BIBLE STUDY #103


TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

August 19, 2012





Reading 1

Proverbs 9:1-6



Wisdom has built her house,

she has set up her seven columns;

she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine,

yes, she has spread her table.

She has sent out her maidens; she calls

from the heights out over the city:

"Let whoever is simple turn in here;

To the one who lacks understanding, she says,

Come, eat of my food,

and drink of the wine I have mixed!

Forsake foolishness that you may live;

advance in the way of understanding."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7



The Word of the Lord



Reading 2

Ephesians 5:15-20



Brothers and sisters:

Watch carefully how you live,

not as foolish persons but as wise,

making the most of the opportunity,

because the days are evil.

Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,

but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.

And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,

but be filled with the Spirit,

addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,

giving thanks always and for everything

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.



The Word of the Lord



Gospel

John 6:51-58



Jesus said to the crowds:

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;

whoever eats this bread will live forever;

and the bread that I will give

is my flesh for the life of the world."



The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,

"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them,

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,

you do not have life within you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food,

and my blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

remains in me and I in him.

Just as the living Father sent me

and I have life because of the Father,

so also the one who feeds on me

will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven.

Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,

whoever eats this bread will live forever."



The Gospel of the Lord



Reflection



Jesus is bread from heaven because he is the revealer coming from God bringing to those who are receptive to God a life that is eternal. Jesus is called ‘living bread’ because he is endowed with the fullness of life, and he shares that life with those who believe in him. His revealing word is nourishment (food or bread) for our soul.



Jesus also tells us that he will “give us his flesh to eat…For my flesh is true food and my blood true drink.” This term “flesh and blood” is a Hebrew idiom for the whole person; this sacramental communion is a personal communion (encounter) with Jesus who shares his life and his Father’s life with us.



Eucharist is a mutual abiding, that is, Jesus dwells in us and we dwell in him; it is a mutual presence of one to another; this indwelling does not submerge one personality with another.



Through the Eucharist, Jesus continues the life giving mission he received from the Father, who is the source of all life. Jesus, the source and bread of life, who came down from heaven and gave his life for the world, becomes the sacramental bread of life. Having ascended to the Father, Jesus leaves us his flesh and blood, the whole of himself, under the auspices of bread and wine as food and nourishment for our journey.



The two themes of this section are faith and Eucharist which cannot be separated because they are unified in Jesus, who offers us a living relationship through faith and sacrament. Sacrament doesn’t replace faith, but expresses and confirms it since this whole discussion is Christ centered, from incarnation, to death and resurrection, to Eucharist. For John, Eucharistic faith is to believe that Jesus continues to give himself to us in a personal communion



The Eucharist is the foretaste and promise of what is to come: it is the pledge of eternal life. Receiving Eucharist will enable us to live forever. We will have eternal life through the Eucharist, but it is only guaranteed to the person of faith. Through the Eucharist, we will also have life in abundance now.



This is why we encourage all to attend Mass regularly. We are fed by God’s presence in the Eucharist which gives us the strength and grace to be the best disciples we can. Jesus is just as present in the proclaiming and the hearing of the Word, sand Jesus is also present in the assembly. When we attend Mass, we are fed three ways.



In the first reading from Proverbs, wisdom and folly are represented as women who are inviting people to their banquets. Wisdom’s banquet symbolizes joy and closeness to God. Folly’s banquet gives stolen bread and eater of deceit and vice that brings death to her guests. The readers are encouraged to choose wisdom.



In the second reading from Ephesians, Paul is encouraging the people of Ephesus to be careful how they live, to be wise, to choose God, and to do God’s will. To avoid sin and be filled with the Spirit and to pray and give thanks is the way God wants us to live. We will not be foolish and will avoid evil.



Fr. Phil