GOD’S WILL AND OURS
(May 22)
”Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.’” (Jn 6: 35-40)
What a perplexing topic this is, of the various “wills” involved in our salvation. Our Lord tries to explain some of this to us, how it works, in today’s Gospel-reading, which He begins by enticing our wills with the promise that if we decide to “come” to Him, we will no longer hunger or thirst. Then He explains the movements or actions of three of the “actors” involved, based on the decisions they make, according to their wills: 1. the Father and His “giving” to the Son of all who see and believe in Him, according to the Father’s will that these be raised up at the last day; 2. The human being(s), all of us, to whom the Son “comes down from heaven,” who are given to “see” the Son and – if we choose to do so – to “believe” and to “come to Him.” But many see Him “and yet do not believe,” so they do not come to Him. Finally, 3. There is the Son’s active “doing” of the will of the Father, regardless of the aforementioned fact, that those to whom He is sent oftentimes do not believe.
Is there anything helpful for us, in practical terms, in all this perplexing theology? I think so. It’s dignifying, I think, to be reminded that we have a choice in this whole business of what God wants for us. “Seeing” Christ is probably not really a choice, for anyone reading this, because we have seen many times the eyewitness testimony handed down to us about Him, in tradition. But “believing” in Him and “coming to Him” is a choice we have every day. It’s a decision that entails actions, little but important actions, like nourishing our faith from our waking moment, by “coming” into the presence of Christ in our midst through a bit of heartfelt prayer. The daily reward of “not” hungering and thirsting in the wilderness of self-isolation and self-reliance makes this worth it, even if our faith is tiny like a mustard seed. It’s a small thing, and we don’t even notice it growing, as we nourish it a bit daily, but it does grow and become the most helpful thing, for ourselves and others around us. I think it’s also very moving, to be reminded of our Lord’s humility and meekness in all this; that He is not interested in getting us to do “His” will. He focuses on doing His Father’s will, and continues to do it, regardless of our believing or not. Let me choose to believe this morning, by trusting God and His Son, Who never “casts me out” when I come to Him, but raises me up by the grace of His focus-bringing Spirit.
