First Friday Mass with IBP Aklan

When I was in my first year in the College of Law, Fiscal Ryan Cawaling taught us in his subject Statutory Construction that if the statute is clear, plain and free from ambiguity, it must be given its literal meaning and applied without interpretation. This is known as the “plain meaning rule” or verba legis (non est recedendum) which is translated in English as “From the words of a statute there should be no departure”.

This “plain meaning rule” can actually be of help to make us understand the Gospel (John 6: 52-59) for today. In the Gospel, it is narrated that Jesus said to His listeners, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

What did Jesus mean when He said all these? Well, let us try to use the “plain meaning rule”. By applying the “plain meaning rule”, we affirm that the words Jesus used in His speech correctly expressed His intention and we must therefore avoid making other interpretations aside from what He really meant with His words. When Jesus said “he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life”, He carefully used those words to properly express His intention, to convey a clear message that in order to have eternal life, one has to eat His body and drink His blood. Of course, His listeners were shocked upon hearing all these. We too can get an impression from this Gospel that Jesus was promoting cannibalism. Yet Jesus did not retract or change the tone of what He had said. He even reiterated His words to them and emphasized that His flesh is real food and His blood is real drink. In this instance, we can say that the words of Jesus here should not be taken as a simile or a metaphor.  His words should not be regarded simply as a figurative language. “From the words of Jesus there should be no departure”. Jesus knew what He was saying and He meant what He said. His message is clear that those who eat His flesh and drink His blood are guaranteed eternal life.

Now, in using the “plain meaning rule” to understand the words of Jesus, those who heard Him, including His disciples, found His message “hard”. It must be noted that in this particular Gospel passage, the word used for “hard” is the Greek word “skleros” which means “it is not hard to understand but it is hard to accept”. As I said earlier, His listeners were shocked upon hearing His discourse and we too can get an impression from this Gospel that Jesus was promoting cannibalism. Nevertheless, it was in this circumstance that the listeners of Jesus showed their true colours. In John 6: 66-71, it is narrated that some turned their back from Jesus. They just proved they were only fair-weather friends of Jesus. They followed Jesus to get something from Him. Yet there were others who stayed with Jesus. They remained following Jesus because as they looked at how they journeyed together, after all what they had been through, they believed there could be no one else to go to. They chose to accept the words of Jesus even if it seemed they too were puzzled. In reality, there was this love between Jesus and His disciples that they would willingly and voluntarily choose to stay for each other.

My dear friends, this scenario in the Gospel reminds us that in maintaining a relationship, particularly where one can choose to get in and can also choose to get out, there is this great risk of experiencing rejection. This was experienced by Jesus when He told His followers the truth about Himself as the Bread of Life. He was rejected by many and only few stayed with Him. As Christians, we must expect too to experience something similar to this, that we shall lose some people and only few shall always be there for us to love as for who we are. There is no need to blame when many shall reject us and only few stay with us. It is nobody’s fault. We have to accept that it is just how Christian life is. It happened to Jesus and it would also happen to us somehow.

To end, let me share to you an experience. In 2004, a radio announcer lambasted me with all his intriguing commentaries after I hurt his ego. Some people took advantage of this by spreading false news against me to protect their political interests. It was also during those times that even personalities inside the church would enjoy spreading rumors against me. Year 2004 seemed to be a bad year for me except when I learned a touching comment from a good friend when someone told him some bad things about me. My friend said to the person who tried to report to him how bad I am as a person, “I know Jude, and I love him.”  To my mind and heart, what my friend was saying, even if he cannot understand me, he accepts me for being who I am. Because of this, I felt comforted and at peace. I realize there is no need to blame when many shall reject us and only one stay with us. It is nobody’s fault. We have to accept that it is just how Christian life is. It happened to Jesus and it might also happen to us somehow.