Word to the Wise
Monday, April 27, 2020 - 3rd Week of Easter - Mon
[Acts 6:8-15 and John 6:22-29]"Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the leaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him, the Father, God, has set his seal." So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." [John]
The dialogue from the Gospel According to John which provides the gospel scripture for today follows the "sign" of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. All of Jesus' "signs" in this gospel are meant to point to him as the one whom God has sent. The crowds see only the physical results and miss the real message. This "misunderstanding" is part of the dramatic method of the evangelist because Jesus is then able to give the true meaning of the "sign." We will be considering the meaning of the multiplication of the loaves over the next couple of days or so. There is much to learn.
We are given a "heads up" in today's introduction when Jesus speaks of "food that endures for eternal life." Physical bread will sustain physical life, but the "life" that Jesus speaks of is a matter of faith. The "works of God" are not simply good deeds that occur after one has come to faith. Rather the very act of believing in Jesus as the one whom God has sent IS the work of God because Jesus bears the very image ("seal")! Jesus will begin to "unpack" this in what follows, which scripture scholars call "the Bread of Life discourse." Perhaps this will take on new and deeper meaning for us in this time of pandemic when reception of "the Bread of Life" has not been possible. AMEN