Saturday, August 24, 2024

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world

 
 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
 
- John 6:41-51 
 
After Jesus fed five thousand men (and more women and children) in the wilderness, the people sought to make Him king by force, as they were filled with the bread and fish He provided.  Jesus eluded them, walking on the water, but they followed Him by boat to Capernaum, so He began to teach them and to speak about Himself as Son.  In yesterday's reading, He taught them,  "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
 
  The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  We recall that in John's Gospel, the term the Jews is usually used to denote the religious leadership.  Here Christ is in Capernaum of Galilee, and it is likely the local rulers in the synagogue who know His father and mother.  At any rate, these speak for those who "know" Jesus in the earthly sense of His human birth.

Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."  Here Jesus once again affirms something He alluded to in our previous reading (see yesterday's reading, above).  It is an affirmation that ultimately, our faith is something desired and willed by God the Father, but we have the capacity to reject and resist that faith and that "drawing" power of God upon us.  See Matthew 16:17.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven."  Here, as frequently happens in John's Gospel, Jesus turns their thoughts from an earthly understanding of His language to a holy or heavenly one.  He Himself is the living bread which came down from heaven.

"If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."   Here is at once a revelation of Christ's Passion, death, and Resurrection to come, but at the same time a reference to the Eucharist to come.  This and the verses that will follow (in this Monday's reading) establish this eucharistic significance.  My study Bible comments that Christ's declaration that He is Himself the living bread reveals the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  It notes that John's Gospel doesn't report the details of the Last supper, but rather the significance and truth of these events (which were known to the hearers of the Gospel) by reporting Christ's words. 

Jesus teaches,"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."  This is an important understanding about how faith works.  Christ clearly alludes to the drawing power of the Father upon human beings, and that all starts from there.  Our faith connection, therefore, is not only from Christ the Son Himself, but also from the Father -- as Christ asserts here -- and from the Holy Spirit.  Christ affirms this same understanding about faith as a revelation of the Father within us when He responds to Peter's confession of faith that Jesus is the Son of the living God in Matthew's Gospel.  He tells Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:16-17).  In this sense, Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah:  "And they shall all be taught by God" (Isaiah 54:13 LXX).  So the fullness of our capacity to "become like God," built into our creation as a potential and promise (Genesis 1:26), becomes possible through Christ's life, death, and Resurrection, but the potentials of faith in us begin with the Father's presence and activity in us, even drawing us to faith in Christ.  Everything points to Christ as the key to all things, for even the Father gives to Him this role.  He is the One who will give His flesh for the life of the world, for the everlasting life made possible and given to us through His sacrifice.  The eucharistic language is clear:  the bread from heaven is that which He will give us in the sacrament, making it possible even for the kingdom of God to dwell in us, and for us to hope for the everlasting life in which we dwell with Him.  He gives us this living bread from heaven through His sacrifice made for the life of the world.   In the beginning of the Gospel, we read, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:4-5).   Let us be those capable of seeing and receiving the light, not dwelling with the darkness, for His light is the light of everlasting life.





 
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment