Truth Over Tradition

Aug. 25: Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Gospel makes explicit a distinction between Catholics and protestants, led by St. Peter, appropriately enough, the first pope.

Reading 1

Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b

Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: "If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

But the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

This is the final speech Joshua gives in his eponymous book. After dividing thePpromised Land amongst the twelve tribes, he reminds them of where they came from. Abraham used to live on the far side of the Euphrates, and he used to worshipping gods other than the one, true God.

Just because a tradition is old, doesn't mean it's good. God changed everything with His covenant with Abraham, and later still by leading the Israelites out of Egypt. (Remember, that was only a couple of decades before this.)

That's why the Israelites choose God over any others "gods." Truth is more important than tradition.

Responsorial Psalm

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

R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The LORD has eyes for the just,
and ears for their cry.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Many are the troubles of the just one,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him;
he watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

God doesn't promise we'll lead a trouble-free life. Even the just ones among us have many troubles. We must have faith God will come to our aid when we need Him most.

Reading 2

Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32

Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

This passage begins with the famous (and often ill-used) line about women being subject to their husbands. This context is very important. Paul's instructions to wives are just a two verses, but he talks at great length¹ about the responsibilities men have to their wives, as to their own body.

And by following this logic, Paul tells us that we all have responsibility to each other, since we are all a part of the body of Christ.

Alleluia

Jn 6:63c, 68c

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

We must believe in Jesus' words, not because they fit traditional beliefs, but because they're true.

Gospel

Jn 6:60-69

Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe."

Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father."

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?"

Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

I'm going to take a bold stance and say cannibalism is bad. The ancient Jews agreed with me, too. In Joshua's time, the Israelites fought pagans who killed their own children and sacrificed them to their gods.

So a rabbi saying, "eat my flesh" is, indeed, a hard teaching.

But we're not just eating His flesh in the Eucharist. Jesus tells His followers that He will ascend into Heaven, body and spirit. So consuming the Eucharist isn't like eating a dead body, which has no spirit or life.

That's why the Church teaches that Holy Communion is Jesus's body and blood, soul and divinity. It's everything. We are embodied souls, and Jesus, being fully man as well as fully divine, was and is also an embodied soul. Cannibalism is just eating dead flesh; at mass, we consume the Living Bread.

It's a lot to take in, and many of His followers rejected it. Many of His followers still reject it in protestant denominations. But Peter gives us a good answer for when we find a teaching difficult: "Where else are we going to go?"

If we don't understand something that Jesus teaches, if we can't wrap our heads around a precept of the Church, that's okay. We're limited as human beings, including in our understanding. But we still, like Peter and like the Israelites in the first reading, declare that we chose the Lord God over everything else.

1. As Paul often does.