The Right Life
Ordinary 20
August 20, 2006

The Right Life
by Tom Cox

You can't help but wonder if the Gospel passage took place today and Jesus uttered "I am the living bread which has come down from heaven" – the response may be a shoulder shrug and a lethal "so."

Accompanied by it's first cousin "so what" - these are two little words every parent dreads to hear. They usually come at the end of the parent's painstaking explanation as to why certain behaviour is unacceptable. These two words deal the parent a killer blow and undermine any moral authority they thought was theirs.

So (that word again), let's not be too hard on the first hearers of Jesus talking of himself as the bread of life. At least they argued and strove over its' meaning. They had energy and interest about the topic.

Jesus seeks a living relationship with us. "Live" is an interesting word. Spelled backwards it becomes "evil. "If we don't live the right way, doing things backwards or the wrong way, we become evil. Moving the E to the end and we get VILE. When we do not live right we usually go from bad to worse. You can get the word VEIL, which obscures, hides, separates us from our family, friends and God. God is hidden from us. That's not the way of the God of the living bread.

"Be very careful about the sort of lives you lead… This may be a wicked age, but your lives should redeem it." [2nd Reading]

(Comments to Tom at tomascox@eircom.net )