Most Holy Eucharist; The Holy Priest-Martyr Methodius, Bishop of Patara (311)
Apostles’ Fast. A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy.
Read
1 Corinthians 11:23-32; John 6:48-54
Note: The author for today’s reflection misread the calendar Hence, the reflection is not based on the listed readings.
One way to understand today’s Gospel is to look at how the disciples are described: after Jesus gets into the boat, they follow him. This may seem trivial (after all, they were his followers, right?) but in the verses immediately before today’s gospel, Jesus met two people who wanted to follow him: to both the scribe and the disciple, Jesus gives cryptic answers that show the path of discipleship shouldn’t be followed lightly.
Today’s gospel also has a message about what it means to be a disciple. So often, the church (and our own lives) seems to be swamped by storms – certainly, that is the case today, with scandals among the clergy, pressure on Christians to conform to the standards of the world, and people leaving the church every day. And we might ask where the Lord is in all this – is he sleeping? But he is with us, even if we can’t sense his presence and power. The word in this passage for storm is actually seismos, which in Greek means earthquake: this should remind us of the earthquake that took place when Christ was crucified, and the earthquake that announced his resurrection. In other words, the point is that Christ is in control here, as he is during his death and resurrection. He has assured us that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church (and they won’t prevail in our lives either) if we follow him and make his kingdom the priority in our lives.