Apothegm

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SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

What kind of test does Jesus have in mind?

During the next five weeks of Gospel readings, we will be focusing our thoughts on John chapter 6. Since our readings in the next five weeks will take us slowly through the entire chapter, we have the opportunity to think more deeply about each section. John chapter 6 opens with the words, “After this” which points back to the event in the previous chapter. Jesus entered into a conflict with the religious leaders of his day over the Sabbath. Not only is Jesus a “Sabbath breaker” but Jesus also dared to call “God his own father, making himself equal to God” (Jn 5:18).

The first and most fundamental question is; who is Jesus Christ? Jesus a mere man, but the very Son of God. Jesus declares “Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (Jn 5:25).  Jesus claims to be the Son of God and that the Father has testified in Scripture that this is so.

The purpose of Jesus time on earth was to bring us to eternal life. The “signs” Jesus performs in John’s Gospel draw people to him. John tells us, “a multitude follow [Jesus] because they saw the signs” (6:2). Nevertheless, salvation involves not just seeing and following, but hearing and believing in the Son. Jesus tells them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life” (Jn 5:24).

Eventually the fullness of conversion initiation will involve faith, repentance, baptism and reception of the Spirit. The Catechism notes that the essential elements of Christian initiation are: "proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and [then as a result] admission to Eucharistic communion." (CCC 1229). 

Jesus actions in feeding the 5000 are very deliberate. John tells us Jesus “knew what he would do” (6:6). Jesus wanted to put the faith of Phillip to the test. In a certain sense, he is testing all the apostles through this sign. We can see the very different responses of Phillip and Andrew to this sign.

The Greek word used for test means “to try to learn the nature or character of someone … thorough and extensive testing”^[1] 

The idea of God putting people's faith to the“test” is a common Old Testament theme. God tests Abraham (Gen 22:1) and Moses (Exod 15:25); and testing even involves the Manna from heaven (Exod 16:4) which we will hear more about later in the chapter. Eventually the whole nation of Israel is repeatedly tested by God (Exod 20:20).

In the New Testament, St. Paul also uses similar language; “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Co 13:5, cf. 1 Peter 4:12).

What kind of test does Jesus have in mind?

Before anything else there needs to be an act of faith, which involves a surrender of the heart. There need to be a deliberate “yes” to Jesus that places Jesus at the center of our life. For those of us baptized as infants, and who grew up in the Church, we might see our faith as a kind of church bus that we have ridden on until it dropped us off at Confirmation. After that, we have arrived at our destination. We have everything we need for mature adult faith.

It is as if the message of Jesus was not “repent and believe in the Gospel,” or “hear and believe” but instead “study and learn.” Words like faith, repentance, and conversion focus much more on the heart than the head.  The word for “test” used in our Gospel has to do with a person’s essential nature or character.  It is not primarily about knowledge of learning.

Yet, clearly knowing about the faith is also important. In the parable of the sower, in one type of soil the seed failed because the one who heard the word of the kingdom “did not understand it.” Yet, there is a big difference between simply knowing something and truly believing something so that it transforms every aspect of your life.

If each of us examines or tests our own heart, we might ask, “Has there ever been a point in my life when I made a deliberate decision to follow Jesus and make him the center of my life?”

Is it enough to ride along on the Church bus and receive the sacraments? Does every young person who gets Confirmed make a deliberate personal decision to follow Jesus and make him the center of my life? Faith involves more than just being along for the ride.  Many youth have confided in me that they got Confirmed mostly because their mother wanted them to, or because everyone else was doing it at that time.

Faith is not a spectator sport. You need to get off the bench and into the game. The work of the Holy Spirit needs our willing cooperation. We might ask again, “Has there ever been a point in my life when I made a deliberate decision to follow Jesus and make him the center of my life?”

Some people have compared this decision by analogy to dating. Am only I occasionally dating Jesus, or do we see each other frequently? Are you and Jesus in a “committed relationship”? Are you promised to each other in engagement?  Finally have you exchanged vows in marriage promising to be faithful as long as we live? I believe that Jesus will joyfully join us in each step of this journey, but his desire is for our full commitment.

Again as St Paul said to the Corinthians, ““Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?  If you have been Baptized and have been joined to Christ in Holy Communion, and have been joined to him by the fullness Holy Spirit in Confirmation, then surely you must realize that Christ is in you.  

As each one of us examines our heart today, how will we respond to Jesus test? What kind of relationship do you want to have with Jesus?

Imagine what would happen in our families and in our parish today, if each one of us offer Jesus a “yes” to his call for deeper intimacy with us.

 

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^[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 331.