Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Perhaps most people in our society believe that Christianity is about doing good works.  Certainly, this was the belief about God in Jesus’ time.  The Jews held that by living a good and moral life they could earn the favour of God.  Hence, in the Bible reading assigned to this week, for example, the people ask Jesus: “What does God want us to DO!”  Jesus’ reply transformed their whole way of thinking.  At least, it would have done had they heeded it.  Jesus says it is not about what you do.  The only thing you need to ‘do’ is ‘believe’.  Believe in the one that God has sent, and He will give you the true bread from heaven.  What did Jesus mean?  Jesus was saying that no amount of good works could ever earn God’s favour and there wasn’t a hierarchy of people who did more good works than others.  God is never indebted to us for what we have done for Him.  What God seeks is relationship.  A relationship through the Son who is the only one who can atone for our failings.  God, in Christ, offers us this relationship.  It is a free gift.  All we need to do is to accept what God, in Christ, has done for us.  Then, once we are in this relationship with God, we will want to please God.  We will want to lead pure, holy and righteous lives serving others, not because we have to, but, rather, because we want to.