To whom would you go if you needed to fix a leaky pipe in the rectory? To a plumber. To whom would you go if you wanted to put some new outlets plugs in the food pantry? To an electrican. To whom would you go if your car started making all sorts of funny noises? To a mechanic. When we don’t have the answers in ourselves we go to those who do. (A parenthetical btw – does anyone use “whom” anymore? Sure, it’s grammatically correct but I’ve notice “who” replacing it, except maybe in Bible translations. “Whom you gonna call? Ghost Busters”. I don’t think so. End parenthesis.) “To whom shall we go?” Peter asked in the gospel. To whom shall we go if we want to find happiness? To whom shall we go if we seek the meaning and purpose of life? To whom shall we go if we want to learn how to create a more just and peaceful world? To whom shall we go if we want our families to live in loving support of one another? To whom shall we go if we want to find healing and forgiveness when we have been used, abused and misused – or pardon when we’ve been the one who hurt another? For Peter, the “whom” was Jesus – Jesus was the one who made sense out of nonsense, made a way out of no way, was the scratch for his itch. What about for us? When we are seeking answers we don’t have in ourselves, where do we turn?
How about the internet? We can google “happiness.” Google “family life.” Google “the meaning of life” – which, by the way, has as its first answer “freedom of suffering” which strikes me as odd. As we have seen in the reaction of too many people during this time of pandemic turning to the internet for answers does not always help you to come up with the best solution to what is happening. How about TV? About every ten minutes or so an advertisement will come on which says taking this pill or driving this car or wearing these clothes is exactly what you are looking for. Doesn’t always work. I’m reminded of the priest who was visiting a classroom in the parochial school and quizzing the children about aspects of Catholic life. Who knows, he asked, why I wear this Roman collar? Little Johnny’s hand shut up. I know. I know. Yes, Johnny. It prevents fleas and ticks for up to thirty days. Sometimes the TV solutions don’t really apply. How about some of the self-help celebrities out there – Oprah, Dr. Phil, the View? Maybe they have the answers we’ve been looking for. I have to confess, after seeing some Saturday Night Live sketches parodying their advice it’s hard to think that they have the answers we seek.
So none of the solutions of popular culture seem adequate to those deep-seated, heart-felt questions that keep us up at night or cause us to wonder if life is worth living. Our family and friends have the same questions we have. School provides more questions than answers. Experts contradict themselves all the time. It looks like St. Peter is right: To whom shall we go? For the truest, most lasting, most deeply satisfying answers to life’s questions we should turn to Jesus. His life demonstrates what it’s all about. No matter where we twist and turn, it is Jesus who is the solution to the Rubik’s cube that is human existence.
However, heeding Jesus is costly, makes demands, involves the cross. As the gospels relate, even those who heard Jesus preach, even those who saw Jesus heal, even those who ate multiplied loaves and fished found his way difficult. “Many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” The movement from being a fan to being a follower, from admiration to discipleship requires a choice. We can presume that those who “no longer accompanied Jesus” remained good Jews, obeying the Torah and worshipping in the temple. But they were unwilling to make the commitment to Jesus, to take up their cross each day and follow him. The context in John 6 suggests that immediate cause for their leaving Jesus was his admonition to eat his body and drink his blood in the Blessed Sacrament. But no doubt they were challenged more and more by things Jesus said over time; love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, forgive seventy times seven times, turn the other cheek, stop judging, give to those who cannot repay you. The teaching about receiving Holy Communion was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
To me, one of the most poignant moments in the Bible occurs after the crowd breaks away and Jesus turns to his closest followers, to the apostles, and asks: “Do you also want to leave?” You can almost hear the tear in his voice. That question echoes through the ages and is addressed to us today. While there certainly are many who explicitly cease being followers of Jesus – the current statistic is that one-fourth, 25% of Americans are “nones,” those who have no religious affiliation. Most people leave Jesus not in any dramatic renunciation but rather in a gradual adoption of values contrary to the gospel – holding onto resentments, not acting to foster the worth and value of every human being, ignoring the plight of the unfortunate. Maybe the contemporary question Jesus addresses to us is not so much “do you want to leave” but rather “do you want to stay.” Yes, we stay, we follow Jesus because in him God is with us. Yes, we follow Jesus because we see in his teaching a way for the world to live in peace and justice. Yes, we follow Jesus because he embodies the power of love for all God’s children. I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.