18th Sunday in Ordinary Time B – August 4, 2024
Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35
Theme:
Jesus is the Bread of Life
Since
last Sunday, we have embarked on a profound journey, setting aside the reading
of Mark’s Gospel to delve into a five-Sunday meditation on the “Bread of Life”
discourse in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John. The story of the miraculous
feeding of over five thousand people, which we heard last Sunday, served as our
gateway into this meditation. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus boldly proclaims
that he is the bread of life; a declaration that holds immense significance. He
assures us that whoever comes to and believes in him will never hunger and
thirst. The first reading recounts how God, through Moses, provided sustenance
to the people of Israel with manna in the desert. In his letter to the Ephesian
believers, Paul urges them and us to shed our old selves and embrace the new
self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Our
Gospel passage begins the Bread of Life Discourse. It is preceded by two
stories: Feeding over five thousand people (6:1-15), which we read last Sunday,
and Walking on the Water (6:16-21), which the lectionary skipped. These two
stories introduced the bread of life discourse. Over five thousand people followed
Jesus because they had seen how Jesus healed the royal official’s son (see John
4:46-540) and the man at the pool on the Sabbath (see John 5:1-9). Jesus fed
all of them with just five barley loaves and two fish that he multiplied
miraculously (6:1-15). In the evening of that day, Jesus’ disciples left on a
boat, going across the sea to Capernaum without Jesus. It was dark, and the sea
was stirred up because of the strong wind when they saw Jesus walking on the
water toward them. They were afraid. Jesus told them, “It is I. Do not be
afraid.” (6:14-23). Today’s Gospel section picks up from here. It is a conversation
between the crowd and Jesus. It can be divided into two parts. The first
conversation discusses the crowd’s motivation for following Jesus and what they
might do to believe in him (vv. 24-29.) The second conversation deals with the food,
especially with Jesus’ statement regarding him being the true bread from heaven
(vv. 30-35).
Let
us analyze the first part. The people who ate the miraculous food in the
previous story follow Jesus again. The narrator says that they “got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea,
they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” (vv. 24-25). Pay attention to
two verbs that the evangelist used here: “looking for Jesus” and “they found
him.” These two verbs, to “seek and find Jesus” constitute one of the
significant themes in the Gospel of John. It is always associated with
discipleship. However, this is not the case with this crowd. They “seek and
find” Jesus with no intention to become his disciples. Jesus reveals it to them,
“ You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the
loaves and were filled” (v.26). Note that the purpose of the “sings” (miracles)
in the Gospel of John is to reveal Jesus' divine identity and draw people to
believe in him. So, despite the sign of the multiplication of the loaves that
this crowd ate, they did not believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Their discipleship
is motivated by the material needs, “the food that perishes.” Instead, Jesus
invites them to work for the “food that endures for eternal life.” This crowd
asks what they can do to accomplish God’s works. Jesus’s answer is that they should
believe in him. So, faith in Jesus is the “food that endures for eternal life” that
the crowd should work for. This first part of the Gospel challenges us to
examine our own discipleship. Why are we following Jesus? Why do we pray every day? We follow Jesus and pray
daily, not because of material needs but because of our faith in God. Faith in
Jesus must be the only motivation for our Christian lives. We “seek and find
Jesus” to become his disciples because we believe he is our God.
In
the second part, the crowd asks Jesus to perform a sign (miracle) that they can
first see before they believe. “What sign can you do, that we may see and
believe in you? What can you do?” (V. 30). Here, the evangelist again uses two
verbs, “see” and “believe,” which compose another essential theme in the Gospel
of John. The crowd places “seeing” first and “believing” next, but in Jesus's
logic, “believing” comes first. Only those who believe in him can truly see. This
crowd does not believe in Jesus first, which is why they did not see Jesus’
divine identity in the sign of the multiplication of the loaves Jesus performed
before. Our Holy Mother Church teaches us that we cannot base our faith on the
miracles we want to happen in our lives. Faith in Jesus must precede the
blessings we ask God. We should always have faith in God when we see or do not
see with our physical eyes the blessings we need. Every day God accomplishes marvelous
deeds in our lives. We must first believe in him to see them with our spiritual
eyes.
The
crowds of our Gospel story do not believe in Jesus, so they cannot see Jesus’
divine identity through the sign of the multiplication of the loaves they ate in
the previous story. Yet they request another sign here. They expect Jesus to
perform the sign greater than what happened with Moses in the desert with their
ancestors. “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave
them bread from heaven to eat.’” (V. 31). This is the story we heard in our
first reading. The Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron because of their
hunger for physical food. God, through Moses, fed them with the “bread from
heaven” called “manna” (Ex 16:2-4, 12-15). Back to our Gospel, Jesus replies to
the crowd, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from
heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of
God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John
6:32-33). Pay attention to how Jesus changes things here. (1) The past tense “Gave”
is changed to the present tense “gives.” (2) The pronoun “he,” which refers to Moses,
is changed to God the Father. (3) The “bread from heaven” God fed the Israelites
with becomes the “ ‘true’ bread from heaven.” Notice the adjective “true” that
is added. (4) The recipients of the manna are no longer the Israelites only but
become now the “world,” meaning the believers from all nations. (5) The manna, which miraculously appeared in the
morning and disappeared later in the day, is replaced by the “true bread from
heaven,” which gives life, not temporarily but eternally. Through all these
changes, Jesus teaches them and us that he is the “true bread from heaven” sent
by God to give us eternal life.
When
the crowd hears Jesus talking about the “true bread from heaven,” which gives
the world eternal life, they ask Jesus to always give them that bread. In his
answer, Jesus tells them that he himself is that bread of life he talks about.
Whoever comes to and believes in him will never hunger or thirst (vv. 34-35).
Our Gospel story temporarily ends here. Next Sunday, we will continue to see
how the crowd will react to Jesus’ statement. Through verses 34-35 that end
today’s section, the Church teaches us that Jesus is the Bread of Life, the
Eucharist we receive in the Holy Communion and adore in the Blessed Sacrament. We
are called to come to Jesus through the sacraments (especially the sacraments
of the Eucharist and Confession) and believe in him. Coming to Jesus and
believing in him implies discipleship, living a person-to-person relationship
with our Lord. This involves repentance. In Saint Paul’s terms, as we heard in
our second reading, it is putting “away the old self of [our] former way of
life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of
[our] minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and
holiness of truth.” (Eph 4:22-24).
May
the liturgy of this Mass enable us to always believe in Jesus, come to him,
receive him in the Holy Communion, and adore him in the Blessed Sacrament.
Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
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