21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Today Jesus finishes what has come to be called His Bread of Life discourse and, as we hear, the disciples are incredibly shocked. What’s more, is that now they are even questioning whether they can accept Him, whether they believe all that He has taught, all that He has done.

For, whereas those in the first reading decided to continue to serve the Lord, and to believe in Him because they saw the miracles and felt His protection, those in our Gospel that witnessed the same, that felt the same, find themselves now questioning whether they can continue on with Him, whether what He spoke was, indeed, truth or something else. And, as a result, they find themselves making a very difficult choice: to continue following Him or to completely abandon Him.

Yet, never once does Jesus recant on what He said nor does He explain Himself, instead, He questions their faith. He says: “What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” As if to say, if you saw that miracle, would you then believe? Would you then stay? Knowing that they probably wouldn’t, because, they were trying to understand it rationally, they trying to understand it, as our Gospel puts it, with the eyes of flesh, as it were, but as Jesus says, it is the spirit that will give this insight, because His words are Spirit and life, His words can only be understood with the ears of faith and with a heart that trusts.

This is the way Jesus presents it, this is the way He wants it to be understood, because He knew that, ultimately, only some would accept Him and what He had to say and others would not. He knew, as sad as it may be, that, in the end, not everyone would continue following Him. And, unfortunately, many did leave; they returned to their former lives and abandoned Jesus, all because they could not accept the same thing many people cannot accept today, especially, the reality of the Most Holy Eucharist.

That is why He then poses probably one of the most difficult questions He can pose, a question He asks the twelve, His own friends, those who have been with Him from the beginning: “Do you also want to leave?” As if to say, “after all this do you still truly believe I am who I say I am?” And He patiently waits for a response.

St. Peter, on behalf of the twelve, responds simply and clearly: “Master to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

And, yet, it is this same question that He poses to us as well, a questions He asks us every day of our lives, a question we hear constantly in the face of temptation, in the face of despair, in the face of sadness, in our darkest hour and in our brightest: “Do you also want to leave?”

The answer, of course, varies from person to person, because it is His most intimate and personal question for us, and, at the same time, the most somber, because He is not just asking us if we believe Him, but if we trust Him and love Him enough to remain with Him always.

Today, Jesus asks us again, and, just as He did with the disciples and patiently waits for our response.
What will our response be: “Yes, yes I do want to leave, and return to my former way of life?” or like St. Peter: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Words that no one else has, words that not only inspire but can also change who we are.

He is waiting and listening for our reply.

The choice is now ours.