Sesame Street Readings

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

    As a young child I remember a segment of “Sesame Street” that was called “One of these things.”  The point was to identify things that didn’t belong together before the jingle ended.  It speaks to the effectiveness of the jingle that, all these years later, I can still sing the tune and the words in my head without much effort.
    We might think, as we heard the three main readings today, that one of these things is not like the other, and one of these things just doesn’t belong.  Our first reading and Gospel focus on whether or not the people stay committed to God, while the second reading has a slightly different focus, to say the least.  And frankly, when the lectionary was revised after the Second Vatican Council, the principle was that the first reading and the Gospel would be related, while the second reading, usually from an epistle of St. Paul, would be more of a continuous reading, a lectio continua, from the non-Gospel New Testament works.
    But they do all belong together.  And it’s my job to help you see how that applies, even with this longer second reading that probably does not fall well on the ears of modern couples.  The first unifying aspect to all three readings is that all three describe realities that, at one time or another, would be difficult to accept.  In the first reading, Joshua has led the people into the Promised Land after Moses died.  They were finally occupying the lands, but remnants of pagan nations who worshiped false gods still remained to be cast out.  Joshua knew, from his experience since the Exodus, that this people did not always remain faithful to God, and would often abandon God when things got difficult.  So he encourages them to stay with God.  
    In the Gospel, Jesus having taught the people that they have to eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to have eternal life, most of the disciples abandon Him.  They struggle to understand this drastic teaching, which Jesus never waters down or modifies to sound easier, and so they leave.  Finally, Jesus turns to the Twelve, His closest friends, and asks them if they will stay with Him or abandon Him.
    In the second reading, probably most people in the time of St. Paul did not find it strange that St. Paul encouraged wives to be subordinate to their husbands, but it probably was striking that husbands were to love their wives “as Christ loved the church.”  And even if it all strikes us differently, St. Paul teaches that this isn’t simply something that is determined by cultural norms, but is “in reference to Christ and the church.”  
    Secondly, all of the readings remind us of who we should be when it comes to God.  We are the people God chose as His own, who works wonders and signs for us, and brings us from slavery to sin into the promised land of freedom of grace.  But He is God, and we are not.  We don’t get to decide which of the teachings that God revealed we maintain, and which of the teachings God revealed we jettison because it’s hard or seems odd.  We all are the bride, and Christ is our head, to whom we need to be subordinate.  When God reveals the way we are to live, just like He revealed the Ten Commandments to the Chosen People, which included Joshua; just like when He revealed the teaching on the Eucharist, that it truly is His Flesh and Blood which give us eternal life; just like when He revealed that we are to “be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ,” and that wives are to “be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord,” and husbands are to “love your wives as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her,”; we cannot simply pick and choose.  God’s word is life, and a rejection of some of His teaching is a rejection of some of the fullness of life that God wants for us.
    Having said that, God allows us our freedom.  Not long after the people pledged to serve God in the Promised Land, they abandoned Him and served other gods.  They found it didn’t work out so well, as other nations invaded and oppressed them, but God allowed them to exercise their free will, even as He constantly called them back to Himself.  In the Gospel, Jesus didn’t run after the people and given them a secondary teaching on the Eucharist to help them understand it in different ways.  He gave them the teaching they needed, and they either abandoned Him (most disciples) or stayed with Him (the Apostles and a few others).  Jesus told them how they could have eternal life within them, and they had to choose whether they wanted it or not.  And even with marriage, God does not force His way upon couples.  Couples can do the power struggle thing where each tries to be the most important, or tries to make everything about him or herself, probably resulting in an unhappy marriage or even divorce.  Or they can accept Christ’s teaching that they need to live for the other, and not be so concerned about their own will and their own desires, and find a happier marriage.  God reveals what will make us happy and give us new life, but we are free to accept or reject that.
    Sometimes things don’t seem related.  Or we like the Jesus who says, “‘I am the bread of life,’” but don’t want to hear that we can’t worship other gods, or that marriage has a particular meaning and way of being lived out that brings about grace.  But it’s the same God who reveals all ways in which we are to follow Him, as He lovingly lets us choose to follow Him, or to choose other gods who bring upon us slavery, error, and unhappiness.  As for me, I know that God has the words of eternal life, so there is no where else to go.  As for me, I will serve the Lord.