How many bad days did Jesus have?  Did you ever wonder?  Maybe for some of of us that’s impossible to really consider.  Especially for us who believe He is who He says He is – God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God and the rest of the words we have committed to memory from the Creed.  There’s a sense that because He is who He says is – He is God incarnate, He’s all-powerful, all-loving, He could never have a bad day.  Kind of like when you’re a little kid and think that grown ups have life easy.  The reality is that the more you study the Gospels, the more you see multiple examples of Jesus having bad days—and not simply the obvious ones, like Good Friday.

Thanks so much for stopping by to read this homily for the 21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, August 25, 2024.  I appreciate your sharing this on your social media posts and your feedback and comments…  I’m also grateful for all those who’ve asked for the audio version and share them as well at SOUNDCLOUD click HERE or from ITUNES as a podcast HERE.  May the Lord be glorified in your reading and sharing- Father Jim

Like when He is being accused of blaspheming God by religious leaders?  Here He is speaking to those who considered themselves the most righteous, sincerest of followers of the Lord God who tell the Son He doesn’t know the Father at all.  The arrogance, the ignorance of the charge…  The insult… The lack of openness to having their hopes and dreams of the Lord God fulfilled beyond their imagination – that had to have been a bad day for Jesus.

Or think about standing before the tomb of his dead friend Lazarus?  Encountering the grief stricken wails of his sisters Martha and Mary who believe in Jesus, who love Him even more than their beloved brother – that with Lazarus’ death nothing makes sense, their hearts and minds are just upside down in this space that is the most extremes of both/ands – of both faith and belief AND mourning and death. That was a bad day – it results in the shortest of verses in the entirety of the whole bible, Old and New Testaments – John chapter 11 verse 35 is just two of the most impactful words – Jesus Wept.

Today’s Gospel scene is another one.  For over a month now, at Sunday Mass we’ve been hearing each week another section from John chapter 6.  We can lose sight that we’ve been focusing on one single 24 hour period.  What started with Jesus feeding over 5,000 families miraculously from 5 loaves and 2 fish – a feat that was spectacular, mind-blowing, and obviously tasty and fulfilling because the next morning, being hungry again, the crowds search out Jesus.  With that miracle still very fresh in their minds and stomachs, Jesus invites them to go deeper.  To put aside thoughts of minds and stomachs and look into their hearts – see the greatest longings, needs, the most desperate of hungers – for eternal life – and to see that in Him, that is theirs, He is theirs…  Jesus’ most desperate of hungers is for every human heart to know and love Him, for every human soul to be saved… He’s come for this, to live and die for this – to become the bread of life, to give Himself, His very flesh and blood for people to eat and drink so that they can know this love of God, intimately, personally – so that they can experience and have eternal life.

Yet what happens?  We read and heard this somewhat shocking turn of events, that the greatest of gifts that God could offer humanity – greater than the gift of life itself – this gift of eternal life and communion, union with Him, these followers, including some of his disciples – meaning people who had heard Him preach and perform even more miracles than just this amazing meal, so if anyone should’ve been prepared to have their visions expanded by Jesus they should’ve.  Instead they are brutally honest in saying “this saying is had…” and moments later, St. John tells us “as a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him.”

Just imagine the sense of heartbreak and rejection He must have felt.  Here He is offering the most profound gift of love, the promise and fulfillment of eternal life, and many turn away, unable or unwilling to grasp its depth. For Jesus, this is not just about numbers or followers—this is about souls, about each and every person He came to save.  The hurt that Jesus had to have felt being not just God, but fully human, experiencing the full range of human emotions – knowing deep within that this wasn’t some failure on His part but at the same time feeling the weight of seeing those He cared for, turn away and leave Him.  A bad day for Jesus for sure.

The drama of this moment shifts as now Jesus turns to His apostles and asks “Do you also want to leave?”  Simon Peter, who so often gets himself into trouble when his mouth gets ahead of his brain leaving him to speak so unfiltered – in this moment it serves him well.  Simon Peter has seen and experienced too much to turn away.  He’s learned that faith doesn’t mean that he’ll always know what to do or say, but rather staying with Him who does, and simply says “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

These five weeks we’ve been reflecting on this one of the most important of days in Jesus’ ministry culminates with this moment of reflection for each of us.  What does the Eucharist mean to us?  Is it truly, really, Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity – given to us in this humblest, simplest, of means – under the appearances of the most unremarkable bread and common wine or not?  If it is, than what we’re doing here, what we receive, is the most important thing not of the day, the week, but our very lives.  It has to radically re-order, well, everything for us.

We get an example of that in this second reading from Paul.  Our modern sensitivities, bristle at some of the language that is used here.  So much so, the Church even allows for an edited version.  But I know personally when I read or hear something, especially from scripture that might sound problematic, difficult or even insulting that’s a good thing.  Because it jolts me to say “did I just hear or read what I just heard or read?”  And then remembering the totality of history of God’s perfect goodness, His perfect love to just pause, take a breath and try to hear or read again what is actually being said here.

The problematic line that is reduced to 7 words “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands” so often immediately loses people that we miss everything that comes after, including the four words that finish that sentence “as to the Lord.”  That one sentence – Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord – has caused some to dismiss St. Paul as a male chauvinist completely disregarding and misinterpreting what he is saying.  When in reality the entirety of this passage talks about the most ideal and perfect image of marriage – where the wife and husband are committed to serving each other.  Where they surrender their personal preferences and desires in order to help, to heal, to nourish the other.  When both partners are doing that, when they are sacrificing of themselves, dying to those temptations and vices, like pride, lust, envy, and anger,… they experience new life coming about that not only blesses the husband and wife, it creates a home and a family, and helps bring renewal and recreation to the world.  Because in that, the couple demonstrate Jesus’ Christ real presence and the effect He has.  They demonstrate Jesus being the bride groom who laid down his life for the bride, the Church.  These couples bear witness to the choice we share when as the Church we are “subordinate” to Jesus, the one who suffered and died for us.

Whether married or not, we all encounter our own “bad days.” There are no perfect marriages or perfect people, and we can all relate to Jesus’ struggles. That’s why our presence here—and Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist—is so crucial.

Because Jesus gives us a model to follow.  In the face of rejection, sorrow, and misunderstanding he perseveres by remaining focused on his identity and the love of his Father. It was in this love that he found the strength to endure pain, the courage to confront evil, and the ability to find joy even in the midst of challenging times.  That is how the gift of the Eucharist first became real and present.

In our own lives, even amid struggles, doubts, fears and setbacks we can find hope and purpose in Jesus continued real presence.  In that simple host, He remains faithful and undeterred, offering us His example and accompaniment on our journeys. Can we welcome Him, receive Him, and make Simon Peter’s words our own? “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” May we find grace to persevere, hope to embrace challenges, and the transformative power of His love, turning our struggles illuminating our days, even our bad ones into opportunities to experience His profound goodness.