朋友们，在今天福音中，耶稣告诉祂刚刚喂饱的群众要信从祂、与祂维系私密关系。为什么这个要求那么难以做到？因为在理智上是违反常规的。为什么这位叫耶稣的人是独一无二的？为什么我要选择祂而放弃其他无数的宗教领袖和哲学家？其他的宗教人士都迷失或误入歧途了吗？我们若仅仅遵从耶稣的理念和原则、模范祂的生活模式，那不是更容易吗？那确实更容易，但祂说的不是这个意思。

 

也许我们可以从耶稣的角度来分析。耶稣想与我们做朋友：“主说‘我不再称你们为仆人，而是朋友。’”如果有人想和你做朋友，你却说：“当然可以！我仰慕你，也很想模仿你的生活方式，但我不想和你共度太多的时光。”你觉得对方会怎样想？

 

基督教的独特之处在于天主想与我们做朋友。对于友谊，我们不能胡闹；不能把它抽象化；不能折中。我们要全身投入。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the crowd, which he just fed, to believe in him and relate to him personally. Why is this so hard? Well, it is intellectually counter-intuitive. Why would this one figure, this Jesus, be the one and only? Why should I choose to relate to him and not the numerous other religious leaders and philosophers? Are all other religious people just lost or misguided? Wouldn’t it just be easier to relate to Jesus’ ideas and principles, to imitate his style of life? Yes, indeed it would, but that’s not what he says.

 

Perhaps we could look at it from Jesus’ side. Jesus wants to be friends: “‘I no longer call you servants, but friends,’ says the Lord.” What if there were someone who wanted to be friends with you, and you were to say, “Oh sure! I admire you and would like to imitate your form of life, but I don’t want to spend a lot of time with you.” How would that strike your prospective friend?

 

What is unique to Christianity is that God is offering us friendship. You don’t mess around with friendship; you don’t turn it into something abstract; you don’t compromise with it. You enter into it fully.

 

2018-4-17

朋友们，今天的福音来自关于生命食粮的对话：“我就是生命的食粮；到我这里来的，永不会饥饿；谁信我的，总不会渴。”天主最初想要做的就是与受造物坐享联谊盛宴、分享生活和欢笑、给予、接受然后再回赠。

 

这就是恩典的循环。我们得到的神圣生命力越多，就更应该把这种生命力送出去，由此获取更多。

 

纵观整部《旧约》，我们可以看到圣餐的意象。依撒意亚说在天主的圣山上将有美味的肉类和醇清的美酒。而耶稣在传道生涯中曾多次设下任何人都可以享用的宴席。天主想与我们共享祂的生活。

 

圣餐仪式充分体现了天主的这一愿望，耶稣激进地把自己等同于饼和酒，让它们变成了祂的肉体和血液，并邀请我们所有人入席分享美食和生命，共同给予、接受和回赠。

 

Friends, today’s Gospel is from the bread of life discourse: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” What God has wanted from the beginning is to sit down with his creatures in a fellowship banquet, sharing life and laughter, giving, receiving, and giving back again.

 

This is the loop of grace. The more we receive the divine life, the more we should give it away and thereby get more of it.

 

Throughout the Old Testament, we find images of the holy banquet. On God’s holy mountain, Isaiah says there will be good meats and pure choice wines. And throughout his ministry, Jesus hosts meals to which all are invited. God wants to share his life with us.

 

This comes to fullest expression at the Eucharist, where Jesus identifies himself so radically with the bread and the wine that they change into his Body and Blood, and then invites all of us around this table to feast and share life, to give and to receive and to give again.