[00:00:05] 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, August 4, 2024, the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
[00:00:24] This week's episode is entitled: Hunger and Thirst for God and in these readings, we will take a look at some of the things that challenge our belief in God.
[00:00:33] As we journey through these readings, consider the following: are we always striving to be our best selves, to grow in holiness, and grow closer to God?
[00:00:44] So let's begin in prayer. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the gift of this day. We praise you and we thank you for the gift of this time together. We ask you to nourish the seeds of faith that you plant within our hearts, and we ask that you make them fruitful, multiply them, and make us good, faithful disciples and evangelists to go out and spread your word to the rest of the world... to the people that we encounter. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
[00:01:20] Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to God's message in this week's scriptures. So our Gospel this week is from the Gospel of John. Again, remember where taking some time away from Mark and jumping into John's Gospel. And this is John 6: 24-35.
[00:01:39] "When the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you;
[00:02:12] for on him has God the Father set his seal.' Then they said to him, 'What must we do, to be doing the works of God?' Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of Go, that you believe in him whom he has sent.' So they said to him, 'Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe in you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written; "He gave them bread from heaven to eat."'
[00:02:44] Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.'
[00:03:00] They said to him, 'Lord, give us this bread always.'
[00:03:05] Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.'"
[00:03:16] So that's the end of the Gospel. Now, let's go back to the beginning here, and let me put this in perspective. This section of John's Gospel sets up the what's called the Bread of Life Discourse which is John's theology, as Jesus presents himself, it's John's theology of the Eucharist, the Holy Communion - what Catholics call Holy Communion. Now, remember last week we heard John's account of the feeding of the 5000.
[00:03:46] Afterwards, remember, Jesus went off by himself up on the mountain and the disciples got in the boat and went back to Capernaum. Part of what we miss is - verses 16 to 21 - which we don't hear; we jump from verse 15 to verse 24... but part of what we miss there is that evening after the apostles have gone back to Capernaum - or as they're journeying back to Capernaum - they see Jesus coming towards them, walking on water. And then the people when they wake up the next morning realize that neither Jesus nor his disciples are there. So they, as we hear in the beginning of the Gospel here, they realized that Jesus wasn't there nor his disciples, so "they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum." In other words, they're following Jesus no matter where he goes.
[00:04:45] "When they found him on the other side of the sea" (this is the Sea of Galilee) he's returned to Capernaum, they said to him - and look how they address him - they say, "Rabbi" which means teacher. "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Because remember they saw Jesus take off up into the hills, onto the mountaintop... so they're confused. How did he get across the Sea of Galilee?
[00:05:09] And they are truly following what they see as a wonder worker. Remember, they're looking for more signs - signs are what John calls Jesus' miracles in his Gospel - so they're following this wonder worker. They're looking for the next greatest sign, the next greatest event, the next greatest miracle. And Jesus answered them, "You seek me, not because you saw signs" although that's what they think they're looking for "but because you ate your fill of the loaves." So remember that feeding of the 5000 - they ate their fill of bread and fish.
[00:05:53] And, remember too, that the Old Testament - these are Jews in biblical times - and they equate food and drink with God's wisdom and teaching. So that's really what they're seeking, what they're searching for, but they're looking on only one level. John does this in his Gospel over and over again... he invites people to go deeper and deeper and deeper - and see a deeper meaning. So, while Jesus says, okay, you're seeing me because - you're following me because - you see these signs, these miracles, and that's what they're thinking... they're chasing the wonder worker. Then he says, well, really, maybe it's because you ate your fill. Well, yes, they did eat their fill of the loaves. But then he goes on to say... really, what he's saying on a deeper level is what you're searching... what you're really searching for... is the wisdom that I can give you. He doesn't say that outright, of course, but that's what he's talking about here. And then he goes on to say, "do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life." In other words, that wisdom... that knowledge that he can offer - elevate your, elevate your minds - he's offering them to do... above the earthly concerns of your everyday lives, to heavenly things, to that wisdom and that knowledge that he's offering. And where does that come from? Well, "which the Son of man will give you." Now, the title Son of man comes from a couple of different places in the Old Testament. First of all, it comes from the prophet Ezekiel. And Ezekiel used that title for himself to contrast his own identity with the identity of angels. And remember, Ezekiel described the angels, the four living creatures - he called them - and he described them as an ox, an eagle, a lion, and a man. And we use those same images as images for the evangelists - the four evangelists: ox, eagle, lion, and man. That's one use of the term Son of man. The other one we encounter in the prophet Daniel and it's an eschatological figure. Now, remember, eschatology is the study of the end times. So what will happen at the end of our earthly existence. And in Daniel, we encounter the Ancient of Days - who is God the Father - and he gives dominion over all of the creatures... all created creatures... to one like the Son of man, or one like a Son of man. And that, of course, refers to Jesus. So not only did Ezekiel use that term to describe himself... and Daniel used that term to describe the one who has dominion over everything... but now Jesus is applying that same term, Son of man, to himself, and he's saying, I, the Son of man, will give you what you are searching for.
[00:08:51] And he says that because "for on him God the Father has set his seal." Now, set his seal is a term for ownership, or for indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So that is so important here in this section... it's giving Jesus the authority to do the teaching... it's showing the people that he has the authority to do the teaching... and it's telling them that he really has more to offer them than what they think they are searching for.
[00:09:27] So then they said to him, they questioned Jesus, "what must we do, to be doing the works of God?" So they are taking that little clue, that little tidbit, that Jesus has given them, and they are now going a little deeper. And remember, that's John's...
[00:09:46] That's John's way of doing things... he's always bringing people deeper. And Jesus's answer to them is, "this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent," whom the Father has sent. And that word believe, is so simple and yet so difficult at the same time. God plants the gift of faith in our hearts, but we are responsible for receiving it, and then allowing it to grow - nurturing it - and making it produce the fruit that God intends for it to produce. So this next section, then, actually begins the Bread of Life Discourse that starts with, "so they said to him" - so the crowds say to him - "then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe in you?" Now, that's a reasonable question. Okay... if you're not going to be the wonder worker that we're chasing, if you're not going to just give us more food, do more signs, heal more people, do great things...what sign - if you expect us to believe in you, what sign are you going to give us? So that's a reasonable question.
[00:11:03] "What work do you perform?" they ask. And then they go on to say, "our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written," (and this is from Exodus, chapter 16) "He gave them bread from heaven to eat." Now they think - they're saying - Moses gave them the bread, so the crowd is kind of scoffing at Jesus, right? They're saying, you can't be greater than Moses! But then Jesus goes on and says to them, whoa, here... no, hold on...
[00:11:32] "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven."
[00:11:38] "My father gives you the true bread from heaven." Now, the true bread he's going to talk about is himself, but... it was never Moses that gave them manna in the desert... it was God the Father, and we'll hear that in our First Reading in just a few minutes, but - this is so crucial - he reminds them, Jesus reminds the crowd, "it was not Moses who gave you the bread" - it was my Father.
[00:12:03] And my father will give you even more than that, will give "you the true bread that comes down from heaven."
[00:12:10] Manna was imperfect, transient, and we'll hear that in our reading from Deuteronomy, but the true bread that comes down from heaven is perfect and eternal. So Jesus is contrasting that for the crowds. And then he goes on to say, "for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." Now, our world is a good world. Remember, at the end of the days of creation - God rested on the 7th day - and said everything that created, he saw that it was very good. So the world that we live in is a good world.
[00:12:53] Doesn't mean we should turn our backs on it but, there is nothing in this world that is good enough to truly satisfy our deepest desires - the deepest desires of our heart and our soul. Saint Augustine said that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. So that is very, very true! We are constantly - just like the crowds following that wonder worker and looking for more - we are constantly on the hunt for the next greatest thing... the next big event... the next viral video... the next whatever it is that comes into our sphere of influence and has a big impact on us - whether it's a movie, whether it's a song, whether it's a video, whatever it may be... we're always searching for more, searching for something new to give meaning to our lives. But it's not... nothing in this world... is going to truly give us the meaning in our lives that we're searching for. We can only get that from God. Here, I'm not saying don't watch the next great movie that comes out... don't listen to music, because music is wonderful and it's a great beauty in our world... don't look at art... of course not! We want to go to museums... we want to enrich ourselves and be better people.
[00:14:18] Go out and enjoy nature... go see the mountains... go see the oceans... go see waterfalls... those are all beautiful because they're all gifts from God, as all creation is, but we need to not only appreciate and care for the beauty, richness, vastness, and majesty of our earth, but we also have to say "no" to the things which cannot completely fulfill us and satisfy us. Yes, appreciate, understand, love, care for our world, but realize that it's not - in the end -
[00:14:57] our destiny! Our destiny is beyond this world. So that is central to the message of this part of John's Gospel. Then the crowd says to Jesus, "Lord, give us this bread always." Okay... you've said that there's a true bread that comes from heaven and gives life to the world, so give it to us!
[00:15:23] Well... he will give them the bread, but it's going to be more than they initially bargained for. Again, remember, Jesus is - in John's Gospel - is constantly drawing people deeper and deeper into the mystery of himself.
[00:15:42] So Jesus then said to them - and this statement is so crucial - "I am the bread of life."
[00:15:53] Any of Jesus' listeners at that moment - all the people that surrounded him - would have understood when he said, "I am" they would have understood that he was showing his divinity to them... he was putting himself on par with God the Father and really, really showing to them his divinity. Because the words "I AM" are the same words that God spoke to Moses when he encountered him in the burning bush, he said: "I AM."
[00:16:25] "I AM WHO AM" When Moses asked God, who shall I say sent me... when I go to talk to the Israelites... when I go to talk to Pharaoh in Egypt... who shall I say sent me? And God says, "I AM WHO I AM" Jesus, in this way is - absolutely, unequivocally - declaring his divinity.
[00:16:48] And there are seven "I am" statements in John's Gospel. This is the first of those seven statements, and we will encounter them throughout John's Gospel. But "I am the bread of life," he says to the crowd, "he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." So as the Bread of Life, Jesus is the father's gift who gives nourishment- here on this earth - to believers.
[00:17:20] And that nourishment gives us eternal life. That's what Jesus says.
[00:17:30] And he says, "he who comes to me shall not hunger, and who believes in me shall never thirst."
[00:17:37] That is the deeper mystery that Jesus is bringing the crowds to at this point.
[00:17:45] So now let's take our time... I'm sorry I said Deuteronomy earlier - it's actually - we're going into the book of Exodus... sorry about that - Deuteronomy is another week! So we jump into chapter 16 of Exodus here... it's Exodus 16: 2-4, 11-15. So we begin... "The whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
[00:18:25] Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.'
[00:18:39] And the Lord said to Moses, 'I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel; say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.' In the evening quails came up covering the camp; and in the morning dew lay round about the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.'"
[00:19:23] Okay, so let's go back to the beginning here.
[00:19:28] "The whole congregation [...] murmured against Moses and Aaron." Now, Moses and Aaron - it's important to remember that Moses actually had a speech impediment: he stuttered - so whenever you hear Moses... you always hear Aaron along with him. Aaron was Moses brother. Aaron was a priest of the people, he was a Levite, and Aaron was Moses' mouthpiece... he spoke for Moses. So when it says that they "murmured against Moses and Aaron," it's important to remember there were about 600,000 people - that's what the scriptures tell us - 600,000 people followed Moses and Aaron out of Egypt.
[00:20:21] And remember, too, the original request? When Moses went to Pharaoh - the original request - was simply to allow the Israelites to go out three days into the desert so they could worship God... not in a pagan land, not in Egypt... and Pharaoh refused. We had the whole ten plagues; the last plague, of course, being the angel of death that went throughout the land of Egypt, killing the firstborn of all men and beasts. But it "passed over" the Israelites because they did as they were told... and they had taken the lamb and sacrificed it, put the lamb's blood on the doorposts and lintels so the angel of death would recognize that sign and would pass over their houses. That is, of course, the basis of the Jewish feast of Passover. But then, after this plague of the angel of death, Pharaoh said" go... go... just take everything; get out of my land. I don't want you... you have brought us untold misery... so just go. Go! So Moses and Aaron take the people, 600,000 strong, and they take all their supplies... all of their goods... all of their animals. And, and to get rid of them, the Egyptians said, okay, here, take extra supplies... just go... go away. Go away.... we don't want you. Now, afterwards, of course, Pharaoh famously realized: whoa, wait a minute... I just sent all of my slaves away... all of the people that have built my great buildings... and they've built the pyramids... and they've built roads and they've built this and they've done that... and they are our servants. What was I thinking? And he sends his chariots and his charioteers after them to bring them back. And, of course, the Red Sea flows back over them... Moses parted the Red Sea so they could leave... God parted the Red Sea through Moses... and then Pharaoh finally said, okay, I'm done.... I'll leave you alone. So now, the Israelites - we catch up with them about two months later. All of the supplies they brought with them, everything... their beasts for food... all of the supplies, the water... the goods... the bread... everything - the grains - everything they brought with them, by now, has pretty much been decimated. And that's not an insignificant crowd - 600,000 people, that's an entire nation - so when they say, they're murmuring against Moses and Aaron, that means they're grumbling, they're complaining: hey, we're hungry... we're tired... we're thirsty... what the heck have you done to us? And what did they say? "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt." It's so much easier when we face difficulties in our lives... it's so much easier to look back on where we were before and say: oh, my gosh, you know, I had... at least where I was before, I had enough to eat... and I had enough to drink... and, you know, maybe it wasn't perfect, but at least I wasn't out in the desert facing - you know - hunger and thirst and death. Gosh, it would have been better if the Lord would have just taken me then. Well, of course not... of course it wouldn't have. But it's very, very typical for us to feel that way.. it's very common. When they were in the land of Egypt, they sat by their "fleshpots," they say, and "ate bread to the full." A fleshpot - just so everybody understands what I'm talking about here - it was a large, literally, a large, metal pot that was used for cooking meat. Now, as poor slaves (which the Israelites were in the land of Egypt) they probably would have had very little actual meat to eat with them... they may have had some goat, some lamb, but not a lot... so, so meat - actual meat - would have been a treat. They most likely had fish, but fish would have been cooked in those pots as well. So that's kind of what they're talking about here. We had... we had places to live... we had a roof over our heads... we had pots that we could cook our food in... and we ate bread - we could at least make bread and have that but, you know, here we are now in this desert, and we have nowhere to go... We have, we don't know what tomorrow will bring. And so they grumbled... they complained... they grumbled... they murmured against Moses and Aaron, which really meant they were murmuring against God, because God is the author of this entire journey, of course. So you brought us out into this wilderness again - accusing Moses and Aaron - to kill this whole assembly with hunger. You dragged us out of here just that we could starve to death! Well, then, Moses... the Lord said to Moses... (God's talking to him again here) "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you." So this is what the Jews were talking about when they said to Jesus, "he gave them bread from heaven," "I will rain bread from heaven for you," but it's God who does it, not Moses. "And the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not." So this is a spiritual test here that God is offering...and there was a reason for that. Now I'll talk when we get there a little bit - I'll talk about what the bread actually was... what the manna actually was - but, basically, the instructions that God gave to Moses - and then Moses passed on to the people were - every day you go out and you collect what you can eat that day... collect no more...
[00:26:08] and the only exception to that will be on the sixth day of the week. So that, for them, would be Friday... for us, it's Saturday... but, remember, the Jews celebrate the Sabbath (or the day of rest) on Saturday. So on Friday, on the sixth day of the week, they would go out and collect a double portion, because there's no work on the Sabbath. So they would go out and collect double portion for the seventh day. And the whole point of this is, God is giving them providence... he's giving them food... and he's saying to them, this is how you will do it - to see if they will follow the instructions that he's giving them through Moses and Aaron.
[00:26:57] And then what happens... so, "at twilight, you shall eat flesh." What that means, and we hear it in the next sentence, is quail. Now actually quail migrate in the fall... in the spring... (so this was it's hard to look behind the curtain sometimes and see the reality) but the reality of it is that it was a natural migration time for quail. So in the evening, the migrating quail - the Israelites would see them and they could capture them and then have flesh or food (meat) to eat. And then "in the morning you shall be filled with bread" God says. So in the morning dew, same kind of dew we see on our yards in the morning... on grass... on fences... on trees... "dew lay around about the camp. And when the dew had gone up," - had evaporated -"there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost." So, when the sons of Israel saw it - the scriptures tell us - they said to one another: what is it? Now, that Hebrew word is "manna." What is it? "Manna?" That's where we get the word manna... Manna? What is it? So let me tell you what it is. It is, and this is going to sound kind of disgusting, but this is what they had... it is the secretion of insects. Insects that live on and feed on a tamarisk tree. Now, when they do that, they leave behind a substance that solidifies into globules.
[00:28:36] They are irregularly shaped, they're sort of a - oh, beigey, brown color - and it tastes sweet. Now, literally, in verse 31 of Exodus, it says it looks like a coriander seed (and coriander is a middle eastern spice) but it tasted like honey. So it's got that sweet taste to it. And that's exactly what it was. Now, the tamarisk tree here is significant because - and this goes back even further in Jewish history - but Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba to commemorate the covenant with God. So the idea that the insects lived on and fed on tamarisk trees is really a crucial detail that everyone would have understand... that the Jews would have understood... everyone at that time would have understood the significance of that. We have to look it up and have it explained to us, but it's a really - so many layers in scripture - it's always so much fun. Just like John continually brings people deeper. Well, all the scriptures do that! They invite us to go deeper into the story... deeper into the mystery... of what God is trying to share with us. So Moses said to them, "it is the bread which the LORD has given you." What is it? Manna? It's "the bread which the LORD has given you to eat." Now, the important thing to understand here - and why this spiritual test in the first part of this reading is so important - is that, first of all, the manna, the secretion, these insect secretions would melt if they weren't gathered up. So they had a very narrow window to go out and gather their day's portion - except on Friday, the day before the Sabbath - when they would gather a double portion so that they didn't have to work on, on the Sabbath. But also, the other thing that's important here, and some people learned it the hard way because they would... they went out and gathered that first day... gathered more than one day's providence...
[00:30:56] it would rot if it was stored for too long.
[00:31:01] So that was the other part of the spiritual test. Yes, I'm telling you, you have a limited amount of time to go get it. So go gather one day's portion. Don't go out and try to gather everything that's out there, because it's not - it won't last.
[00:31:18] But gather for one day, except on the day before the Sabbath, and then consume what you've gathered... that's the spiritual test... can you do what I have told you to do? Can you live within the confines of what I have set before you? And that's a reminder to us that when we read the scriptures... when we look at the laws that God gives us in the Old Testament (the Ten Commandments), when we look at the laws that Jesus gives us in the New Testament, the Beatitudes, the Greatest Commandment (which is actually an echo of Old Testament theology), but when we hear these, do we really try to follow and live them? So that's important! And if we don't... what's keeping us from doing that... what's challenging us to do that? And oftentimes, if we really think about it, some of our biggest challenges are simply because the world tells us that's not the best way to do things. We always have to remember - we have to put God first and then look at everything else through that lens.
[00:32:35] We cannot take our political party... we cannot take our memberships in different organizations... and use those as the lens through which we view the world. If we do that, it's going to be a skewed view... it's going to be a skewed perspective... so we have to look at everything through the lens that God gives us and then judge what we see, how we see it, and how we bring that into our lives.
[00:33:08] Okay. The Psalm this week is Psalm 78.
[00:33:13] And the response is: "The LORD gave them bread from heaven." You can see why this was chosen as the Psalm to go with the First Reading and the Gospel. And the verses are as follows: "Things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought.
[00:33:41] Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven; and he rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven. Man ate of the bread of angels; he sent them food in abundance. And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won."
[00:34:02] Now, Psalm 78, as you can guess from the context of the verses - or from the text of the verses - is a teaching Psalm. It is an historical recitation of God's deeds and what the people are supposed to do with them. So what are they supposed to do with them? "We will not hide them" but we will tell of God's deeds "to the coming generations." So we're supposed to be thankful for what God has done for us, right? That's an appropriate response... is thanksgiving... giving thanks for everything God's given to us. And then we tell our children, and our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren about them. We tell about those wondrous deeds that God gives to us and has done for us.
[00:34:48] All right, then we'll go to our Second Reading, which is a Reading from the Book of Ephesians. And now I have to apologize, because when I started this podcast, I said that we were going through five passages from Ephesians...
[00:35:07] my source was bad at the time... so I have to be honest... and admit, that we actually have seven passages from Ephesians. That is my fault! And so now this is passage four of seven, not four of five. So I apologize... but at least we're on the right track now. So the theme of this particular section of Ephesians that we're going to delve into now is conversion or transformation of heart, mind, and action. So here is the scripture. This is Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24.
[00:35:44] "Brothers and sisters, I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds. You did not so learn Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off the old man that belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new man created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
[00:36:22] Now, that's our Reading from Ephesians, and again this is the fourth of seven passages, from Saint Paul's Letter to the Ephesians.
[00:36:31] And when we encounter the word "Gentiles" in that first sentence, we remember- and need to be reminded - that we are actually Gentiles.
[00:36:43] Gentiles mean - in the broadest sense - they mean non-Jews. Well, yes, but what Saint Paul is actually talking about here is not, not Jew versus Gentile, but - remember that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles - so he went out and converted a lot of people who were Pagan... who were Gentile... who were not Jews to begin with... to the Christian faith. And so what he's talking about, at this point, when he says "Gentiles" are simply non-believers, those who have not yet encountered the message of Christ... those who do not acknowledge the one God... the one, true God. So, and how do these Gentiles - these non believers - walk? Well, they "walk in the futility of their minds." When you hear futility, think foolishness or vanity or dependence on self, that's a very - oh, sort of - Greek way of looking at things... where the mind and the self is tantamount. The mind and the self and dependence on the self is crucial to so much Greek philosophy. So Paul is saying, don't walk in that level of foolishness or vanity where you live only within your own mind, because at that point, your own mind - your untutored mind - you that have not yet heard of the one God - your untutored mind - is actually serving as a barrier to true knowledge and true understanding of the one, true God.
[00:38:32] So don't act like the people around you. Good reminder to us! I said that earlier, right? Good reminder to us - that we need to look at everything from the lens of our belief in God first. So don't be swayed by the culture that is around us. Why? Why does Saint Paul say that? "You did not so learn Christ!" That's not what you were taught! If you have been taught, he goes on to say, "assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him," assuming that you have received this message - this Gospel truth - then... what is the work we are told in Saint John's Gospel that we are to do? We are to believe!
[00:39:24] So if we have "heard about him" - if we've received that message - then we are to believe... you can see all the readings kind of line up together this week... "as the truth is in Jesus." That is another "I AM" statement in John's Gospel; those statements that link Jesus's humanity and his divinity so openly. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life." "The truth is in Jesus."
[00:39:57] Then he goes on to say, "put off the old man" and then "put on the new man."
[00:40:05] This imagery is very sacramental in nature... very baptismal in nature, right? Because when we are baptized, we put off our old way of life - our old way of thinking - and we put on a new way that is informed by the Gospel message, informed by all of the scriptures that help us to live as good, faithful disciples in the world. So "put off the old man that belongs to your former manner of life" and "be renewed" and "put on the new man."
[00:40:45] In the letter to Galatians, Paul says: put on Christ. And that is - this is another way of saying - "put on the new man." When you are baptized... we die to our old self and we arise in Christ... we put on Christ... we "put on the new man," and we live according to his teachings. So that new man, we are told, is "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" -true justice and holiness.
[00:41:21] Those ideas of righteousness and holiness, those are the perfect words to describe the ideal Christian way of life. Do we always reach it? Oh, heck, no! Absolutely not! We really don't. We strive to attain it, but we don't always make it. But that is the ideal. Too many times we fall short of that ideal, but we can never stop striving for it. We never, ever want to say to ourselves - oh, hey, you know, we made it close enough this week... Oh, I did okay today.... No, no, no! We should never stop striving to be better... never, ever stop striving to be better. One thing that so many - whether you go down the line of people that lead you in meditations... whether you go down a religious pathway... a non-religious, spiritual pathway... so many times people will offer or suggest, rather, that you do meditations at the end of the day, go back and look over your day. How did I do?
[00:42:32] Was I the best person I could be that day? Did I fall short of my own ideal for what I should be? Well, of course we do. We all do - every day - but that examination of our day, that examination of our conscience: was I kind? Was I loving? Was I just. Was I the best person I could be? Those examinations - at the end of one day - lead us into, hopefully, a better day. When we get up the next day and we look around us and say, okay, I have the gift of a brand new day here... I have another day... I can do better today. I can live better. I can be a better person. So that is one of the things that we always have to do. What things challenge our belief in God, and our ability to follow his teachings... do what he tells us to do... live the way he expects us to live... following the model and the example that he has given to us?
[00:43:40] How do we do that? We just keep trying... we just strive... and we don't give up. And at the risk of being silly - which I never hesitate to do - I'm going to quote finding Nemo: "Just keep swimming!"
[00:44:01] Just keep trying. (Sorry) Just keep trying. Just keep going. Right? We can't ever give up.
[00:44:08] And that has to be the lesson that we take away from this. That no matter what we do, we have to keep trying to be our best selves... to be just... to be ethical... to be moral and to grow in holiness... to grow closer to God... to allow him into our hearts, into our minds... to make us the people that he truly intends for us to be.
[00:44:45] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, please send me an email and you can reach me at
[email protected]. Thank you for listening to the podcast this week 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.
[00:45:08] From his word to our hearts is produced by SFS Audio solutions Jimmy Flask, producer, audio engineer, and sole proprietor. The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask. Music is composed by Jimmy Flask and used with permission of the composer; all rights reserved. Information regarding additional references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request. Thank you for listening and God bless.
