Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading Joshua 24:1-2a,15-17,18b

Joshua and the people declare that they will serve the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 34:2-3,16-17,18-19,20-21

The Lord hears the cries of the just.

Second Reading Ephesians 5:21-32 (or shorter form Ephesians 5:2a,25-32)

Husbands and wives should love one another as Christ loves the Church.

Gospel ReadingJohn 6:60-69

Simon Peter confesses his faith that Jesus alone has the words of the eternal life.

You have the words of eternal life

Whom will we serve? In other words, which “gods”? In the last case, if it is our God YHWH, who believes in Him? This Sunday, we are invited to respond clearly to God’s call to assume His mission in our world. Although we are aware that sometimes our flesh is weak and instead of helping us, it sometimes makes us “mess up”, the “Holy One of God” gives us the words of eternal life to continue our journey.

In the first reading from the book of Joshua (Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b), the question is clear: “Whom will you serve?” We are exhorted to “decide today.” Actually, for some of us, it is clear, as Joshua answered: “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”. But sometimes, the offers of the world blind us with many things, and we become slaves to fame, money, power, technology, games, drugs, etc. Maybe this happens because we forget the goodness of the Lord in our lives, and we end up crying out in our distress. Yet, YHWH hears us and rescues us because He is close to the brokenhearted. So, if we recognize, no matter what happens, the presence of the Lord in our path, we will say, as the Psalm (Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21) states: “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord”.

The second reading, from the letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians (Eph 5:21-32), is an invitation to truly love one another as “Christ loved the church.” The clear example presented in this letter is the love between a wife and a husband. Husbands are asked to love their wives because loving your wife means loving yourself. Certainly, if we cannot love ourselves, how can we love one another? To love is not just a feeling but a decision, even though it sometimes can hurt us.

Today’s Gospel from Saint John (Jn 6:60-69) has many teachings for our lives. I would like to highlight three. The first is the question in this passage: “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Like many of Jesus’ disciples, we might ask the Lord, “Who can accept it?” Who can accept this job? This suffering? This trouble? This life?” The human reaction when faced with difficulties usually tends to “jump” or “avoid” because it is the easier way. When something is hard to handle, we prefer not to accept it. Sorry, I cannot. Regardless of the path we choose, we will find many obstacles along the way. The certain thing is that we cannot live just running away from our shadows. The second point is about the action of the Spirit in our lives: “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh has nothing to offer.” Sometimes we try to solve our issues on our own, even though we know we are weak and that our flesh has nothing to offer. We forget to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit because perhaps we are among those who do not believe in the words of the Lord that are Spirit and Life. The last point is about Jesus’ question: “Do you also want to leave?” When situations become complicated, we often run away in fear. It is human to admit that sometimes situations are beyond us, but with the Spirit’s help, we can do something more.

In short, God’s mission is enormous and hard, but we are not alone. We receive the strength of the Holy Spirit through the words of the Lord to face different situations in our lives and to stay with Him.