[Propertalk] Gospel quotes for August 2 sermon - Part 4

[Joe Parrish]

When I first knew Flor she was a lovely girl but totally lacking in self confidence. She had no initiative and was afraid to contribute to any group activity. Flor, came from a big family. One day she said, "In our family you could work for 24 hours and nobody would ever have a word of thanks or praise for you, but if you made the slightest mistake it was as if another world war had been declared." The deprivation of affirmation that she had experienced made her terrified of any situation in which she may be criticized.

       Susan, on the other hand, had experienced that whenever she was with a new group she was the life of the party for a while, but then she noticed that her presence could empty a room in minutes. It emerged that she was a menopausal child - born eight years after the youngest of her six siblings. She was her father's pet and a little doll for her older brothers and sisters. She was always center stage singing or dancing for family guests. With this much affirmation in childhood, she felt in later life that she should always be at the center of the stage. Soon others found this very demanding and avoided her so as not to have to be constantly worshipping at her shrine.
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Unfortunately, like Flor and Susan, many of us are fixated in our needs.

http://www.bible.claret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleB/B_18thSunOT.htm

Fr. Gerry Pierse

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There is an attraction - perhaps watching a Nativity or Passion Play - or hearing one of his parables - or one of his sayings that seems to speak to the searcher's condition. The attraction may lead them to look for more of the same - more comforting sayings - more though-provoking stories. For some, that is enough - but Jesus does not always allow people to stay there. At some point, people may be brought face to face with a challenge - and have to decide whether they are prepared to go more deeply into the Mystery... The choice is theirs. 

http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/weekly_wellsprings/year_b/sunday_18.htm

Catherine McElhinney and Kathryn Turner

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There is something much deeper that Christ seeks to offer these people than mere physical sustenance; he wants to give them dignity!  A person with dignity is never powerless; they will never be anyone's slave or prisoner.  A person with dignity has the power to reform their world.  A person with dignity has the power of hope and can give dignity to others.  Christ tells us that God has given him the authority and power to grant that dignity to his people; for what dignity could we ever have as dependent victims of our basic needs?

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http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/John/jn_06_24-35.html

Source: Jerry Goebel: 2003 © http://onefamilyoutreach.com. 

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Note also the interplay between works and faith in Johannine thought: The crowd asks Jesus (6:28), "What must we do that we may work the works of God?" Note Jesus' reply: "This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent." By the very phrase Jesus has shifted the emphasis from a work of man to the work of God-the initiative which God took in sending the Son into the world. (Qeou' is best understood as a subjective genitive in 6:32-34.) Note that at this point the crowd still misunderstands the nature of the true bread from heaven: "Lord, give us this bread." If they conceive of it as something that Jesus himself gives them, they have still missed it, because he himself is the 'Bread' from heaven. 

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Hall Harris 

http://bible.org/seriespage/exegetical-commentary-john-6

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Verse 27: "Son of Man": Elsewhere in John, "Son of Man" means a messenger from heaven to make God known (see 3:13) and the judge at the end of time (see 5:27). Here Jesus is speaking in Jewish terms: a son of man, whose coming was prophesied in Daniel 7:13-14 ("one like a son of man", *Septuagint translation). People saw this figure as the coming Messiah: when he comes, he will glorify the people of Israel by transforming them into the everlasting kingdom of God. To us (as to John), Jesus is the embodiment of salvation, the mediator where heaven and earth meet.

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/ctksgl.shtml

Chris Haslam, Anglican Diocese of Montreal 

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