Three serious questions

‘… Whoever comes to me will never be hungry’. (John 6:35)

Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15

Psalm 78: 23-29

Ephesians 4: 1-16

John 6:24-35

The Scripture readings, above, are from  the appointed 'paired' readings for the principal service of the day from the Church of Ireland while hyper-links to the readings are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © http://nrsvbibles.org

(Year B: Nineth Sunday after Trinity, 1 August 2021)

Three serious questions are asked here.

What is it that we seek in life?

Pause and think. Don’t force a quick answer. Be honest. Let it emerge. Hints are allowed.

Where do we find joy in our lives right now?

Pause and think. Don’t force a quick answer. Be honest. Let it emerge. Hints are allowed.

Do we find joy in what it is that we seek?

Pretty basic questions about basic matters in life? And yet, do we think through what we are doing and why and for what and for whom and how?

Do ever find yourself in company with someone and they are looking and listening – or so you think? And then you have a faint feeling that, somehow, the other is present but not entirely present; the other is listening but not completely. Perhaps they are in a different place right now preoccupied by some patterns of thought and concern?

Now, consider what it might feel like for someone who is telling their story to us. Might they feel that we are present but not 100%; listening but not completely with all our hearts and minds; caring but not that much as to be ready to sacrifice for another?

Life is a university for everyone. No Letters or Formal Qualifications are required. You are learner and teacher for whom the world and all that is in it is your oyster and which waits for your story and your light. We are never alone. Others cross our paths and we cross theirs for a purpose. I am not among those who believe that life and all that is has no meaning other than what we give it (yet this does appear to be the prevailing ideology or our time here in the West and in the North of the globe}. Neither am I among those who believe that our fate is set in the stars or by some controlling spirit that seals our destiny. We have free choice. But, we have responsibility and purpose and that purpose is as much given to us as it is chosen by us. It is a two-way stream.

Desire, hunger and hope drive all human activity and behaviour from cradle to grave and even before cradle and – who could deny it – even after grave (‘I believe in the communion of saints….’). From the most basic needs of bodily sustenance up to the highest (or down to the lowest) of human motivations we are driven to go forward, to seek out, to protect, to aim high (or low) and to join with others in a shared effort.  The curious aspect of desire and motivation is that we may be only half aware of what it is that drives us forward (or backward). In fact, some of the time we may be skilled in not facing up to or acknowledging those drivers. It is never so straightforward that we can divide up ‘good’ motives and ‘less-than-good’ motives. Life is not that simple and people are surely not that simple. An intense and consuming desire to achieve may reflect needs stemming from much earlier in our lives and our relationships to others – not least our parents or parent.

We may be motivated by the highest of motives to do good and to serve a good purpose and cause and, yet, if we are honest with ourselves and others, it not that cut and dry. The personal ego is an important driver. In some cultures the notion that someone is ‘full of themselves’ or that they are characterised as an ‘egotist’ is a mark of strong criticism and put down. However, a sense of self and self-achievement may be a positive source of energy and creativity.  Egotism may be understood as a sense of self at the expense of others and based on a false or exaggerated understanding of one’s abilities. Care is needed in assessing what motivates others let alone oneself.

And what drove the crowds to seek out Jesus....

When Jesus and his disciples saw the crowds looking for them on the other side of sea in the area of Capernaum they knew that the miraculous and the extraordinary had drawn them.  The people were seeking the miracle more than the sign that the evangelist John wishes to highlight. The crowd was hardly to blame.  Announce a weekly liturgy in a church near to you and you might be fortunate to draw a crowd of a few dozen or more. Announce miracles and healing backed by evidence of such phenomena and you will draw thousands if not tens of thousands to such an extent that traffic chaos, media sensation and ecclesiastical investigation will follow!  People are only human! After all, the sensational, the scandalous and the seductive make newspaper headlines and sell papers; not the everyday, ordinary, virtuous and deeply significant things that make up the lives of individuals and communities.  We don’t read a headline along the lines “It is widely reported this morning that over six billion million persons went about their lives yesterday in various parts of the world doing their daily tasks, caring for others and, for the most part or some of the time, showing kindness and concern for others”. That’s not news; that’s just a sign of human life.  But, this is where the life of God is revealed and where the Sign of God’s loving presence is made evident if we just stop and look and look again. In the midst of pots and pans, books and tools, toys and gadgets the Glory of God is revealed in people fully alive – no matter how they think about it or how to rationalise or explain it by reference to some a-theological mental framework.

Nobody who seeks Jesus will be turned away....

Like the people who followed Jesus to the other side of the lake we can miss the Signs of God in our chaotic, broken but beautiful and mystery-laden world. We seek the wrong type of bread in the wrong sorts of places when the real bread of God’s word and loving presence is freely on offer. This is the true bread ‘come down from heaven’ and it is also freely available to those who seek and come to be nourished in the Sacrament. And, ultimately, nobody can take this gift from us.

A key saying of Jesus is found in verse 37:

‘He who comes to me I will not cast out’ (verse 37)

It seems a pity that this Sunday’s passage cuts short just at verse 35 and will not reappear in the following continuous reading from chapter 6 of John. A key message and lesson in reading the entire chapter 6 of St John is that Jesus assures us that he will not turn anyone away. Rather, he asks that we trust or believe in him (verse 29) and be open to the gift of love. Nobody gets turned away even if their motivations are mixed.

There is a strong echo of Isaiah 55:1-3 where the prophet  Isaiah speaks of a people who need to come to the source of lasting nourishment and in so doing to hear again the message of ‘my steadfast sure love for David’. Food, Word, Love and Life eternal – this is what is on offer if we just trust and come to the Lord in expectation and desire.

Right now each of us can say to God-who-is-love that ‘I am:
Waiting for you 

Hoping for you 

Longing for you’

And these words might be possible to say in the minutes and hours as death approaches if time and circumstances permit. Some may be called, in a special way, to be the channel through which another meets God-who-is-love. That is a special and life-giving and life-lasting gift that purifies motives and lifts us up to a new plane of living. We can be bread for each other.

Could attaining to this gift be the doorway to joy that lasts and that sweeps us off our feet? Is this what the world is hungry for and thirsting for?  A serious question.