Nineteenth Sunday Ordinary Time: Gospel B John 6:41-51

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 
· What is the fundamental problem the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were having with Jesus? His identity! They saw him as a man but could not see him as one sent by God or equal to God as he claimed. Their human knowledge blinded and limited them to the mystery being revealed.
· What areas in our life that we have a hard time fully believing and living according to the Word of Jesus? What would be the hardness of our heart that blocks us from totally trusting in Jesus?
· Were in our life do we box Jesus in?

Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.
· How attentive do we listen to the Father as he draws us to Jesus?
· Jesus is referring to himself when he says “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God.”
· As Jesus claims to have seen God what do you think went through the minds of the religious leaders? What is Jesus claiming without directly stating it?
 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
· The key word here is “believes.”  Does our faith lie on the words of Jesus or the person of Jesus? If we believe that Jesus is one with the Father, does it really matter if we don’t fully understand some of his teachings, but accept them because of who he is?
· How strong is your faith in Jesus?

 I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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." 
· Do we understand Jesus’ word figuratively and symbolically or do we believe in them literally?
· And if we believe that Jesus meant in fact what he said, with what attitude do we approach the Eucharist?  With awe and wonder or with inattentiveness?
· Spend some time reflecting on Jesus’ words in this passage. Enter more fully into the mystery being revealed.
· What impact does this passage have on your life?

The words of The Lord to the prophet Ezekiel: “He said to me: ‘Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel.’  So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. ‘Son of man,’ he then said to me, ‘feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.’ I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. He said: ‘Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.’” Ez 3:1-4

What blocks us from really tasting the goodness of the Lord? If my taste buds are anesthesize by drugs, I will not savor the full flavor. Sin is that drug which anesthesizes us to the goodness of the Lord,.

In 1 Peter: 2: 1 we read: “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander; like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Once I have tasted the goodness of the Lord, really tasted, why would I go back to something less? It is like eating baby food and then going to a delicious filet mignon. Why would I want to go back to baby food? Yet, I do when I sin.

"Taste ……the goodness of the Lord." Where? In a special and unique way, we taste the Lord’’s goodness at every celebration of the Eucharist —— the Mass —— the re-presentation of Christ’’s Death and Resurrection. (To be continued)

Whether we perceive God as loving or not; whether we accept God in this way or not–He is. He is the Alpha and the Omega. “To him whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine–to him be glory in the churches and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world without end. Amen. Eph 3:20-21

We are called to Taste and See, not just know only. We are called to experience the Lord’s goodness and love.

To taste is to savor–to experience personally the benefits of relationship with God. For someone to tell me how delicious a banana split is means I  know what the other person senses and feels about the banana split. But for me to really know it, I must taste it myself. I must allow my taste buds to be touched by the variety of sweetness and delicacy which makes up a banana split.

To taste is to enter into it and let it enter into you. To taste the goodness of the Lord is to allow the Lord to touch our lives, to make a difference in us. To transform us from who and where we are to the heights of intimacy. The more we give ourselves to the experience, the more we experience it. (To be continued)

Taste and See How God is good!