Commitment and Faith: Lessons from Joshua and John

Julie South:
Peace be with you. Welcome to your catholic corner. I'm your host, Julie south, and I'm so glad that you are able to join me right now as we dive into the word of God and his relevance to our lives. Today, your catholic corner is here to help Catholics spiritually prepare for each Sunday's mass starting midweek each week. You can listen@yourcatholiccorner.com your catholic corner is listen to in 34 different countries and over 160 cities around the world. Where are you in that mix? Wherever you are, I would love to hear from you. Please say hi to me in New Zealand and you can do that@yourcatholiccorner.com. let me know where you are and what you most enjoy about this show.

Julie South:
I promise to reply personally. In today's episode we're focusing on the readings, the Bible readings from the 21st or for the 21st Sunday in ordinary time in year B. That's catholic speak in the ordinary calendar. That means we are coming to the end of August in year B. In this year, we're going to start by exploring the passages from the book of Joshua Paul's letter to the Ephesians, a continuation of and the Gospel of John. Our main focus will be on exploring the typological connection between the Old Testament reading from Joshua and the Gospel passage to help you understand and me to help us both understand why the Catholic Church chose these specific texts for this specific Sunday. If you're not familiar with the term typology, we're going to look into what that means and how it relates specifically to these readings. Our readings and our prayers today shine light.

Julie South:
Shine God's light on commitment, faithfulness, and the life giving power of Jesus words. God is reminding us of his invitation to choose him and the importance of remaining faithful to him. Remember that when we gather in Jesus name, like we are right here, right now with you and me, he also is with us as well. The readings that we are looking at, the gospel readings that we are looking at this Sunday are from Joshua, chapter 24, verses one through 215 through 17 and 18 Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter five, verses 21 through 32 and John's Gospel, chapter six, verses 60 through 69.

Julie South:
But before that, a quick word about your catholic corner, just in case this is your first time here, regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, whether you've only just heard of that man called Jesus, you're new to Catholicism or you're a cradle catholic, my prayer is that your catholic corner will help bring God's word to life in your heart through insights, reflections, and practical applications that help deepen your relationship with God. Every Thursday we'll start preparing for mass by uncovering the richness hidden in each Sunday's Bible readings, from Old Testament prophecies to gospel parables. I invite you to join me and the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, New Zealand, sponsors of your catholic corner so that together we can hear God's word and echo. Samuel, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Now let's get back to today's show.

Julie South:
If typology is a new word, a new term for you, it refers to the concept that certain elements in the Old Testament of the Bible serve as types or foreshadowing of someone or something in the Bible's New Testament books. It's a bit like God leaving clues for us in the earlier scriptures that point to the fulfillment we find in Jesus and the New Testament. The typological connection that we have going on in today's passages between Joshua and John lie in the themes of commitment and faithfulness. In the book of Joshua, Joshua is challenging the Israelites to choose whom they will serve, and they reaffirm their commitment to the Lord. This passage is highlighting for us the importance of choosing to serve God and remaining faithful to him. And then in John. In John's Gospel, chapter six, verses 60 through 69, Jesus's teachings about eating his flesh and drinking his blood are difficult for many then and today still to accept, and that leads, at that time for some disciples to turn away. Peter reaffirms the faith of the twelve, capital t for twelve, the twelve disciples declaring that Jesus has the words of eternal life.

Julie South:
Both of these passages. So here is the typological connection that we've got going on. Both of these passages are emphasising the theme of commitment and faithfulness. The Israelites choice to serve God, to serve the Lord, foreshadows the disciples choice of exactly the same thing in that they are following Jesus. Despite the difficulty of what Jesus is teaching, the reaffirmation of faith in both of these passages highlights the essentialness, the necessity by us, by them at that time, but by us today, to remain faithful to God. In other words, these passages are reminding us that God is our ultimate, our one and only source of life and truth. It's he. It's Jesus.

Julie South:
It's God who invites us to choose him and remain faithful if but we only let him. Whether this is through the choice to serve the Lord or the decision to follow Jesus, we see if we look God's unwavering commitment to his people. In other words, his unwavering commitment to us, to you and to me. Now let's pray together, and as we with that as a background, with that typological connection of commitment, let's reflect on that as we pray together so that we may be. You and I are inspired by God's call to each of us, that we are strengthened by the blessings that he gives us in our lives, and that we are encouraged to share his message of love and healing with others, that we can be evangelists and catechists first reading from the book of Joshua Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, leaders, judges and officers. When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people, if it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve. The gods your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Julie South:
But the people answered, far be it from us to forsake the Lord for the service of other gods. For it was the Lord our God, who brought us and our ancestors up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God. The word of the Lord a reading from Paul's letter to the Ephesians brothers and sisters, be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, he himself the saviour of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Julie South:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her, to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word that he might present to himself the church in splendour, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one hates his own flesh, but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. The word of the Lord. A reading from the gospel of John. Many of Jesus disciples who were listening said, this saying is hard.

Julie South:
Who can accept it? Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, does this shock you? What if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe. Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he. For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my father. As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the twelve, do you also want to leave? Simon Peter answered him, master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Julie South:
We have come to believe, and we are convinced that you are the holy one of God. The gospel of the Lord. So what are you hearing God saying to you through these passages? Remember that he speaks to each of us different ways, and what I'm hearing in my heart may be different from how he touches your heart. The gospel from John reminds us that Jesus has the words of eternal life. It makes us think about how we commit to him and connect with him. For some of us, it could be quite challenging. Many people think of cannibalism, but that's nothing what it's about at all. Here are some of my thoughts on what God I think could be possibly, maybe saying to me in the first reading from Joshua, we have here the challenges by the Israelites or to the Israelites to choose whom they will serve.

Julie South:
The people reaffirm. They actually do reaffirm their commitment to God, acknowledging his mighty works and his faithfulness. They say that they that God was the one who got them through that desert when they were struggling. This reminds me of the importance of making a conscious decision to serve God and remain faithful to him. Not to take God for granted, not to say my prayers out of habit, but to be actually conscious and cognizant all day and every day. Simple, but not easy. So what does that mean? Well, does it mean that I am actively, always choosing to serve God in my daily life? Am I always recognizing his works and faithfulness in my journey? And on my journey, when faced with choices? It means that I need to remember to choose God and his ways, simple but not easy. If being Christian was easy, then everybody would be christian, right? And unfortunately, not everybody is.

Julie South:
Then we have in Paul's letter to the Ephesians this whenever I hear it in my head, I want to swap out being a woman. I want to swap out how it kind of makes or kind of sounds that women are subordinate. That's not really how I believe it should be. I think it's about love and, sorry, not how Paul means it to be. I think Paul is speaking of love and unity, and it's just the old fashioned language of two and a half thousand years ago. It's using the relationship between a husband and wife as a metaphor for Christ and the church. And the passage is emphasising mutual respect, mutual love, and mutual commitment. With that comes the question to me again from God.

Julie South:
Am I living in a way that reflects love and unity in all of my relationships, not just my relationship with my husband? Am I nurturing and am I cherishing those around me as Christ does for the church? Am I being that with everyone? Not just my marriage, but with everyone, everyone I meet? And then in John's gospel here, Jesus's teachings challenge his followers and some turn away. However, Peter reaffirms the faith of the twelve disciples, recognizing that only Jesus has the words and is the way for of the way for, and of eternal life. How often? So here's my question. What I'm getting from this is how often do I take time to reaffirm my faith in Jesus, even when things don't go the way I want them to go, even when I think that Jesus isn't listening to me, giving me what I want, do I still reaffirm my faith in him? Do I trust in his words and seek the life that only he can offer? Today it sounds like what I'm hearing is that we're reminded to choose God to live in love and unity, and to find life in Jesus words. The church needs us today to do that. The church needs us to live in love with the church and to be united with the church with that. I therefore invite you to help the church grow by inviting others to share in our faith and maybe, just maybe, come to mass each week. You can start small.

Julie South:
A small way of doing that is by sharing this podcast. You can invite three people to listen. Invite them to go to yourcatholiccorner.com, pick whichever way works best for them there. I would love to hear your thoughts, and you can contact me by visiting the website yourcatholiccorner.com. while you're getting ready for mass this week thinking about what God is asking of us. Let's just take a quick sneak peek of what else we've got coming up from God next week in the 22nd week of ordinary time. Next one day we'll be diving into the beautiful readings that remind us of the importance of humility. How much do we like that? And service in our spiritual journey? We're going to be looking at the book of Sirach reflects on the exhortation to the hospitality in the letter to the Hebrews, Paul's letter to the Hebrews, and then we'll hear about Jesus's teachings on humility and service in the Gospel of Luke.

Julie South:
So please make sure you join me next week as we continue to unpack everything that is beautiful about the Catholic Church. I do hope that this episode helps you on your spiritual journey. My prayer is that this podcast helps deepen your understanding of God's word and all that is beautiful about the catholic church and the catholic faith. Please share this show so that together we can help grow the church. Wherever you are in your journey and wherever you are in the world, I pray that God's love fills your heart and that you'll join him at the Eucharist in your local parish when you are ready. Because I know what it's like not to be ready. So when you're ready, a big shout out to the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, New Zealand for their continued support for this show. This is Julie south signing off until next week.

Julie South:
Peace be with you, God blessed.