WE ARE THE CHOICES WE MAKE

 

Homily for the 21^st Sunday of the Ordinary Time, Year B

Scriptural Texts: Joshua 24:1-2a. 15-17.18b, Ephesians 5:21-32, John 6:60-69

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke (Schoenstatt Fathers)

 

Human beings stand apart from all of God’s creation because we humans have been created in the very image of God Himself (Genesis 1:26). Apart from that, we also differ from other lower animals because we have been endowed with the gift of freewill. That is, humans are free-thinking beings with the capacity to make choices. With the faculties of the soul, the intellect and the will, we are able to know and to choose. That we have the power to choose goes to show that we are equally responsible for the choices and decisions we make. What we find in the three readings of this Sunday is man’s exercise of that innate power to make choices.

In the first reading, the people of Israel made the unanimous decision to choose God and to reject all the gods that their forefathers served (Joshua 24:14-18). In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us that we must all choose the nature of relationship we want with others (Ephesians 5:21-32). In the gospel reading, the disciples were faced with the choice of choosing to either remain with Jesus or to leave with the Jews and the other disciples who found it hard to accept Jesus’ teaching about him being the Bread of Life (John 6:66-69).

On the course of our life’s journey, there are varied important choices that we too have to make. It may be the choice of career, life partner, circles of friendships, vocation, business, lifestyle, health, religion, and so on. Today too, we even have people choosing their own gender- whether to be seen, remain and addressed as male or female. In making these choices, we have to make proper discernment because the choices we make, determine to a great extent, our happiness or our unhappiness because we have to live with the consequences of our choices. As such, understanding the role that choices play in defining our lives is the most important thing to learn if we want to fully develop the life that God has given us.

One great issue with making choices is that we can never have it all. To choose one is to forfeit the other. Saying ‘yes’ to one thing inevitably means saying ‘no’ to another. And even in our indecisiveness, we are still making a choice. In choosing to serve God, the Israelites rejected every form of idol worship. In choosing not to leave with the unbelieving disciples, the disciples of Jesus accepted him as the Bread of Life, the Holy One from God in whom dwells the words of eternal life (John 6:68-69). A true disciple of Jesus is one who discovers in the person of Jesus and in his teachings, the words of eternal life, and who clings on to Jesus forever even when others walk out on him.

Like the household of Joshua and the people of Israel, let us choose to serve God without reserve. Let us not be like the unfaithful disciples who chose to follow Jesus only when they found his teachings convenient. Let us bear in mind that choosing to follow Jesus demands total self-surrender and a single-minded devotion to him through a life of faith. In the past five Sundays, we have been reading about Jesus’ discourse on the Bread of Life. Truly, Jesus is the Bread of Life. If we choose him above all else, we will have eternal life. The choice is ours to make, and the choice we make, makes us.