and banquets. Not surprisingly, all of this weekend’s readings give us an invitation to the feast. I know that I, for one, am getting hungry.
In the first reading, we encounter an invitation to a feast of Wisdom, an invitation going out to all who are simple and are seeking understanding. Wisdom is an essential attribute because without it we’d have a pretty difficult time making decisions.
This Is No Costume Party
Yet in today’s society, it seems like Wisdom is playing hard-to-get with us. It’s sometimes so hard to find someone with common sense, you’d think that Wisdom had become extinct. But in fact, just the opposite is true. Wisdom wants us to seek her – and she wants us to come to her as we are.
So the invitation to that banquet has only one catch: We have to drop the act and lose the pretensions. All we have to do is come as we are.
I AM The Bread Of Life
This weekend’s gospel is a continuation of what we’ve heard over the last few weeks. Jesus has told us that he is the bread that can sustain us. What we are hearing now however is his invitation to us. If we eat his flesh and drink his blood, then we will have eternal life.
Now that’s a banquet I’d definitely like to attend!
Doesn’t That Make Me A Cannibal?
Well, if you aren’t down with the Catholic Church, then the idea of eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his blood could sound a little weird. And keep in mind that the Jews following Jesus at the time had trouble with this idea too. In fact, many of them left because of this teaching.
But unlike other times in the Gospels, Jesus does not explain that the people had misunderstood. Instead he says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
We need to remember that although Christ was fully human, he is also fully divine. When we share in the Eucharist, we share in his divinity, as well as in the community of the church. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.
No RSVP Necessary
Each and every week we are invited to the banquet of the Eucharist. We are called to join the feast and to be a part of the Mystical Body of Christ. And just like the banquet of Wisdom, we should simply come as we are.
Life Applications:
How difficult is it to seek Wisdom in your life?
In what areas of your life do you need more Wisdom?
What makes the celebration feast of the Eucharist special to you?
Original article by Jacki Popadich, 2003-2021.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.