The word we are meditating on today is John 6:60-66
This word speaks on the Eucharist and on the Sacred Scripture, that puts us in communion with God. It also speaks of the Body and Blood of Jesus, that are given in the hour of communion.
Jesus had finished speaking to the disciples and He was going to give His Blood and His Body for them that they may eat and drink and they understood this literally. But it is necessary to understand what is behind the words of the Lord.
He was not saying that He was going to rip pieces of His body that the disciples may eat, but He was giving His life and His blood for them. He is the lamb of God that comes to take way the sins of the world. However, when the heart is hardened to hearing the truth, the person hears only what he wants and what is agreeable to for him. Then the disciples, upon hearing this, began to protest, saying that the Lord was being too hard, therefore, they could not continue hearing what He was saying.
You believe that these words were made two thousands years ago? No! Still today, many upon hearing the Word of God, say that It is too hard. This happens, because these people do not know how to listen to It with the spirit.
The Word of God says that the Holy Spirit gives life to the Word of God, it is through the strength of the Paraclete that the Word has the power to save us. Without it, the Word of God will become a dead law. When we hear the Word of God, with humility and in the spirit of prayer, it gives to us the Spirit of the Lord. In this hour, we are baptized by Him and we receive the return to life.
In the passage cited above, we see that, without even hearing the truth from the mouth of the Anointed, those men believed in what He said.
That which differs one person from the other, in the hour of hearing the Word of God, is the way in which they put themselves in front of Him to hear Him. The only way of putting ourselves in the presence of the Father to hear Him is with humility and the spirit of prayer.
The opposite to being a humble person is being prideful. Then, for you who find yourself with the Word of God, it is not enough to put yourself before Him in a prideful manner, believing only in what suits you. When one treats the Word of the Father, you need to understand that you never have enough of It. Your life shows it through your shortcomings, your problems, the resentments that you carry from lack of forgiveness and from your dissatisfactions; all this is testimony of that you do not know how to life, how much to know what God speaks.
The word manifests itself through educating ourselves on the road of truth and of life, then we have to put ourselves only in the attitude of learning. Many people draw near to it, believe through being of prayer and being God fearing, they have advantages in relationship to those that do not act in this manner. But it is not like this, we should draw closer to the Lord to seek our salvation and not the advantage of being over others.
To be Christian is an advantage on oneself and not over another. Our happiness should be in being reach by God and in knowing is going to be saved or not.
The recompense of God is the same for all: love. For Him our past is not important, but what is in our heart. If a person dies with a perverse heart, she is lost. But if he dies with a heart directed to the good, she can reach salvation.
The heart returned and united to God brings us to salvation. He that lives in a life without error and in truth, if converted reaches salvation. The other that lives life in a prim life, but in malice, wanting the condemnation of the other, this person is lost.
The Word of the Father, heard with humility and in the spirit of prayer, show us that we need to be capable of learning to have mercy. In this part, Jesus does not Jesus does not negotiate nor relieve. When he comes to those with a hardened heart, he speaks directly with those that remain and says to them: “You are going to leave me too?” Peter, even thinking like the others in his humility trusted in what Jesus said and responded to Him: “To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life. Now we believe that you are the Holy One of God.”
The Bible is the wise Word that God leaves for us as a fire that burns our heart. Whomever draws near in prayer and with humility, to the Word of the Lord, receives from Him a new heart capable of loving. Allow it to illuminate you, it is good and holy; it is Jesus Himself who communicates the Spirit and life.
Let us pray to ask God to visit us with His Spirit, illuminating us with His Word. We pray to leave our truth, to descend from the pedestal of our wisdom and to turn ourselves to the Word of the Lord.
Márcio Mendes
Member of the Canção Nova Community.