Daily Catholic Lectio
Sun, 11 August 2024
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
1 Kings 19:4-8. Ephesians 4:30-5:2. John 6:41-51
Sweet is the Lord!
“Taste and see how sweet the Lord is,” the Psalmist exclaims with joy and jubilation (cf. Responsorial Psalm, Ps. 34).
But in today’s first reading, Elijah is heartbroken. In the gospel reading, people take offence at Jesus’ simple and humble background. In the second reading, the people of Ephesus are trapped in their old conditions of life.
In this context, how can we understand our Lord as sweet?
(First reading) Elijah, who came face-to-face with the four hundred prophets of Baal and killed them, saw Jezebel chasing him. He was frightened and wandered in the wilderness as a refugee. Sometimes the happiest moments of our lives turn into the most unhappy times, and the times when we should rejoice in success turn into times of defeat. Elijah, “frightened and fleeing for his life,” sat down under the broom tree and said, “Lord, I have had enough. Take my life. I’m no better than my ancestors.” Elijah suffers from four negative emotions simultaneously: fear of Jezebel, anger at what he has done, guilt about his past, and an inferiority complex about his present state of life.
Why did Elijah, who ran for his life, ask God to “take life”? He could have given it to Jezebel, who was chasing him to take his life, and died a martyr. He keeps moaning and falls asleep. Depression and sleepiness are siblings. The angel wakes him up and says, ‘Get up and eat!’ And he found bread and water baked in the coals, and when he had eaten them, he fell asleep again. When the angel offered him food for the second time, he said, “You have a long journey to make,” and he was strengthened by eating. His journey of forty days becomes a journey of divine experience. He was born as a new man on that mountain.
Thus, the one who came to ‘die’ is born into a new life. His life is changed by the food God has given him. Although the bread that the Lord God gave him served him, it not only served his physical strength but also helped him on his journey to spiritual strength. Prophets who are depressed and frustrated receive hope and expectation. He realises how sweet God is.
In the second reading, the concept of identity in the Christian life continues. Christian identity is something that needs to be visible and obvious. This choice must be unconditional and concrete. No matter what obstacles one faces, one must be firm in their choice. Paul lists six obstacles to Christian group life: “bitterness, rage, wrath, shouting, slander, and malice.” He warns them that these can weaken Christian identity and bring sorrow to even the Holy Spirit. He also proposes factors that reinforce Christian identity: “being kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, and loving.” Paul sets Christ as the model of love. Paul’s lesson is that in love, there must be self-surrender.
Thus, the love of Christ comes pleasing to the people of Ephesus, who live with resentment. Knowing and experiencing the self-giving nature of Christ’s love, they must accept that love as the lining of their lives.
The gospel reading is a continuation of last week’s reading. This week, Jesus sharpens the search of those who seek Him and makes it clear to them that He is the object of that search. When Jesus proposes to himself “the bread that came down from heaven,” the people who hear it murmur. Two reasons: (a) Jesus did not come down from heaven, because they knew that he was born (in Bethlehem) and raised in Nazareth. (b) They knew his humble background. They also mock him: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ Jesus’ townspeople knew that Jesus was born of a virgin and that his mother was miraculously conceived without any masculine relationship. It is against this background that they ridicule him and stumble upon his birth, saying: “Son of Joseph!” By saying this, they affirm that there was no touch of God in the birth of Jesus.
Jesus affirms: “No one can come to him unless God draws him on.” He also proposes that they should ‘eat’ him. The thing that is eaten loses itself. This foreshadows the fact the fact that Jesus will lose himself on the cross.
Jesus offers to feed those who stumble upon his simple background. So, in the first reading, Elijah, who was depressed, tastes the sweetness of the Lord God through the food of bread. In the second reading, the faithful of Ephesus, who lived in resentment, taste the sweetness of Jesus through his self-surrender in his love. And in the gospel reading, those who took offence at Jesus’ origin, are drawn to the Father and come to him and taste his sweetness.
Thus, the Lord is sweet.
This poses a challenge to us on two levels:
First, do I taste the sweetness of the Lord?”
Two, Do I reflect the sweetness of the Lord as love, compassion, and forgiveness?”
There are many times when we are tired, frustrated, depressed, and sad, like Elijah. The difficulties we face in family and relationships due to resentment are many. Like the people of Jesus’ village, there are many times when people take offence at us, looking at our humble origin. But it is good to realise that there is sweetness in our Lord beyond all this.
“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him, and you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.”
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
Leave a comment