Two-Minute Homily by Fr Wrex Woolnough for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024.
“We are not just a chosen people, but a people with a choice. Are you open to the living bread of life, that challenges us to see all things differently?”
- Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane
I remember hearing many years ago of a priest who went along to a wedding reception. Standing around mingling with people, as you do prior to the arrival of the bride and groom, he was confronted by a guest who started off the conversation somewhat aggressively by saying, “I don’t believe in God. I think it’s all a lot of hooey”. Not wishing to be drawn into an argument, the priest replied calmly, “Which God don’t you believe in? Chances are I don’t believe in that one either!”Approaching the end of his life, Joshua assures the leaders of Israel that they are not only a chosen people, but people with a choice! Surrounded by a variety of experiences of God, either from their past or their present situation, they need to make a decision. Joshua has no doubts which way he will go, granted what they have been through together, but he realises others may choose differently.
Jesus is also at the height of his ministry, having just fed the five thousand, when he is confronted by the same reality. Speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum, he tries to convince, not just the crowd but even his own followers, that it is not just about having a bellyful of food, but being fed with the word of God, a bread far richer than even the Manna Moses had fed the people within the wilderness.
Many can’t cope with it and they leave and while Peter may seem to be speaking on behalf of the Twelve closest followers of Jesus, the passage goes on to give us a first inkling in John’s Gospel that one of the Twelve will betray him. So we too are not just a chosen people, but a people with a choice. So which God do you believe in? Do you cling desperately to the past? Or are you simply drawn into the latest fashion? Are you open to the living bread of life, that challenges us to see all things differently?