In our Gospel reading today, we begin a journey through John 6. Later in the chapter we will be reading and reflecting on the Bread of Life discourse, Jesus’ principle teaching on the Eucharist. But at the beginning of John 6, we read today about a miraculous feeding of the multitudes. Coincidence? I think not. Jesus feeds the people with natural food, then later tells them about how He will feed them (and us) with supernatural food.
A very cool story today in our first reading from Acts 5. A great teacher, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, gets up in front of the Sanhedrin and speaks about these men who are teaching in the name of Jesus. He says this, “If this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” Wise words from a wise teacher. (By the way…Saul [aka St. Paul] was a student of Gamaliel.)
Fighting against God. I suppose we never like to think we’re doing that. But there may be times that we are. For instance, when we take on an endeavor, even with the best of intentions – to serve God, and it fails. We keep grinding and pushing and trying, but to no avail. In times like this, it can be easy to beat ourselves up or even get angry with God. But perhaps it isn’t the right time or God has a different plan. Most times the hardest thing to do is let go, and let God.
Father, forgive us for the times we fight against you. May our prayer always be, “Your will be done.” Amen.
A very familiar gospel today, but also a very important message in our First Reading. If our faith was purely mortal in its origin, it would not have survived these past two thousand years!
You brought a smile to my face with “…let go, and let God.” I learned from a wise priest on a retreat a few decades ago that this is easier said than done.
He shared that he made the “decision” to let go on numerous occasions in his life, but the things he “actually” let go of resembled a cat’s scratching post as they had his “claw marks” all over them!