euphemos

Theologians argue about whether God causes suffering, or God allows suffering as a consequence of living in a world where Adam chose to reject God and sin. I almost spent this morning talking about suffering, and God’s role in allowing or ultimately causing suffering in the context of that first reading from the book of Job, but that is not the most important question.

You might remember that although we are in Year B of our three year cycle of Gospel readings from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we are taking a summer break from Saint Mark’s Gospel to spend a few weeks in Saint John’s Bread of Life Discourse in John chapter 6. This portion of scripture is so special and important to Catholics, because these scriptures are essential to our understanding of Christ in the Eucharist.

Last Sunday, we saw the power of God in Christ Jesus with the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Jesus reveals himself as the fulfillment of what Elisha the prophet prefigured.

The Catechism defines a prophet as someone sent by God to form the people in the hope of salvation. Today, Jesus is established as not simply A Prophet, but The Prophet who the people always knew to expect. The one who would reveal clearly how we can do what God desires.

More than that, Jesus says he is the bread of life from heaven. He is the reality to which manna pointed.

Next week, think about manna as you hear the people asking “who is this?” When the manna first came down, the people said “man hu?” which means, what is this… We still ask that question about Jesus and about the Eucharist. What is this? Who is this?

The End.

Last time I preached I took way too long to get to the end. I’m sorry about that. I was super excited about what I learned from my experience being the kinda-ok shepherd. Please forgive me. I’ll make it up to you by being particularly brief the next few times I get to preach, so we average out to the 7 or 8 minutes that Pope Francis and our Bishop have asked us to target.

So. The End.

No, not really. Not the end. I’m not done quite yet.

Have you ever experienced the supernatural? Something you cannot deny, and cannot explain? Something that challenges what you know about the world?

That is very much what happened on Pentecost.

Do we believe Jesus is the good shepherd?

Do we somehow think that Jesus is going to, as the saying goes, “fleece us?” Sometimes we act like Jesus is our enemy. We act like he is trying to trick us or take something from us.  He isn’t.

Sometimes, we are like Bilbo Baggins, at the beginning of the Lord of the Rings. He has this burden he carries, this… addiction… that he cannot release. Gandalf, an “angel” of that world, who appears as a wizard, offers to help, and Bilbo responds as if Gandalf were trying to rob him. “You want it for yourself…”

“Bilbo Baggins!” Gandalf replies, “do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks. I am not trying to rob you. I’m trying to help you. All your long years we’ve been friends. Trust me as you once did….”