19th Sunday in Ordinary Time B – August 11, 2024

 19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B – August 11, 2024

1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2; John 6:41-51

 

Theme: “The Bread that I will Give is my Flesh for the Life of the World.”

We continue our five-Sunday meditation on the “Bread of Life” discourse in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, which we started two Sundays ago. The story of the miraculous feeding of over five thousand people, which we heard on Sunday, July 28^th, served as our gateway into this meditation. In the Last Sunday’s Gospel passage, Jesus boldly proclaimed that he was the bread of life. He assured the crowd followed him that whoever comes to and believes in him will never hunger and thirst. In today’s section, the crowd reacts to Jesus’ declaration, and Jesus affirms with precision that the leaving bread that comes from heaven, which he gives, is his flesh. In the first reading, God miraculously fed Elijah with food, which strengthened him, enabling him to pursue his forty-day and forty-night journey to the mountain of Horeb to meet with God. In the second reading, Saint Paul exhorts the Ephesian believers not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which they were sealed for the day of redemption. He calls them to imitate God in forgiving and Jesus in loving.

Our Gospel passage continues the Bread of Life Discourse. It is preceded by the stories of Feeding over five thousand people (6:1-15), Walking on the Water (6:16-21), and the first part of this discourse (vv. 22-40). A big part of this discourse still follows after our text. It is necessary to remember the context. 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). The following day, the crowd who ate the miraculous food followed Jesus again. Jesus revealed to them that their discipleship was based on a wrong motivation, “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” He then invited them to rather work for the food that endures eternal life, which is faith in him, instead of the food that perishes. The crowd requested of him a sign greater than what happened with Moses when their ancestors ate the manna in the desert during their journey from Egypt to the promised land. Jesus clarified that his Father God, not Moses, gave the manna to their ancestors as they mistakenly thought. Jesus added an essential note here. He said that his Father “gives them true bread from heaven.” Jesus is this “true bread from heaven,” which gives eternal life to the world. The crowd asked Jesus to give them this bread from heaven. Jesus declared that he is the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to and believes in him will never hunger and thirst. Jesus assured them that his will, which is also his Father’s will, is to raise everyone who believes in him on the last day for eternal life (vv. 24-40). Our Gospel passage picks up from here. It is a conversation with images, which can be divided into two parts. The first part tells the murmurs of the crowd (vv. 41-42), and the second is Jesus’ teaching on his relation with his Father and his being the bread of life (vv. 43-51).

In the first part of our text, the Jews murmur about Jesus, who declares that he is the “bread that came down from heaven,” the food and drink that, once consumed, people will never hunger and thirst. Notice that the crowd is now identified as “Jews” from Galilee, just as Jesus is. They know Jesus and his family. They know he is not someone with a high status but a regular Galilean Jew just like them. They murmur because what Jesus says of himself does not correspond with his human status they know very well (vv. 41-42). Note that “signs” (miracles) in the Gospel of John are meant to teach the people and reveal Jesus’ divine identity. However, here in our text, these Jews do not transcend Jesus’ humanity status to reach his divinity. Likewise, today, many believers do not transcend the physical nature of the bread and wine, which become the real Body and Blood of Christ after the consecration. Our Holy Mother calls us to believe that Jesus is the heavenly bread that gives us eternal life.

The second part of our pericope discusses Jesus' answer to the Jews. Jesus teaches them about his relationship with his Father, God. He declares that his Father sent him. His mission is to raise up on the last day those who believe in him. Anyone who comes to him is drawn by his Father. To support his statement, he cites first Isaiah 54:13, in which he reminds his audience of the prophetic tradition, which promised that God would attract and teach all people. Then, he refers to the story of the manna that their ancestors ate in the desert (see our last Sunday first reading) to explain that the manna was a temporary solution to their ancestors’ concern. He is the living bread that gives eternal life, not only to the Jews but to the whole world. He affirms that this leaving bread is his flesh (vv. 43-51). At the celebration of the Mass, we receive Jesus’ Body and Blood. This Holy Communion gives us eternal life on the last day and strengthens us now while on our earthly journey. This is what our first reading teaches us.

In the first reading, Elijah is depressed because Queen Jezebel has promised to kill him. In fear, Elijah is fleeing to save his life. He is heading to the mountain Horeb, where he will meet with God. This trip will take him about forty days and forty nights. In our text, he is only on his first day in the desert and is very hungry and exhausted. Beneath a solitary bush, Elijah complains and prays for his death. God provides him with food and water, which strengthen and enable him to pursue his journey to Horeb, the mountain of God. Like Elijah, we, too, are on our earthly journey to heaven. Like Elijah needed angelic bread to get strength and pursue his journey to meet God in the mountain of Horeb, our souls need Jesus, the Bread of Life, in our spiritual journey to meet God in heaven one day. Jesus calls us to believe in him to have eternal life. “Whoever believes has eternal life.” (V. 47). To believe in Jesus, according to Paul in our second reading, is, first, to put aside sins such as bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling, and all malice, and second, to be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ (Eph 4:30-32). Paul invites the Ephesian believers and us to imitate God in forgiving and Jesus in loving (Eph 5:1-2).

May the liturgy of this Mass enable us to believe that the Eucharist is Jesus’ Body and Blood, which strengthens us in our earthly journey and gives us eternal life on the last day. Amen.

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD