[00:00:07] Hello, my name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible study podcast. Together we will explore the readings that will be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass this Sunday, July 28, 2024, which is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
[00:00:27] This week's episode is titled: Cooperating with God. And in these readings we will explore the necessity of pursuing both unity and authentic faith.
[00:00:38] As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following: are we looking to follow a wonder worker or are we hoping to pursue an authentic relationship with the real person of Jesus Christ?
[00:00:56] So let's begin in prayer. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:01:01] Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the gift of your word. We thank you for the many blessings that it brings into our hearts, in our minds, and our lives. We ask you that you teach us how best to open ourselves to you - to continually open ourselves to you - and to cooperate with your will for us. We know that part of that is knowing your will, and that's why we're here, but we ask you that you help us understand how best to live the message that you have for us and the mission that you have for each one of us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
[00:01:40] Now that we've opened our hearts and minds in prayer, let's listen to the message God has for us in this week's scriptures.
[00:01:48] So we'll begin with the Gospel of John. This is John 6: 1 - 15.
[00:01:55] "Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased.
[00:02:06] Jesus went up on the mountain and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, 'How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?' This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
[00:02:31] Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.'
[00:02:37] One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 'There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?'
[00:02:49] Jesus said, 'Make the people sit down.'
[00:02:53] Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
[00:02:59] Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, 'Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.'
[00:03:17] So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, 'This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!'
[00:03:32] Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself."
[00:03:43] So as I mentioned last week we are taking a short hiatus from the Gospel of Mark and we are going into the Gospel of John. This particular passage, interestingly enough - the feeding of the 5,000 - is found in all four Gospels and it's the only one of Jesus miracles that appears in all four. It's also worthwhile to note at this point that John never calls the works that Jesus does miracles... he calls them signs. So that's important to realize.
[00:04:17] And so, as we jump here into John's Gospel, we're jumping into first the feeding of the 5,000 and then we're going to go into the Bread of Life discourse. When Jesus is exercising his public ministry, when he's traveling around and preaching, going into synagogues, reaching out to people, creating his miracles, driving out demons, doing all these signs and wonders that he does... that is in and around the northwest corner, basically - most of the time, of the Sea of Galilee. It's also called the Sea of Tiberias... there was a city, it's on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee, called Tiberias and that's why it's sometimes called the sea of Tiberias. This is that same place... Jesus spent most of his time there. When the Gospels record him going other places they specify where he goes and then they usually specify that he returns right away. So it's important to understand... this is where most of his teaching and preaching took place. So he "went to the other side" of Galilee, "of the sea of Galilee" and "a multitude followed him." Now, this is not the first time that a multitude has followed him, right? We heard that last week... a multitude is following them.
[00:05:42] But why are they following him this time? This is the important part. Last time we heard that they ran - and we think they ran - because they were drawn to that charisma that divinity that Jesus was expressing. But now John tells us that they followed Jesus because "they saw the signs which he did." So the difference here is rather than trying to follow someone and get close to someone because you feel that they really have something good to show you what they're doing is these are people that are just... they're following him because he's done signs, he's done these miracles, these great things... he's a wonder worker.... He's - oh, let's follow him - let's see what he's going to do next!
[00:06:33] That's a dangerous viewpoint to approach Jesus with, because every time you think you understand Jesus, every time you think you have him pegged, he's going to change and he's going to do something different because it's about what he can teach us, not what we think he's going to do. So that's important.
[00:06:53] He doesn't want people - Jesus does not want people - to follow him out of a shallow self interest.
[00:07:00] Oh, what can you show me now? What can you do for me? He wants authentic followers who are willing to put in the hard work, do the time, and complete the mission that he set for us. So "Jesus went up on the mountain" John tells us. Now that particular mountain is not necessarily identified in the scriptures, so that kind of leaves it open to our imagination. That's the great thing about scripture so many times... it just lets us imagine things. It's also important to know that mountains are always significant. Mountains are places where human beings encounter the divine, places where we can reach out and encounter the mystery.
[00:07:49] And we talked about mystery before, something that we can't really fully understand.
[00:07:53] We encounter the mystery that God is willing to offer us. And... and as a Catholic... I have to say, I truly feel that the Mass itself, every week, every day, if you want, you can attend Mass... but the Mass is a mountaintop experience.
[00:08:10] Every time the priest prays the Eucharistic Prayer, the angels sing in conjunction with the people that are attending the Mass. The angels, we join our voices to theirs, and the Holy Spirit comes down - the divine touches - the gifts that are offered on that altar - and that simple bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. So heaven touches earth on that space. So to me, every Mass is a mountaintop experience.
[00:08:47] So when Jesus got to the top of the mountain, he "sat down with his disciples." That is also important... sitting is a posture of a rabbi, a teacher, someone who is about to share knowledge with others. And we talked before that Jesus' teaching is an exercise of his divinity. He is feeding the spiritual hunger that people have. So he "sat down with his disciples."
[00:09:17] Now, John never throws in insignificant or unimportant details. So when he tells us that "the Passover [...] was at hand," that's important.
[00:09:29] Passover was a feast that commemorates the delivery of the captives in Egypt from slavery. This is when Moses leads them out of Egypt, and they wander in the desert for 40 years ('cause Moses didn't want to ask for directions) and they eventually get to the promised land.
[00:09:48] So why is that important? It is important, but we have to ask why it's important, and it's because an integral part of every Passover celebration is a meal.
[00:10:03] The scripture, the Old Testament, tells Jewish people - to this day - how they should conduct a Seder supper, which is the type of meal that they have on Passover. It tells them what they should serve, how they should serve it, the stories they should tell. Every Jew would have recognized the relationship between a Passover meal and what Jesus is about to do. And remember, when we get there: the Last Supper - where Jesus instituted the Eucharist - was itself a Passover meal. So those details, those little details, are not throwaway details... they are not unimportant... they are crucial. And one other thing, while I'm here, he says, "the feast of the Jews." Remember, they were all Jews... they were all Jews... Jesus was a Jew... John was a Jew... all of his disciples were Jews. They were all Jews!
[00:10:56] "Lifting up his eyes" and "seeing that the multitude was coming," Jesus then addresses two of his disciples, Philip and Andrew.
[00:11:06] Philip, Andrew, and Simon Peter are the first three disciples called by Jesus in John's Gospel. So that's important. Jesus has already decided that Peter will have the primacy, he will be the leader of the disciples. So he goes to Philip and Andrew, and those are the ones he questions. Believe me, he questions Peter a bunch... and we'll get to those as we go through these different scripture readings, as we encounter them. But it's important that the reason he chose those two is because they were two of the three first called when he started choosing his apostles... his disciples. Now, it says that Jesus asked Philip, although in his mind, he already knew what he himself was going to do. So Jesus already had his plan.
[00:12:05] But he's giving Philip the opportunity to grow in faith, to grow in trust, and to prove that he is willing to listen to Jesus and follow him and trust in him. So instead of saying, okay, lord, I'm sure you have a plan. What is it?
[00:12:25] What does he say? He goes, very, very practical, right? We would all probably do exactly the same thing. He says "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough [...] for each of them to have just a little bit." So let's understand that amount, too, that amount of money. A denarius was equal to a full day's labor. So that's over six months wages.
[00:12:49] And even that wouldn't be enough for each person to just have a little bit. That's a big crowd... a big task. And those of us that are simply human, we'd look at a big group and go, what do we do? What do I do? I gotta head to Costco, right? We gotta be practical. That's how we think. That's not what Jesus was asking Philip to do. Jesus, every time he extends an opening to us, and every time we fail him, what does he do? He just extends another one. He never, ever turns his back on us. So then Andrew, who heard this exchange between Philip and Jesus, pipes up and says, well, there's a little guy over here that has "five barley loaves and two fish." But I, I don't know what good that's going to do. It's like, well, Lord, here's the start... got any ideas?
[00:13:41] Sort of... what is he offering here? Now, the reason - I believe - that the Church jumps from Mark's Gospel and goes to John here is because John is also the only Gospel that specifically mentions that the loaves were made of barley. It's important to note that barley was considered to be the food of the poor.
[00:14:06] So that is a crucial detail. And we will see that detail pop up again when we get to our First Reading - which is from the Second Book of Kings - we'll hear that come up again, and that's why - I think - the Church paired these two readings, because they both specifically mention barley loaves. Now, the other thing that I... I can't walk.. I can't go by this without mentioning is that numbers are never insignificant when they're mentioned in scripture. So Andrew says, this young man here has "five loaves and two fish." Five and two added up together make the number seven. Seven is one of those perfect numbers in the Bible... it is a symbol for creation... it's a symbol for everything... it's a number of perfection. So even though it's a small gift, apparently small gift, it's given with love, freely...
[00:15:09] ...and God can do, God can work wonders, with even the small gifts that we give him. So we can't ever forget that.
[00:15:19] So what does Jesus instruct his, his followers to do then? He says, "Make the people sit down." Dad's like, okay, have them sit down at the table... have them seated... give them their napkins... give them their plates... get them ready to eat... have them sit. And where are they sitting? What does John record they are sitting... where does John record they're sitting? He says, "Now there was much grass in the place." If you listen to last week's episode, we went through the 23rd Psalm. And what is, what does David record in the 23rd Psalm? He leads me near still waters... He makes me lie down in green pastures. (paraphrased)
[00:15:58] Look at that beautiful bookmark that we are given. "He leads me beside still waters." "He makes me lie down in green pastures." This is what Jesus is doing. He is being the good shepherd and he is having his people lie down in green pastures so that he can feed them. Because then what does Psalm 23 go on to say, but he sets "a table before me," right? So this is Jesus... in all of his public ministry... almost - most often - quotes from the Book of Psalms. So you better believe he knew the Psalms backwards and forwards, inside and out. He knew what he was saying. And when his disciples were able to reflect on this at a later time, you better believe they understood the connection as well. Now, once they're late, once they're set down, and again, women, don't take this wrong, but it was a male dominated society... doesn't mean women weren't there... doesn't mean women didn't eat... doesn't mean children weren't there... doesn't mean children didn't eat. We talked about a young boy that provided the five loaves and two fish. So the men numbered about 5,000. So put that in perspective too. If there's 5,000 men, there's a really good chance that there's several thousand women as well. So this isn't just 5,000 people that were fed; it was probably a whole lot more than that by the time you added wives and children. This is a huge miracle. Now what does he do?
[00:17:32] He takes the loaves.
[00:17:35] And what is the first thing he do? He gives thanks.
[00:17:39] He takes, gives thanks, breaks them, and then distributes them. John's Gospel is the only Gospel that has Jesus feeding the people directly. In the synoptic Gospels - in Matthew, Mark and Luke - Jesus gives the broken loaves to his disciples and they distribute them. John's Gospel has Jesus himself giving the people the bread. And those of you that are Catholic... oh, I hope, I hope, I hope by now that you have seen the Mass and the Eucharist in these actions, because that's what we're supposed to see. That's what John is offering to us. Jesus' actions resemble his actions at the Last Supper, as recorded in the synoptic Gospels and in Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. He takes the bread, blesses it, gives thanks, breaks it, and distributes it... take, bless, break, give...that is the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. And how much is given... how much is given? "As much as they wanted." Not a little bit, not a little taste, but as much as they wanted.
[00:18:58] God takes whatever small sacrifice, whatever small offering, we're willing to give him in love, in generosity, in thanks, and he multiplies it... he elevates it... he transforms it into something spectacular! So something we can never, ever forget. A little gesture that we might offer to somebody could change the trajectory of their day, because we are allowing God to work through us in that moment. If we see someone who's begging on the street corner and we stop and hand them a gift certificate to a local grocery store... here, go get yourself something to eat.
[00:19:50] That is God working through us and reaching out to his people. Every time that we offer something, if we offer a hello, if we offer a smile, if we offer a gentle touch, if we go visit somebody in the hospital, if we go spend some time - even if it takes away from our time - if we go visit somebody in the hospital, we go down and visit a friend, that's God working through us, and he can take the little bit that we give and make it spectacular.
[00:20:33] When they've eaten their fill, Jesus says to his disciples, and again, this is only in John's Gospel - only John records this command that Jesus gives to his disciples - he says, "Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost." There is so much in that simple sentence, gather up what's left over... gather up the fragments, that nothing may be lost. If you listened to last week's episode, I said one of the things that a Good Shepherd does - and this was quoting Pope Francis - but one of the things that a Good Shepherd does is follow behind his flock so that no one is lost.
[00:21:15] That's so significant, so "that nothing may be lost."
[00:21:21] This is God feeding his people. So let's contrast that with God feeding his people in the Old Testament. The manna that was given to the Israelites as they were traversing the desert to get to the Promised Land, that manna, that was different, right? God said, only gather what you can eat, because if you gather more than you can eat, it's going to rot. And that's what they found happened.
[00:21:50] The only exception to that was on the day before the Sabbath... gather a double portion, God says, so that you can eat on the Sabbath. And that was the only time that the extra manna wouldn't rot. So that manna was transient... it was intended to be transient, and the Israelites were told at the time that it would be transient, but Jewish scholars believed that when the Messiah would return...
[00:22:23] ...one of the signs by which they would recognize him, and recognize his power as Messiah, as the deliverer, was that the manna would return but it wouldn't rot...
[00:22:39] ...it would remain. So. Here is that bread, that manna, that food, given by God that we are to collect and keep.
[00:22:50] Anybody who's Catholic, too, listening to this, by now I know you have to have pictured the tabernacle, that it's in every church. That's what we do with the Eucharist that's left over after Communion is distributed, right? All those consecrated hosts are taken and placed in the tabernacle... in a place of honor. That is beautiful.
[00:23:14] "So they gathered them up" and how much was left over? Remember, everybody ate their fill. How much was left over? "Twelve baskets." Twelve baskets from the five barley loaves were left by those who had eaten. And again, twelve... remember, numbers are never insignificant. So twelve. What's Jesus talking about here? First of all, the number twelve is the number of tribes in the Jewish people, right? Twelve tribes of Israel. So that's a number of completeness. That is all of the Jewish people brought together.
[00:23:52] Twelve tribes. It's also the number of Jesus's original disciples. Twelve. That number is so significant and it is so important, and we can't let it... we can't let that go... without pointing out Old Testament, New Testament, twelve tribes, twelve disciples.... that is everything. That is all that God is offering to all of us.
[00:24:19] He's offering it here. He's offering it now. He's offering to feed us. So what happens as a result of that? Well, "when the people saw the sign," remember, again, John's term for miracle... the signs. When they saw the sign, they said, oh, look, look, he did another miracle. Look, he's a wonder worker. Oh, my gosh. Let's...
[00:24:42] ..let's take him... he's what we've been waiting for, he's what we've been looking for. This is the next great thing. Let's make him a star.
[00:24:51] No, no, no, no.
[00:24:53] That is not Jesus's point. That is not his intention.
[00:24:58] He realizes that this is the shallow faith that brought them in search of a wonder worker in the first place.
[00:25:08] But that's not the faith that he wants.
[00:25:11] He wants people that will follow him, not just because of the miracles, but because there's hard work to be done, too. He wants people to follow him, not just because they get bread, but because they're fed for the journey and for the mission.
[00:25:34] He wants people that will stay with him and with whom he can stay... not people that just want to make him the next big thing.
[00:25:48] So what does he do then?
[00:25:52] John tells us, "perceiving that they were" going to come and "make him king, Jesus withdrew again."
[00:25:59] While the crowd wanted to take Jesus and make him king on their terms, Jesus resists... any action... anything... that doesn't conform to what he knows is the Father's will. So he just goes away to a deserted place. And if you listened last week, you know that those deserted, lonely places are where Jesus goes to commune with his Father, to pray, to encounter that divinity that strengthens him, that strengthens his own divinity and allows him to continue his mission. Just like we need to take that time, encounter that divinity, so we can live the lives that God intends for us to live. So what lesson can we take away from this Gospel? Well, what do we perceive? What do we see in this world that can be lost or forgotten or maybe left over? Do we tend to see those things as unimportant, or do we see them as something that can be saved in our single use, throwaway culture?
[00:27:09] I think that's a really valid question to ask ourselves.
[00:27:13] Are we willing to take the time to reuse something and maybe put it to a use we hadn't thought of before? But it doesn't need to be thrown away, it can be used in a new way. The clothes that we have that don't fit us anymore, the dishes that we don't need because maybe they're a little chipped or a little stained.
[00:27:39] Instead of throwing them away, can we donate them so that somebody else can use them?
[00:27:44] The food that maybe we bought too much or maybe, oh, we just... it's not my favorite... I don't really like it... is there a way that we can donate that to help feed other people that maybe don't have enough?
[00:28:04] That's a question that we need to examine - each of us needs to examine - for ourselves and for those things that are on the margins, on the edges... the lost, the forgotten, the leftovers.
[00:28:19] How do we treat those? Do we treat those things, those people, with respect, or do we treat them with disdain?
[00:28:32] And if we're not showing every person that we encounter respect and love - remember, remembering love - that St. Thomas Aquinas told us - which is willing the good of the other for other - if we're not showing people that, then how can we learn to do that so that we really can cooperate with God and allow him to work through us to help others?
[00:29:10] So let's go on now to the First Reading, This is a reading from the Second Book of Kings 4: 42 - 44. "A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Eli'sha said, 'Give to the men, that they may eat.' But his servant said, 'How am I to set this before a hundred men?'
[00:29:40] So he repeated, 'Give them to the men that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, "They shall eat and have some left."'
[00:29:50] So he set it before them. And they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD."
[00:29:58] All right, so now let's delve into this a little bit. There's a lot in here that can be explained and a lot that, unfortunately, can't easily be identified and pinned down. So the very first line, "a man came from Baal-shalishah." I would love to say to you that I can tell you exactly where that city is, but there are probably 20 cities in Israel that would love to claim to be Baal-shalishah.
[00:30:27] So the exact location is uncertain...
[00:30:31] ...the exact location that the prophet Eli'sha was at this particular time is a place called Gilgal...
[00:30:37] ...the exact location of that is... is in dispute.
[00:30:42] The important thing is not where it happened, but that it happened. So this man - and it's also important to put this in perspective - there was a tremendous famine in the land, at this point in time, huge famine. So, what this man brings "twenty loaves of barley," and remember barley was the grain of the poor, so "twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain." That is a huge, lavish gift to give during a time of famine and to travel to do so.
[00:31:22] That's an amazing gift. And the travel to get it to there is also a gift... that's a gift of time and expense... just to get there and back.
[00:31:33] This is a very, very lavish gift. And what does Eli'sha the prophet say? He tells his servant, "give to the men that they may eat." So who are these men? Eli'sha, in a slightly earlier part of Second Kings, refers to the group of men as sons of the prophets, or sons of prophets. So they're likely all gathered together and they are sharing in this time of famine... of need... they are sharing resources so that they can all survive together. They probably were, at the time, going out in smaller groups. Think back to a couple of weeks ago when we talked about people being sent out two by two. They're probably going out on smaller trips to teach and preach, but they're sharing their resources together, because in this instance, there's strength and safety in numbers. So Eli'sha says to his servant, give it to the men.
[00:32:37] Share it with everyone, but his servant... think back here to what we heard of Philip, who said, wait a minute, Lord, if you want to feed all these people, I could take half a year's wages and not have enough to give each person a little bit... so, hear the echo of that there. That's exactly what the intent was in putting this reading with the Gospel.
[00:33:00] Eli'sha's servant is just as doubtful as Philip was. How am I to said this before? It is 20 loaves. There's a hundred hungry guys here. That's not going to be enough.
[00:33:12] So what does Elisha do? He repeats, "give them to the men, that they may eat." But this time Eli'sha goes further and says, "for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'" So what Elisha do... first of all, whenever you hear - remember again - whenever you hear: Thus says the Lord, the prophet is speaking specifically for the Lord... in the Lord's place. And Eli'sha is pointing out here that it's God who will perform the miracle...it's not Eli'sha... it's not his servant... it's God, himself, who will perform the miracle. It's God who will take that gift of barley loaves and fresh ears of grain and will multiply it, transform it, elevate it, multiply it so that it's enough for everyone. And then the servant "set it before them." And what happened? "They ate and had some left according to the word of the Lord. That was God's plan... so that's what happened.
[00:34:22] Eli'sha himself is not divine, but God works through him to make something amazing happen. So let's expand that to ourselves.
[00:34:35] What can happen if we allow God to work through us in spite of our doubts, in spite of our weaknesses, in spite of our shortcomings? What can God accomplish with the small gifts we're willing to give? Well, he can do great things.
[00:34:56] This week's psalm is Psalm 145. The response is, "You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing." Clearly you can see why this was chosen to go with the First and Second reading. Psalm 145 is a hymn of praise to God. It's praising the greatness of God.
[00:35:17] It's praising his generosity. And here are the verses that are part of this week's snippet of the Psalm - the pericope it's called - when we take just part of a work, or part of a book. "All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints bless you!
[00:35:35] They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power.
[00:35:40] The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who who call upon him in truth."
[00:36:03] And that brings us, friends, to our final reading for this week, which is again from the book of Ephesians, the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians. This is 4: 1-6. This is three out of five passages that we're going to hear from Ephesians in this section of the Liturgical Year, and I want to point out before I get started that, that while the word Church is not used in this passage at all, the focus of the passage is nevertheless on unity. And therefore Paul's meaning is clear... he's talking about the unity that we should have as Church. So, and again, Paul often refers to the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ or as the Body of Christ, and Jesus is the head. One other thing before I read the text, this is part of the captivity letters, and so this is going to be one of the first things that comes up in this section. So, Ephesians 4: 1-6.
[00:37:13]" I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
[00:37:40] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all."
[00:37:54] You can see why I prefaced this... I wanted you to think about... Church in all those times that Paul said one - when he talked about unity, when he talked about "the bond of peace" - that all is what should apply to the Church. And I don't mean just the Catholic Church; I mean the Church that Jesus himself established. One way that a professor explained it to me is that the Church that Jesus established on this earth was one Church.
[00:38:29] And as so many times, things happen because of human weaknesses, because of human failings. Think of it like a mirror that was dropped, and now we have the Church that Jesus gave us that has been fractured into lots and lots of little tiny pieces.
[00:38:50] That wasn't his intent. He entrusted one Church to his people. And we need to work together, all of us, all of us... Catholics, Lutherans, Protestants, Methodists, all Protestants, Methodists, Church of Christ, Baptist, Evangelicals... we all need to come together and be of one heart and one mind and one purpose, because that... that is what Jesus intends for his Church. So that's what Paul is talking about in this section of Ephesians.
[00:39:30] Unity is a gift that is bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit. It's a gift of the Spirit, of given to us.
[00:39:37] But like so many gifts, we can turn away from it, we can turn our back on it, and it can be destroyed by our own weaknesses, our own shortcomings. We need to figure out how to avoid allowing that unity to be disrupted. Again, numbers are never, ever insignificant in scripture. So if you add up the number of times the word one is in this passage, it's seven times. And if you were with me last time, you know, seven is a number of completeness. Right? Number of creation... it's a number of completeness... that is indicating the completeness that should be present in the Church. And there are four virtues listed in this passage.... four virtues...
[00:40:23] Lowliness (or humility), meekness (or gentleness), patience, and forbearance (or moderation). Those four virtues are crucial to all of us to live together and work together and tolerate each other so that we can do what God wants us to do.
[00:40:44] Four is another universal number. It is the compass directions: north, south, east and west... it indicates the completeness of all creation.
[00:40:54] Those four virtues should permeate everything that we do when we try to come together. They should be present every time we try to work together, because if they don't, we may not end up being the people God wants us to be. So humility, gentleness, patience, moderation.
[00:41:20] And if we put all those together, then we can bear with "one another in love."
[00:41:26] Unity is one of the four marks of the Catholic Church. And by marks I say - in the creed - we state the four marks of the Church. The Church is one, right? Jesus founded one Church on earth, so the Church is one. It is holy. Yes, it is ever holy because we are the Mystical Body of Christ and Christ is the head, but it is also ever sinful because we, each and every one of us, are sinful people and we make up the Church. So it is holy because it is Christ's body, but it's also, unfortunately, sinful because we're part of it. It is catholic, and I mean small "c" catholic. Catholic, meaning universal, not Catholic as in the Catholic faith, as in the Roman Catholic faith. I mean catholic as in universal. And it is apostolic, which means it is based upon the teaching of the apostles. That unity... one mystical body... universal - catholic, universal - that is the unity that Paul is talking about. That's how we would put it in our modern parlance. So the bottom line out of this reading is that we need to strive for unity among different factions, whether they're in our family, whether they're in our community, whether they're among different faith traditions... we need to strive for unity. We need to bring that together. And what we're eventually striving for, the unity that we need to attain, is the same unity that is present in the kingdom of heaven. That's what we're aiming for... that's what our job is... that's what we're supposed to be doing. But the one thing we have to remember in all of this is that even God's gifts need human cooperation. He offers us salvation, but he can't make us take it. He offers us love, but he can't make us love him in return... that requires our effort.
[00:43:29] And Bishop Robert Barron once said, "God delights in drawing forth our cooperation." So how do we take this and cooperate with God? What do we do to cooperate with his will for our lives, our communities, and our world?
[00:43:49] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments about today's episode, or about any episode, please send me an email at:
[email protected].
[00:44:00] Thank you for listening and until next we meet... May God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain, and may he hold you, safe and secure, in the palm of his hand.
[00:44:13] From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions Jimmy Flask: audio engineer and sole proprietor. The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask. Music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with permission of the composer. Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request. Thank you for listening. I hope to have you join me again, and thank you and God bless.
