This week’s Letter to the Ephesians, though probably not composed by Paul, captures his spirit and his consistent call for unity: One body, spirit, hope, faith, Baptism, and God of all.

Who loves a challenge? Let’s have a show of hands! That’s great. Now consider: Who loves being publicly called out and verbally thrashed for doing wrong? Fewer takers? If your assembly is normal, chances are they don’t really want a bold homily.

John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.” Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. ...

In ancient times children were sacrificed to the pagan god Moloch in an area known as the Valley of Hinnom (Ge Hinnom in Hebrew), just south of what became the city of Jerusalem. By the time of Christ, the Greek word Gehenna had become associated with an evil place of fire, stench, and rotting flesh where wormy maggots never die—yuck!—in other words, hell.

Like the crowds who followed Jesus, we seek him and ask him for forgiveness and healing.

Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them. The stories of Jesus’ multiplication of food and feeding of large numbers of people are told six times in the gospels, and readers therefore would be correct not only to note their importance but also to hear in them overtones of the eucharistic celebration.

John 6 invites us to live into a grace-filled inheritance, a timely calling because most of us tend to live on the edges of what God has to offer. —Charles Hoffman, The Christian Century, Jul. 25, 2006