Word to the Wise
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 - 3rd Week of Easter - Wed
[Acts 8:1b-8 and John 6:35-40]"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst....And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my FAther, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day. [John]
These words continue the Bread of Life discourse that follows on the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in the Gospel According to John. The first line is repeated from yesterday's gospel scripture. In the Last Supper discourse, in the portion called "the High Priestly Prayer," Jesus prays about those who believe in him: "Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me..." It is the relationship of faith in Jesus as the one whom God has sent that creates eternal life in the believer.
Close friendships take time to develop. But when the initial attraction moves to a level of trust and acceptance, the love manifested in the relationship gives life to both persons. This is the best analogy I can think of. St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of human friendship as one of the best analogies of a human relationship to God. We can see the development in some of the encounters between Jesus and various characters in the Gospel According to John. The Samaritan Woman (ch. 4) and the Man Born Blind (ch. 9) go through "stages" in their encounters with Jesus and "come" to believe.
One of the most decisive moments in a human relationship comes with the mutual decision about the physical expression of the relationship - the level and mode of affection that signify the depth of the relationship. In the second part of the Bread of Life, Jesus moves to that physical expression, and this becomes a very decisive moment for those who believe in him. As Jesus' adversaries ask: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" [John 6:52]. The moment of decision will be posed in tomorrow's gospel scripture. Stay tuned! AMEN
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