Words of life

John 6 : 52 - 69

Lord, to whom shall we go?

I have often wondered how believers read and understand the 'hard sayings' of Jesus. Many of the things he said and did were challenging, to say the least, even to the people who were actually there with him. How do we 'listen' from a distance of over 2000 years? The first hearers found it increasingly difficult to 'believe'. Apart from other things, they were blocked by their preconceptions of religious truths and blocked by their own needs for a political messiah.

As I read the Gospels, in the cycle of liturgical readings, I have tended sometimes to gloss over the challenging passages, and to stick to those that are more comfortable.

But in praying the Gospels - we are asking to "know Jesus more intimately, to love him more dearly and follow him more nearly". To do this, we ask for the grace (gift) of the above. We ask of Jesus to enlighten, to reveal himself through the passages read. And since relationship is a two way process, we also respond honestly to him. We tell him of those parts we find difficult. We express our discomfort when we see him confronting and challenging for example the Pharisees, or our discomfort at him having table fellowship with people we would find it difficult to get close to. We ask for enlightenment, for healing of blind spots and always for the grace of greater openness to what he wants to show us of himself, his values and mission. And we spend time in quiet, listening to how he might respond to us.

I think that at some stage in our journeys, we might ask: "Lord, to whom shall we go? We find it difficult to follow you, your words are challenging, and yet, we know that there is nowhere we would rather be. We have chosen to follow you, however far behind we lag.....and we only ask that your love and grace be granted that our steps may fall in with yours."