No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” I asked a question yesterday: Does God decide which of us are saved, or is the decision to be saved ours? In today’s reading we find Jesus saying, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day” (John 6:44). Yesterday, we saw him saying something similar: “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 on the last day” (John 6:39). Later on, Jesus would say, “My sheep listen to my voice.” The implication is that there are those who are not his sheep. Then, he says, “I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29). So, it sounds like it is up to God, doesn’t it? Well, yes, it IS up to him! God’s sovereign plan is not going to rest on the will of sinful man. People might not like to believe this, but it is true. This should not, however, make us passive and say, “If it is all up to God, then I don’t have to do anything!”. If you take a spoon close to a baby’s mouth, the baby will open it. Similarly, God has brought the bread of life close our mouths, and we too need to open them and eat too. He brings a spoonful of love to our lips every morning through these reflections. However, he wants them to be more nutritious. This can happen only when we get deeper into the word. And he also wants us to feed others because there is a world out there that is starving! So, may I request you to please keep your Bibles with you while watching these reflections henceforth. Also, a notebook and pen. And get a highlighter too, if you have one. I’ll explain why tomorrow. Tomorrow is the start of a new month. It ends on the 31st with the Feast of Pentecost. I really want this to be a very special Pentecost for all of us. And I would also like it to be special for those we love who may not know God as we do. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “God our Savior WANTS all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” but what it is going to take are “petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving” (see 1 Timothy 2:1-3). Let us spend this coming month doing these four things. In addition, let us also fast every Friday from 8 am to 8 pm from all solids while we pray. God bless you. P.S. Don’t forget to share this spoonful of love!
