Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
Towards the end of chapter 6 in St John’s gospel, many of the disciples of Jesus find his words too hard to accept and they leave him. Were his words too hard to accept because they were not understood?
He turned to the twelve and asked them if they will also leave him? Simon Peter responded superbly by asking Jesus, “ where would they go’’? Peter said that they had come to believe and know that Jesus was the Holy One of God.
What was it that made some disciples leave and others stay?
One possible answer is that the person of Jesus was the attraction, they believed in what he said because they believed in him. What he said about eating his flesh and drinking his blood was bizarre and too much for many disciples but not for all, they believed in him.
What happened to Judas? Why did he betray Jesus? A prior question is: why did Jesus choose him in the first place? Was it a part of the Father’s plan? St John says that Satan entered into Judas and he left with the full knowledge that Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him.
This gives us pause to reflect on the goodness of our God whom we know as a God of love and faithfulness and remind us that we may fall but God never fails. Jesus was betrayed but he overcame that evil, we do well to remember it today.
Some people in Jerusalem believed that the community was drunk on new wine at an early hour at Pentecost. Some of the disciples were not sure of what was happening at the Ascension, they doubted what was happening and what it meant. But others responded wholeheartedly.
The celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of Catholic worship. Complaints are made these days that people do not get enough access to the Eucharist due to the shortage of priests. Whatever the outcome of that issue, it shows how important the Eucharist is.
After the Reformation, the split in the Christian church in Europe was basically the ‘Protestors’ opting for the bible as their authority and the Catholics accepting the Mass as the centre of their worship. In these contemporary times, attitudes have changed and a movement of accepting God’s Word and action in the Eucharist as one liturgical action grows in strength.
For Catholics, the Eucharist is a gift from Jesus, the risen Lord, to us. The early Christians described it as food for the journey of life. During these extraordinary days of the pandemic, with churches closed even at Easter, we experienced the novel approach of ‘missing Mass’ and feeling the loss deeply. We no longer take it for granted.
Like the apostles in chapter 6, with St Peter we exclaim that Jesus has the words of life for us. He is the holy one of God. We believe we have his tangible presence with us when we celebrate the Eucharist, such a blessing and a consolation.
Columban Fr Gary Walker is currently living at the Columban house in Sandgate, Brisbane.
