Tanaw | Do you also want to leave? – Bulatlat

By FR. ARIS MIRANDA, MI

Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21
Eph 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32
Jn 6:60-69

The phenomenon of Church people leaving or abandoning the Church has become a normal event in the life of the Church, particularly in developed countries as well as in developing nations. This crisis is nothing new to us today but somehow began in the early years of Christianity. The gospel of John affirmed this crisis: “… many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” This provoked Jesus to confront the Twelve: “Do you also want to leave?”

Why is this crisis or “krisis” in Greek? Crisis is an opportunity to choose and decide with firmness in a particular life situation. But before arriving at a decision, one should know first what is at stake or the thing in question. This is Jesus’ challenge to all of us to make a “hard decision” that will make sense or give meaning to our lives.

An ordinary parable is told of an intelligent and idealistic young Christian who volunteered to live and work in a remote village. During the first week of his acquaintance with the community, he was shocked to see how many children and the elderly were malnourished and dying. In the quietness of the evening, he tormented God with a question: If you are truly the God of the poor why do you allow these innocents to suffer?”

Years had passed … he became 40 years old and saw even more shocking events. Floods and landslides hit that village because of an open-pit mining and logging , which scored hundreds of lives and damages to properties. Again, he interrogated and accused God of murdering His people. Another 20 years had passed, he is turning senior, a civil war broke out and the government is pounding the village with bombs indiscriminately. At this time, his faith in God was in deep crisis because of God’s silence.

There is nothing fictitious in this parable. It happened, and it could happen to us. Like the disciples, we murmured, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” What is this “hard saying” that provoked a crisis of faith among his disciples and among us? The crisis came after when Jesus speaks of “taking his Body” and carrying his “cross” if we want to become his disciples.

Unlike the other evangelists and St. Paul, John never speaks so much of faith as our positive response to the revelation of God in his Son. Instead, John insisted on believing or to believe (Gk: pisteu?) in Jesus which means abandoning oneself, entrusting one’s existence to another who deserves trust. “It is not a simple intellectual act, not even a superficial act of adhesion to the person of Jesus, but a true and authentic existential act in which a human being completely engages his being and his action, his freedom and his responsibility,” as described by a Croatian theologian. (Silvana Fuzinato).

Jesus appeals to us to believe Him, i.e., to establish a relationship with Him and adhere to his person unconditionally, willing to follow him on a new adventure in life. We need to be transformed and configure our lives unto Him as if acting in His person. It does not consist of accepting a doctrine or an abstract truth but in adhering personally to Christ with total trust which requires the believer the full and total surrender of his/her self to him. This is the only answer to the series of questions that God posed to Adam at the garden of Eden; “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9); to his first disciples: “What are you looking for?” (Jn. 1:38), to the Samaritan woman: “Give me a drink.” (Jn. 4:5); to Mary of Magdala: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?”(Jn 20:15); and today “Do you also want to leave?”

Life is a pure gift as well as a responsibility. God has given us a perfect life, an already present and actual reality given to us in its totality. It is not something that we acquire by ourselves, but given to us by God. Since this life does not belong to us, we need to use it with responsibility. The only way to exercise that responsibility is through service to others or to respond with ability by serving the people especially to those who are most in need, deprived of freedom, and unjustly treated. Serving the people is the supreme sign of faith and communion with Jesus, whom the believer is invited to witness even in difficult times marked by external and internal crises in which even the believer’s life seems to come under threat.

The adventure of that senior with God in the parable continues. Finally, God broke his silence and responded to him: “That is why I created you!” Only then he understood and found meaning in his life.

In a society where lies become the primary norm; where corruption becomes the legal instrument, where enmity becomes the rule of power, where killing becomes the rule of the law, where impunity becomes the twin of justice, where money becomes the rule of obedience, where goodness becomes a terror act … it is because we “leave Him” behind. It is in this context that Jesus is appealing to us today to believe in him. We leave Him when we abandon the poor in the midst of their sufferings, when we allow the narrative of war and conflict as the way to exercise patriotism and pretend to defend our sovereignty, when we cease to denounce injustices and announce just and lasting peace … He calls all of us to believe in Him and take up His cause to bring real peace and justice in this world.

Balik-Tanaw is a group blog of Promotion of Church People’s Response. The Lectionary Gospel reflection is an invitation for meditation, contemplation, and action. As we nurture our faith by committing ourselves to journey with the people, we also wish to nourish the perspective coming from the point of view of hope and struggle of the people. It is our constant longing that even as crisis intensifies, the faithful will continue to strengthen their commitment to love God and our neighbor by being one with the people in their dreams and aspirations. The Title of the Lectionary Reflection would be Balik –Tanaw , isang PAGNINILAY . It is about looking back (balik) or revisiting the narratives and stories from the Biblical text and seeing, reading, and reflecting on these with the current context (tanaw).