Prayer:- Through the written word, and the spoken word, may we know your living word, Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen
Have you ever been gifted an evergreen perennial plant with a life-time supply or
promise of supply of fertilizers, pesticides and water, along with an instruction book
of how to take care of the plant?
Last Sunday we learnt that our lives are a gift from God and in today’s Gospel we see
Jesus telling the people whoever feeds on the bread He gives, will live forever. And
what he refers to as bread in verse 56 is clear as His body and blood.
When we look at verse 60, many of his disciples said – This teaching is difficult, who
can accept it? Bible tells us Jesus was aware of what was in their mind, said, ‘’Does this offend you?’’.
Some may have thought – Is he trying to make us cannibals(The people who lived in
Capernaum and nearby areas were not cannibals!). Some may have had in mind that
‘’We are following him because of the free food he is feeding us with but now he
mentions that it is much more important to nourish the spirit than the body. This may
be an indirect direction that from this time onwards no free food will be provided.’’
Some may have found it too difficult to understand the teaching that came through
parables and were not ready to learn the depths of His words. They would have heard
from him, things that offended their lifestyle and were not ready to change
themselves. Could have been very many things, of which we see no mention.
Well even today, people have various opinions about Jesus. That’s okay. But some
opinions are based on total prejudices and are baseless. People come to religious
programmes or services many a times but their primary focus is not Jesus. But, Jesus
invites everyone to partake in eating His Flesh and Blood. Sacraments are important
(like we have the Baptism of a baby girl today). It is equally important to
continuously take spiritual nourishment from Jesus. To have his flesh and blood
means to have him in your body, mind and soul . This not only enriches your life but
in times of difficulty you get the strength to endure.
While many followers left Jesus only twelve remained. Jesus does not compel them
but persuades them asking “Do you also wish to go away?”. This brings forth the
confession of faith. Perhaps this is the apostle’s most moving one, in its heartfelt
simplicity, when Peter says, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of
eternal life.” While others could not understand what Jesus meant clearly, Peter
doesn’t say he understands everything or finds it easy. He says that however hard the
words may sound, because they are spoken by Jesus he trusts them as words of
eternal life. If you have known Jesus – If you have truly known Jesus, you cannot go
anywhere else. Here, by this question he meant not just staying with him physically
but wanted them to build a closer personal relationship with God.
In today’s Old Testament reading Solomon refers to the promise God made to his
father David which was revealed to Solomon while David was on his deathbed. It
was in that promise God had expressed conditional terms, which we find in Psalm
132, that if David’s descendants kept the covenant and the testimony that God taught
them, they would sit on David’s throne forever. Unfortunately, by the time the temple was dedicated, Solomon had already broken God’s requirements. Solomon
married one of Pharaoh’s daughters and made sacrifices and burned incense in places
where pagans worshiped and people were unfaithful to God. Solomon was not
perfect, and neither was his father David. Both of them represent all of us because
we are not perfect. We have a sin-filled nature. We have done things in the past that
did not please God. How do we save ourselves then from sinning? Paul in his letter
to the Ephesians chapter 6:10-20 tells us about the armour of God that protects us
from the devil’s schemes. He writes that full armour of God includes truth,
righteousness, be ready to proclaim the gospel of peace, be strong in faith and do not
forget to carry the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the WORD OF GOD.
When we allow God to live in us through the Holy Spirit by continuously taking
nourishment from His word, by spending our personal time with God, fellowship
with other believers God will dwell in us through His Spirit.
When He lives in you and you live in Him, he accomplishes his promises and uses you for His mighty works.
For Solomon at this point of time, he had repented of his sins, was standing before the
altar and praying to God at the historic occasion of the dedication of the temple he
built for the Lord. The two passages bring forth the Prayer and Solomon’s vision for
the foreigners coming to the temple. Let us have a look at what they teaches us:-
Solomon’s preparation for the prayer – the place and the posture mattered. Had a king
being in his palace in the most royal comfort and luxury prayed.. would still have
been acceptable to God but what mattered here was his preparation which shows his
humbleness in front of God.
He then praised God for God’s greatness. He knew God is not limited. All he wanted
was His presence in the temple where people would come specially to be in His
presence.
Then, comes the basis of the prayer i.e. His promise of temple to David and promise
made about His throne. Today when we pray we remind ourselves that as Jesus has
promised –”For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among
them”. (Matt.18.20) whatever we ask in His name he will give. God does not need
any reminders but we say so only to strengthen our mind and heart with those
promises.
And then we see Solomon’s burden of prayer – It is necessary that we have the
burden and we know the intensity of the words we use. Prayer should never be a
formality. Paul also writes about the necessity and importance of leading a prayerful
life.
In today’s epistle Paul says our struggle demands a grace that goes beyond our own abilities because evil is real and powerful but God’s power is greater than any evil power. And he says you must put on “the whole armour of God” and pray “in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication”.
The battle is not ours, but the Lord’s (2 Chronicles 20:15). It is not by our own might, nor by our own power, but by His Spirit that we gain the victory (Zechariah 4:6). The war was already won on the day when Jesus said, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). May God bless us all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen