Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 1, 2021 - 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Exod 16:2-4, 12-15; Eph 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35]"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." So, Jesus said to them, "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.." So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." [John]
I am no scripture scholar. I rely on my good friend and former student parishioner, Fr. Felix Just, SJ., for that. (cf. Catholic-resources.org). But, after years of preaching about the Gospel According to John, I have come to the conclusion that it could be summed up in this statement: "Jesus is the one whom God has sent." If we believe this, then everything Jesus does in the Gospel According to John makes sense and invites us to believe in him. When we do this we are "accomplishing the work of God." Every "sign" that Jesus works, and every encounter/discourse points to Jesus as the bread of life, the light of the world, the vine and the branches, the Good Shepherd, the life-giving water, etc.. When the audience says, "Sir, give us this bread always!" they seem to echo the words of the Samaritan woman earlier in the gospel, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." [4:15]
Today's gospel passage is taken from "the Bread of LIfe" discourse which follows the sign of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. This "sign," like all the others in the Gospel According to John, is recounted for the purpose of stating that Jesus is the one whom God has sent. But, today's passage not only points to Jesus as "the bread of life," but also prepares us for the way in which he will express this by leaving us his Body and Blood to consume. We are told that some disciples found this too hard to accept and left Jesus to return "to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, 'Do you also want to leave?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.'" As the baptismal rite puts it: "This is our faith. This is the faith of the church..." AMEN
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