Have you have watched any of the television series entitled “Chosen”? I’m sure you’ve heard of it; it’s a powerful depiction of the life of Jesus – now in its second season – and, if you haven’t watched it yet, I strongly recommend that you do. It presents Jesus, his disciples and friends and the milieu in which he lived in a very compelling manner. One of the most remarkable aspects of this series is that it presents Jesus as just an ordinary man of his day, poor, sometimes even living out in the fields with his followers, traveling the countryside in a world where there is much tension between the Romans and the Jews and much discontent among his people. Over and over again, Jesus does remarkable things. He frees a women from demonic possession, heals a leper and crippled, gives his followers a remarkable catch of fish, turns water into wine at a wedding feast. We’re all familiar with these miracles but, as this television series presents so well, the people who witnessed them were awe-struck and more and more people came to follow Jesus, just to see what he would do next. And, as the series presents so well, Jesus used these opportunities of the crowds gathering to teach them.
We have just completed several weeks of hearing passages from John’s Gospel where we have heard Jesus teach his followers after he has just fed 5,000 of them. He uses this occasion to teach them that he is “the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” He declares that, unlike the manna that fed the ancient Israelites as they wandered in the desert, he is “the true bread come down from heaven” and that “whoever eats this bread will live forever,” and finally, “the bread that I will give is my fIesh for the life of the world.”
It is this last message – that we heard two weeks ago – that had his followers respond today with “this saying is hard; who can accept it?” As you will notice in today’s Gospel account, Jesus doesn’t back down, however. Instead, he goes on to assert, “What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” He was predicting his ascension into heaven, something that only the great prophet Elijah had done.
I wonder how Jesus felt at the moment recounted in today’s gospel passage. After feeding five thousand, he had just offered a magnificent teaching about himself and what he had to offer – his own Body and Blood as the Bread come down from heaven to give us eternal life; we have heard this powerful teaching over the past several Sundays. And, how did his followers respond? With awe and gratitude? No, they just looked at each other and complained that “this saying is hard; who can accept it?” In fact, as we hear in today’s Gospel, “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied” Jesus.
We gather around our Lord’s Table because we do believe in Jesus, the Bread of Life. We believe that, in just a few moments, the bread and wine on the altar will become the real Body and Blood of Jesus, offered to us for spiritual nourishment as we journey through the desert of our lives to the Promised Land of heaven. And, we believe that, as we follow Jesus in this life, we will be invited to follow him – he who ascended to where he was before; that is, heaven. Oh, like his first followers, we acknowledge that this saying is hard and we admit that it is beyond our understanding. But, like Peter, we proclaim: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” And so, with strong faith in God’s true presence here at this altar and a hope in the resurrection, we affirm, like the ancient Israelites in today’s first reading, “we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”