Daily Catholic Lectio
Sun, 25 August 2024
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Joshua 24:1-2,15-17,18. Ephesians 5:21-32. John 6:60-69
Choosing the Lord
The single word ‘choice’ distinguishes us from other beings. I can choose what I want, not instinctively, but intellectually. This is the blessing of humankind. The liturgy of the word invites us to choose God and God alone.
In today’s first reading, Joshua renews the covenant at Shechem. Before the covenant is renewed, there is a ritual of purification for the people. There are two ways in which Joshua emulates Moses: First, just as Moses made the Israelites cross the Red Sea, so Joshua made them cross the Jordan River. Secondly, just as Moses ratified the covenant between the Lord God and the Israelites, so he stands between the Lord God and the Israelites at Shechem and renews the covenant. Moses emphasised external purity when he made a covenant. But Joshua emphasises inner purity.
Joshua’s call was for the people to free themselves from idolatry. Jacob fled from Laban’s house. Laban, who was chasing him, accused him of carrying his idols. Rachel carried the house idols. She sat on the sack containing the idols and saved the sack and the idols, saying that she was menstruating. From that day until their exile in Babylonia, idols had been a great snare for the Israelites. Before the Israelites worshipped Yahweh, they believed in many gods. They could not let go of the other gods easily. They were particularly impressed by the fertility cult in the land of Canaan. The Canaanites had gods for the fertility of the land, the fertility of cattle, and the yield of crops. When the Israelites began to settle in the land of Canaan, they became an agricultural community and could not stop participating in the fertility worship of others. It is against this background that Joshua asks, ‘To whom will you serve?’
‘Serving’ is a very important word in the book of Exodus. Because the Lord God is calling the people who were serving Pharaoh in Egypt to serve him. Serving gods other than the Lord God was considered a major sin called ‘unfaithfulness’ or ‘committing adultery’. The Israelites were motivated in two ways and said, ‘We will serve the Lord’: first, by the example of their leader Joshua. Joshua is a good leader here. “I and my household will serve the Lord.” He proposes an unconditional service to the Lord. Second, the Israelites remember the miraculous signs that their Lord God performed in Egypt. Almost now, the second or third generation is standing here. They remember what their ancestors told them.
So, in the first reading, the Israelites choose the Lord God instead of their idols.
In the second reading, the author of the Epistle to the Church of Ephesus (Paul), after presenting the concepts of a new nature and an enlightened life, speaks of family kinship. It is at once a moral instruction on family life and an ecclesiological concept.
‘Wives, be obedient to your husbands … Husbands, love your wives’ is a disturbing part for many. Why should women be submissive? Some feminists record their protest on many platforms that this is patriarchal thinking. In fact, this is not feminism but the idea of women’s liberation. How? Behind this lesson is the Greco-Roman family way of life. According to that way of life, the ‘woman’ or ‘wife’ is the property of the husband. That is, just as a husband has a goat, a cow, or a house, he will have a wife. Paul commands us to love a woman who was treated as an object and used as a person. The woman must reciprocate this love with respect. Men need respect. And women need love. Paul works on this existential reality.
Paul takes this family relationship to the level of ecclesiology, the understanding of the church. The author presents Christ as a husband and the church as a wife. He acknowledges its mystery dimension.
Paul invites his community to choose an ethically upright way of life.
The gospel reading concludes Jesus’ discourse on “I am the bread of life” that we have been listening to for the past four weeks. At the end of the discourse, the audience had to decide. In the Gospel of Matthew, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses the metaphor of the ‘two kinds of foundations’ to ask what kind of foundation his disciples choose. In the same way, do his disciples choose him here? Jesus poses the question. There were five thousand people at the beginning of the ‘food from heaven’ discourse. Then it becomes a small crowd. Then it becomes a small group in the synagogue. Followed by Jesus’ disciples. The sermon concludes with the words of the words of the Twelve Apostles. A text that begins in a wide space ends in a narrow space. The text that ends in that way moves into the reader’s mind. That is, at the end of the reading, the reader must decide whether he comes to know Jesus or not.
The disciples who are listening to Jesus say, “This is hard to accept. Can we still listen?” They could not accept Jesus for three reasons: One, how could a person born in Nazareth call himself food that came down from heaven? Two, there is no immediate reward for following Jesus. Three, all their expectations of Jesus end up disappointed. “The Spirit gives life. Flesh is useless,” says Jesus. That is, what is seen perishes, and what is unseen remains. They saw only the body of Jesus and were stumbled upon by the flesh of that body. They did not see that “the Word became flesh.”
But Peter sees it. When Jesus asks the twelve, “Do you also want to go?” Peter replies, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” He says, “You have the words of eternal life.” Thus, Peter finds the Word in Jesus. He continues, “You are consecrated to God.”
The disciples were able to accept Jesus and surrender to him.
In the first reading, the people of Israel, under the leadership and example of Joshua, chose the Lord God.
In the second reading, the people of Ephesus chose a family life modelled after Jesus and the Church.
In the gospel reading, the apostles choose the Lord.
Do we choose God today?
Our choice is usually defined by three grounds: (a) pleasure and pain. Choosing something pleasant and letting go of something that is painful. (b) good and evil. Clinging to what is good and letting go of what is evil. (c) Reward-penalty. To take what is rewarding to us and let go of what is penalising.
When we choose, we get clarity. Choice cuts down on clutter and gives us clarity. Let us choose God. Always. In choosing God, we choose ourselves, as did Saint Augustine.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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