3 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
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“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:68
Today the Great Fast reaches its midpoint. The calendar marks this Wednesday as Mid-Fast: as many days lie behind us as before us, and the Resurrection is now nearer than Ash Monday. It is a good day to stop, look back honestly, and begin again. The first reading shows a quarrel that every Kerala family knows. Abram and his nephew Lot have grown rich, “and there was strife between the herders of Abram's livestock and the herders of Lot's livestock.” Abram is the elder; by custom he could choose first. Instead he says: “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. Is not the whole land before you?” Lot looks with his eyes and chooses the best: the plain of the Jordan, “well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD”, and he moves his tent “as far as Sodom.” Then, when Abram has let go, God speaks: “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” The man who gave up the first choice receives everything. Many of our families carry wounds from partitions of land and houses, brothers who have not spoken for years over a boundary stone. Mid-Fast is a good day to say Abram's sentence: we are kindred.
The second reading tells of the fall of Ai. God says to Joshua: “Stretch out the sword that is in your hand toward Ai; for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua does not lower his hand until the battle is over, and the king of Ai is hanged on a tree until evening and taken down at sunset. It is a fierce story from a fierce age. Origen, preaching on this chapter, read it in the light of the Cross (in substance): the outstretched hand of Joshua, whose name is the same as the name of Jesus, points to the arms of Christ stretched out on the wood, and the enemy hanged on the tree points to the powers of evil that Christ disarmed on the Cross, “triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). At the middle of the fast the Church holds up the Cross before us: the battle is not ours alone, and it has already been won.
Paul longs for the salvation of his people, who have “a zeal for God”, and he shows how near salvation is: “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart”; “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And it is for all: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The Gospel takes us to the end of the great sermon on the Bread of Life. Jesus has said that his flesh is true food and his blood true drink, and many disciples say: “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” They do not misunderstand him; they understand him and leave. “Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” Jesus does not soften his words or call them back with a gentler explanation. He turns to the Twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?” Peter answers for the Church of every age: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” At the midpoint of the fast, some of us are tired, and some have quietly given up. Jesus asks the same question. Peter's answer is still the only one that makes sense.
Theme: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Mid-Fast: Abram's generosity, the outstretched hand that points to the Cross, the word of faith on our lips, and Peter's answer.
“Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred.” Genesis 13:8
“If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Romans 12:18
Apply: Take one step toward peace in a family quarrel over property or inheritance before Palm Sunday.
“No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” Deuteronomy 30:14
“because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
Apply: Say aloud each morning this week: Jesus is Lord, and God raised him from the dead.
“You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11
“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:68
Apply: Take up again one Lenten resolution you dropped, and make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament this week.
At the middle of the fast, the Cross is held up and the question is asked again: do you also wish to go away?
Let go for the sake of peace, confess Jesus as Lord, and stay with the one who has the words of eternal life.
Take-home resolution: Today, renew your fast and take one step toward peace.
Dear friends, today is Mid-Fast, the middle of the Great Fast. It is a good day to look back honestly and to begin again.
Abram and Lot quarrel over land. Abram, the elder, says: let there be no strife between you and me, for we are kindred (Genesis 13:8), and he lets Lot choose first. Then God gives Abram all the land he can see. Many families carry the wound of a quarrel over property. Today, let us take one step toward peace.
Joshua stretches out his hand toward Ai and does not lower it until the battle is won. The Fathers saw in this outstretched hand a picture of Christ's arms stretched out on the Cross. At the middle of the fast, the Church holds up the Cross: our battle has already been won by him.
When Jesus says his flesh is true food, many disciples leave him. He asks the Twelve: do you also wish to go away? Peter answers: Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68). If we are tired today, let us make Peter's answer our own, and walk on to Easter. Amen.
Children, when some people left Jesus, he asked his friends: will you leave me too? Peter said: Lord, where would we go? We want to stay with you! Let us tell Jesus today: I want to stay with you too.
Lord Jesus Christ, at the middle of the fast you ask us whether we too wish to go away. We answer with Peter: to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. Give us the generosity of Abram to let go for the sake of peace, the faith to confess you with our lips and believe in our hearts, and the strength to walk the rest of the way to your Cross and Resurrection. Amen.
The Great Fast reaches its midpoint today, and the readings ask what we are choosing. Abram lets his nephew choose first, and Lot goes by what looks good to his eyes. In John, many disciples walk away from a hard teaching, and Peter answers for those who stay. Between these stand the capture of Ai in the second reading, a hard page of ancient war to be read in the light of Christ, and Paul’s word that salvation is for all who call on the Lord. At the middle of the road the question is simple: to whom shall we go?
Setting.
Abram has come back from Egypt rich, and Lot has flocks of his own. The land cannot support them both, and their herders quarrel (13:5–7). The chapter says that the Canaanites and Perizzites were then living in the land, so this family quarrel takes place in full view of the neighbours.
The “Plain” is the region of the lower Jordan, which looks green from the hills near Bethel. The narrator adds a warning: all this was before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Is not the whole land before you?” (13:9)
Abram is the elder and the one who received the promise, and he could have chosen first. He gives up that right because he knows that the land is God’s to give.
“Lot looked about him, and saw that the plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord,” (13:10)
The words recall Eden, but the next phrase names Sodom. What looks like paradise may be the road to ruin. Lot does not sin in choosing, but he chooses only by what he sees, and soon he has moved “as far as Sodom” (v. 12).
“Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are,” (13:14)
Lot raised his eyes for himself. Abram, having given way, is told by God to raise his. The one who let go of the choice is given more than he could have chosen.
How the Church reads it.
St John Chrysostom, preaching on Genesis, admires the humility of the elder who gives the choice to the younger (in substance). The passage prepares for the Lord’s word, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5), and “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). The Catechism teaches that respect for persons and for the bonds between them belongs to the peace that the fifth commandment protects (CCC 2304).
Setting.
Jesus has fed the five thousand and taught in the synagogue at Capernaum (6:59) that he is the bread of life: “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (6:51), and “my flesh is true food” (6:55). The earlier listeners in the chapter were the crowd. Now it is his own disciples who find this too hard. John does not narrate the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper; this chapter does that work, and this is how it ends.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless.” (6:63)
This does not take back what Jesus has said about his flesh. “Flesh” here is human nature left to itself: human reasoning alone cannot receive this teaching. The Malayalam POC has “body” at this point. St Augustine explains that the flesh would be of no use if it were understood as meat sold in a market, but joined to the Spirit it gives life (Tractates on John 27; in substance).
“Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” (6:66)
Jesus does not run after them to soften his words. The reason John gives for their leaving is the teaching about the bread of life.
“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (6:68)
Peter does not say that he understands. He says that there is nowhere else to go. Sometimes that is what faith looks like at the midpoint of the road, and he says “we”, speaking for the Twelve.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this passage directly: the first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as the announcement of the Passion scandalized them; the Eucharist and the Cross are stumbling blocks, and the Lord’s question, “Do you also wish to go away?”, sounds through the ages as an invitation to discover that only he has the words of eternal life (CCC 1336). Every reception of Holy Qurbana is an answer to it.
Does “the flesh is useless” mean that the Eucharist is only a symbol?
No. Jesus has just said “my flesh is true food” (6:55), and the disciples leave because they understood him to mean it. Verse 63 contrasts “flesh”, human nature on its own, with the Spirit who gives life. The Church believes that Christ is truly, really and substantially present in the Eucharist (CCC 1374), and only the Spirit opens us to this faith.
The midpoint of the Great Fast is marked in the calendar of the Syro-Malabar Church, and in some parishes the Cross is honoured today with special prayers, according to local custom. Today’s Gospel fits the day: halfway along the road, the Lord asks those who remain whether they too wish to go.