I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world

 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."

They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

- John 9:1-17

In yesterday's reading, we were at the end of chapter 6.  Jesus had fed a multitude in the wilderness, and they wanted to make Him king.  He eluded them and went across the Sea of Galilee with the disciples (after walking to them on the water).  But the crowds followed, and He has taught them about the Bread of Life in the synagogue at Capernaum.  He has also taught, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."  Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  In this chapter, we read about a man who was healed of his blindness, and who had been blind since birth.  It is the sixth sign in John's Gospel.  My study bible says that of all the miracle stories in the Bible, this is the only one in which the person was blind from birth.  It says, "The blind man is symbolic of all humanity:  all need illumination by Christ, the Light of the world.  This sign is an illustration of baptism, which is also called 'holy illumination.' "  At this point in the Gospel, Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He attends the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn festival commemorating the Exodus of Israel, a time of living in tents or tabernacles.  He has just taught to the leadership, "Before Abraham was, I AM."   They took up stones to throw at Him, but He hid and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and passed by.

 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."  My study bible suggests here that Jesus openly rejects an assumption common in the ancient world, that all troubles and maladies are necessarily the consequence of personal sin or the sins of parents (see Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 5:9; contrast Ezekiel 18:19-21).  It says, "Though suffering can be the direct result of personal sin, this is certainly not always the case."  Here, this man's blindness is an occasion for the glory of God:  the works of God are revealed in him.  It is not related directly to personal sin.

"I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work."  My study bible says that the work that people do consists of faith (6:29), good deeds (5:29), and repentance (12:40).  The night that comes is both the time after someone's death and the age to come, when there is no longer an opportunity to express faith.  It says, "On that day there will not be faith, but all will submit, whether willingly or unwillingly" (John Chrysostom).

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  My study bible says, "The unprecedented healing of the man born blind confirms Christ's claim that He is the light of the world."

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  My study bible tells us that St. Irenaeus sees in this mixture of clay and saliva a type of creation of humanity from the earth (Genesis 2:7).  It says, "Christ reveals His divinity by restoring part of creation using the same material with which He created humanity in the beginning."

And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.    This pool, Siloam, was on the outskirts of Jerusalem and a considerable distance from the temple.  This pool provided water for rites connected with the Feast of Tabernacles, which, among other things, commemorated the time that water flowed from the rock for Moses.  Siloam, translated, Sent, symbolizes Christ, the One sent by the Father (5:36, 20:21).  My study bible says, "Just as the healing of the blind man confirmed Christ's claim to be the light of the world (8:12), so also, His making use of the pool of Siloam confirms that He is the true purification of the temple and those who worship in it."

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."  Here is a clear story of witnessing.  We can't necessarily explain faith, or how it is has worked in us, and produced the fruits of the Spirit.  We don't know necessarily why something has happened.  And we don't know all the mystery of God and God's work.  But we do know what has happened, what we have experienced, and that is what we witness to.  This question, "Where is He?" reminds me once again of Jesus' teaching about the Spirit to Nicodemus:  "The wind blows where it wishes.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit"  (John 3:8).

They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."   My study bible says that "just as the Pharisees had ignored the healing of the paralytic and focused only on the perceived violation of the Sabbath (5:10-16), here many of them cannot see the glory of God through their own prejudices."

Healing is an important subject to think about.  How it is so central to Christ's ministry and mission is incomparably expressed in today's reading.  Giving us sight is true healing, and the pool named Siloam gives us Sent, the One who is sent, and His entire purpose in having been sent into the world.  It is to heal, on every level, and this is the true meaning of salvation.  To be saved is to be healed, made whole.  The Church isn't supposed to be so much institution as hospital, a place of healing, in all ways, and all that the best in that word suggests.  Christ is the Healer, the ultimate healer, and what He does is to take on all of our weakness and illness and to show us the way to health.  There are several points in today's reading to think about in this context.  There is first of all the occasion of blindness, and blindness since birth.  As mentioned by my study bible, and implied in the questions of the disciples, the ancient and contemporary belief in Jesus' time was that an illness or affliction such as blindness (especially from birth) was due to some form of personal sin.  But Jesus dispels this and God's grace really stands this belief on its head here:   this is not just a sign of sin or even affliction, it is rather an occasion for the glory of God to show through this man.  In that sense, this blind man is somehow chosen.   This is grace in action.  It reminds us very much of something St. Paul will say about his own experience with illness, and something which I like to quote and think of often.  St. Paul teaches (in 2 Corinthians 12) that he was given a "thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan" -- some affliction which tormented him -- in order to keep himself from being too conceited.  He prayed three times for this to be taken away from him.  But the answer he was given was a kind of revelation of grace, and how it changes the way we see ourselves and our lives:  "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."   St. Paul writes, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."  And so we can see a hint of similarity in the ways that grace works in today's reading:  an affliction becomes an occasion for the grace of God.  And we can view our own lives this way.  We may not have the spectacular direct healing this man has.  After all, it is the sixth sign in John's Gospel, and is proclaimed everywhere that we are taught about Jesus' saving mission into the world, and His ministry.  But just as St. Paul was given an illumination about his own "weakness," the "thorn in his flesh" or "messenger of Satan," so grace can work in each of our lives and our perceived imperfections.  Every "weakness" is an occasion for the grace of God, as is each affliction.  We may struggle with problems great and small, but Jesus' saving mission guarantees us that none is without the possibility of saving grace, an element when added that gives meaning and value to whatever is in our lives, no matter how we may view it ourselves, or how "the world" would see it.  We may all have heard the expression, "If life gives you a lemon, make lemonade."   Well, it's grace that teaches us what to do with the lemons of life.  As evidenced from both John's Gospel and St. Paul's Epistle, saving or healing grace works with our weaknesses, our imperfections, and afflictions, and gives us something different, a lemonade.   In today's examples (the man blind from birth and St. Paul with the "thorn in his flesh"), one man is healed completely of his blindness, but another is illumined through the understanding of the work of grace.  But that's what grace does:  it gives added depth and meaning, and it confers relationship.  It changes the ways in which we see things and know things.  It gives us more information about ourselves, our lives, our relationship to God, and to the world.  And to all things is added this grace.  So let us consider what it means to be healed, and to be saved.  It is this one thing necessary that changes all things and how we relate to the cosmos.  An affliction may be a blessing in disguise, with so much more to give us than we know.   Sometimes, it's the affliction that is the very thing that turns us to God, and helps us to receive the true pearl of great price.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

- John 6:60-71

In recent readings, Jesus has fed a multitude in the wilderness from a few loaves and some fish, after which the people wanted to make Him king.  He crossed the Sea of Galilee where the crowds followed  Him, and taught them to labor not for bread that perishes, but for the bread from heaven that endures to eternal life.  He has been teaching on the bread of life -- Himself:  "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."   Yesterday we read that The leadership in the synagogue therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

  Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  My study bible points out here that even His disciples took Christ's teachings on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and many walked with Him no more.   It suggests that to reject Christ's own words regarding the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking of His Blood is to be out of step with His teaching.  It's a difficult Mystery; some attempt a rational explanation and some say the words are pure metaphor.   But my study bible comments that either extreme is dubious:  it's a sacramental teaching and one must accept it in the spirit of Mystery, as a mystical reality.   Such a teaching reflects  the "witness of Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history."   We note again the hand of the Father that is necessary to faith in Christ, Jesus' remark that "I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been grated to him by My Father."

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.   In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  But here in John, Jesus asks about their faith:  "Do you also want to go away?"   In Matthew's gospel, Jesus says that it is the Father who has revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Christ.  But here in John's gospel, Peter's explanation is a very human dependence upon the truth we know:  "To whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  In the Synoptic gospels, Jesus warns them immediately about what is to come -- betrayal, suffering, death, and Resurrection.  But here, it's more explicit and also linked to this faith:  "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"

As we have observed in recent readings, everything goes back to the Father.  Here, Jesus enforces God the Father's mysterious working in us when He tells the disciples, "No one can come to Me unless it has been granted by My Father."  It seems that there is a tremendous linkage between all that happens in Jesus' ministry, and those who gather to Him, and the work of the Father.  It remains a Mystery, one more element of the divine at work in this mysterious Kingdom, and yet is linked intimately with us, and in our relationship to Christ.  Here, Jesus' reference to the Father is somehow negative in character:  those who go away are signs of the Father not having granted something.  Elsewhere, this is a positive statement:  Jesus exclaims that Peter's confession of faith in Christ was "revealed" to Peter by the Father.  Nevertheless, it is here, and the Father is at work in all of this ministry, and in us.  We can only assume that the mystery of faith is present to us in the same way:  the Father's work is in all of it.  Where Christ is, so is the Father, and the Spirit.  And I think that when we read about this ministry, these first human beings who gather to Christ, we have to consider it happening in our time as well.  All these elements are present.  And yet, because we are speaking about Mystery and the divine, this reality is also 'outside time' in other ways as well.  Christ has completed His mission, and it was a mission not only to those present in His time and place, but to all people of all times and places -- those "in the tombs" and those to come.  There is no limit to this ministry.  And what that means is that the saving work of Christ is complete and present to us all.  Our freedom is in our choice.  As has been stated by Jesus in this chapter of John's gospel, the work that remains to be done by us is just faith.  As in Peter's confession here, the work that's really to be done in order to work the works of God is simply faith in the One given by the Father.  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"  (John 6:28-29).   We've already been saved, that's the work of Christ, and He's completed His mission.   Our work is to have faith.  But His whole mission is defined and structured by the Father, and that link is also within us.  And there we come to the great sacramental teaching of today's reading, the linkage with His mystical body and blood.  As my study bible says, I don't think it befits anyone to rationally explain how such a divine Mystery happens, because we're not talking about the reality of "this world" of apples and oranges, so to speak.  Jesus' shocking words, the "hard saying," reflect a divine reality, present to us in this world, in which we are totally and completely dependent on the words of eternal life, as Peter puts it, and also on the fullness of His saving mission, in which He will give His flesh and blood for us.  It is something beyond what we can easily understand.  It requires a kind of faith that we can participate in Mystery, that God -- Father, Son, and Spirit -- does the work, but we participate via faith.  And that in itself is a great Mystery whose workings I cannot explain.  We can, however, see its effects.  As Jesus explains in John's chapter 3, when He says to Nicodemus, comparing the Spirit to the wind:  "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit"  (John 3:8 NIV).   In today's reading, Jesus teaches:  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."    It is with the Spirit that we understand what He teaches and what He does.  We don't direct this process, and rational explanations just don't quite cut it, try as hard as we might.   But we can see its effects in us and in others.  We have a whole history of the body of the Church and its effects in the world and on the world to look toward.  We know where  Christ leads by experience, even if we cannot explain it all.  Our work is the work of faith, and this is the Father's work in us as well.  We are bound up in that Mystery, and we must accept that this is so, that Jesus' work of saving mission is complete, but that we can feel and understand its effects alive and at work in us and among us.  We are bound up in Mystery as deep as any depth we can name, and yet it is also a living part of us, and of this world in the elements of bread and wine -- as deeply bound with our own lives as food of any kind we need.  Let us remember that which we are a part of, and which is a living part of us.  That life is in His word, and how that word takes root in us.   As Peter says, He is the Son of the living God.

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him

The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

- John 6:52-59

In recent readings, it is near the time of Passover, in the second year of Jesus' ministry, approximately one year before His death.  Jesus has fed a multitude in the wilderness, for which they wanted to make Him king.  They have followed Him across the Sea of Galilee, and He's in the midst of a discourse about the true bread of life, or bread from heaven.  Yesterday we read that the leadership in the synagogue at Capernaum complained about Jesus, 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."

The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."  My study bible says here that "Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross, and on the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  We receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, we truly eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants the faithful eternal life, with Christ abiding in us and us in Him."   St. Hilary of Poitiers writes:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ in is us."

"Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.  My study bible comments on the Eucharistic significance of today's entire passage.  It says that Christ's declaration that He is the living bread that gives life reveals the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  John's focus is on the significance and truth of these events such as the Last Supper (events that were already known to his hearers in the early Church, by reporting Christ's own words.

Again, we go back to relationship.  Jesus wants us to be as reliant upon Him for life as He is upon the Father.  The Father sent Him and He lives because of the Father -- so He wishes those who will "feed on Him" to live because of Him.  It's a kind of relationship that will form the basis for all other relationships, because as "food" He will be more deeply a part of us, and we will be more dependent upon Him, than anything else.  That is the nature of the Kingdom that He is a part of and represents.  I think it's important to note that Christ wants us to rely on Him, fully and deeply to rely on Him.  This flesh and blood as food and drink implies something much more than a kind of elective choice on our part of something added to us, although we may think of it that.  Jesus' food and drink that are offered to us speak at once of the tremendous import of His sacrifice of body and blood for us, and at the same time of something so necessary that all our lives should depend upon them and upon our regularly taking them in.  In fact we can't really go far enough into this metaphor to extract the real depth of this dependence and urgency which He is implying.  It just goes beyond understanding.  But somehow what He implies is a kind of deliberate and absolute need coupled with His willingness to make the greatest sacrifice for us.  And if we think about that sort of urgency -- both the levels of our dependence and of His willingness to sacrifice for us -- then perhaps we get a hint of the great and unsurpassing value of the life He is offering us.  I don't think this is life as we know it, because it's far too valuable to be "only that."  Somehow this life is worth all the pain and suffering He will go through, as well as His command that we are to take up our crosses, too.  It's a life that is so rich and so valued, so much a part of the Father's love, that its worth goes beyond everything else and is worth every sacrifice.  It's the pearl of great price, as He put it.  That is, something worth selling everything else to have it (see Matthew 13:45-46).  I don't think the value of this gift can be overestimated, nor its great significance to us.  The Eastern Fathers are known to teach that God certainly doesn't "need" anything in God's perfection, so what we have to see here is the great love that is at work behind this gift.  We return over and over again to the love of God for us, and the gift that is the product of this love.  This pearl of great price, this great gift of the flesh and blood that will feed us for an eternal and abundant kind of life, this deep dependency and the great sacrifice -- all are products of a tremendous love.  And that's really what we always will return to, the love that is there in the gift and the offering, and in the sacrifice and dependency at our deepest levels.  It's up to us what we understand and learn about that gift, and where we allow it to take us, because we have the gift of choice as well.  Love doesn't compel, but wants our voluntary response in kind.  We know what He's done for us and what is on offer, His flesh and blood and the mystical significance of the Eucharist.  And how do we view this gift?

And they shall all be taught by God

 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

In recent readings, Jesus has fed thousands in the wilderness, after which they sought to make Him king, and have followed Him across the Sea of Galilee.  He began to speak to them of the true bread from heaven.  In yesterday's reading, He taught, "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'?"  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.'"  This quotation is from the prophecy of Isaiah (54:13).

"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."  What begins here is a passage teaching the significance of the Eucharist, which we shall read further in tomorrow's reading.  For now, what we notice here is the powerful pull of the Father in all things; even we who may come to Christ do so from a kind of prompting by the Father.  In this sense, Jesus is the "living bread" which came down from heaven, which draws us back to the Father and eternal life.  We remember that this chapter began by telling us that the Passover is near, and so these teachings about the bread of heaven or bread of God are fulfillment of the Old Testament type of the Israelites fed in the wilderness.  This is the second Passover reported in John's gospel; Jesus' death will take place one year from this time.   His teaching regarding His flesh, which He shall give for the life of the world reflects that event to come.

As we've repeatedly seen, all things go back to the Father with Jesus.  The Father is the one who gives the Son to the world.  The Father has sent the Son as the bread from heaven.  But there's something else in today's reading that is so powerful, and significant.   Jesus quotes from Isaiah, saying, "And they shall all be taught by God," and then He tells us, "Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." It is an awesome sort of statement that somehow this "hearing" and "learning" from the Father is also in us.  That means that what Jesus will speak about at the Last Supper is shown all through John's gospel:  that the Father isn't just a far away God so that Christ is sent to us as mediator.  He's saying that the Father is also, somehow, in us and with us.  God the Father, whom the Son follows in all things, is also present in us, teaching us and even speaking with us.  It is the Father who prompts us to follow Christ.  This is a relationship of love that is complete and full, and inclusive of everything, Creator and creature, and all that this means.  Jesus calls those who follow Him that which has been given to Him by the Father.  In yesterday's reading, He taught, "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."  We are part of "all He has given Me."  But today's reading completes the circle.  God the Father's work in us is a speaking and teaching, from which we must "hear and learn" so that we come to the Son.  I can't say that I could define how this mysterious action happens, nor even the depths at which the Father is in us and at which we learn from Him.  But we're promised by the Son that this is so, and that we could not come to the Son otherwise.  It is tied to the love of God, to relationship at the depths of ourselves in the first place. Jesus has taught the leadership that they cannot "hear" Him because they don't have the love of God the Father in themselves in the first place.  So it all starts with this loving relationship with the Father to begin with, somewhere deep inside ourselves.  At the Last Supper, Jesus will become more explicit about the depths and inclusion of such relationship:  "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21).  This is an extension of this relationship:  through the word of the disciples, there will be those who believe and these too will be part of this prayer that "they all may be one" -- as the Father is in Christ and Christ in the Father, so He prays that we may be one in Father and Son as well.  All of this completed, universal, cosmic relationship is bound up in faith and none is separate from the other.  It's not just the Son who has seen the Father, except in the sense that the Son contains all the properties of the Father, is a divine person like the Father.  But Father and Son are also in us, and He is here to let none of us be lost, to let none of us go.  So, we are not just invited but rather guaranteed that we are a part of something so great and so far beyond us that we are included in a relationship of love that invites and includes the entire cosmos, all of creation.  That's what we take from this reading today, and Jesus' amazing words that we "shall all be taught by God."  Again, we we remarked in yesterday's reading, we're given a picture that seems to stand the world on its head.  What if we are really and truly loved and held from the inception of creation, by the very Father whose will the Son always follows?  What if the Father Himself has a voice in us, teaching us?  And that this "voice" is the root of faith in the Son?  In Matthew's gospel, after Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus tells Him, "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).  The most important thing we can realize from this is how much we are loved, how we are held in relationship, and how complete and full is that relationship.  This is the God of love, who acts and works in us to give us an eternal life with Him.  This is the Father who gave us His Son so that we may find this salvation and life in abundance and eternal.  This is the love with which held, created, and sustained -- that wants to give us everything it can and add all things possible to us.

The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world

 "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." 

- John 6:27-40

Yesterday, we read that after feeding thousands in the wilderness, when evening came, the disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.  On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  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."

 "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."  Here is the work:  to have faith, to believe in Him whom He sent.  How can we believe that it's just that easy?  Just that simple?  This is the way that grace works.  God does the rest of the work, even in us.

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."   So powerful is this image of bread from heaven, that those who speak to Jesus cite the Scriptures, in which we can find it referenced three times:  see Exodus 16:4, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 78:24.  But Jesus takes them from "earthly" images of being fed in the wilderness, to a true heavenly bread, one which is bound up with the work of faith.  The true bread of heaven is the gift of God to the world, the Son given in order to save.

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."  My study bible has a note here that tells us that since Christ has two natures, He has two wills.  One will is divine and the other human.  The Sixth Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople in AD 680-681, proclaims these two wills of Christ do not work contrary to one another, but rather "His human will follows, not resisting nor reluctant, but subject to His divinity and to His omnipotent will."    Again we see that with Jesus, everything comes constantly referenced back to the Father.  All things begin there, with the God who is love and who wishes us to be with Him.

Jesus refers everything back to the Father.  We have repeatedly observed this, especially in John's gospel.  Jesus' identity as Son is derived solely from the Father; without Father there is no Son.  Everything is dependent upon the Father.  And the real bread of heaven, He's telling them (and us) isn't that which came down in the wilderness to feed the Israelites when they were led by Moses, and it wasn't even the sign He performed of feeding thousands in the wilderness, so that these people seek to make Him their king.  No, the real bread of heaven is standing in front of them, and it's been sent --  given, actually, is the real word used in John 3:16 -- it's been given by the Father to the world.   The bread of heaven has been given to the world that through this spiritual food, all might be saved.  Not condemned, but saved.  And what does that really mean?  It means that God who is love desires all of us to be with God eternally, in an eternal state of life, not a temporary one.  It means God wants to free us from death.  It means that all the signs that Jesus performs -- and we remember there are seven in this Gospel of John -- all those signs are here to show us what God wants to give us and what it means to be saved.  Salvation means a kind of addition of life to us that changes everything.  It changes the qualities about us, per St. Paul's references to the gifts or fruits of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  It changes our relationships:   “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother"  (Matthew 12:48-50, NIV).  It changes our relationship to the whole of the world, as in this viewpoint we become stewards of the world, guardians and caretakers of all the good gifts we're given by a gracious God.  This bread of heaven gives everything meaning, because the start of everything is this gracious gift and its inception in the love that we must know as the nature of God and thereby the foundation of everything.  And that's going to rock our entire lives.  This God the Father, who loves us and whose love we can truly sense in the great devotion of this Son, teaches us that love is the foundation of all things:  that we are loved, and if we are to understand what it is to be God-like then we will also have to know what it is to live with love, and to make it the foundation of what we do with our lives.  And that will change everything.  And that's what it means, in my opinion, to be saved.  A selfish perspective on love gives us the image that some people are meant to sacrifice everything, and some people are given everything.  Well, that's not love, in my opinion.  That's a whole different reality.  That's a limited, narrow, self-centered, abuse-prone point of view that is all about manipulation.  The real viewpoint of love is different, because love understands that loving is the same as wanting what is really best for us.  Love isn't just indulgence or granting our fondest wishes as in a fairy tale.  It's different, and it works differently.  Love might teach us to be patient and long-suffering, if we need that.  It might teach us forbearance and kindness to others, because these fruits of the Spirit make us truly good, even perhaps great.  Love might teach us to be less selfish, or that there are some things that we can live without.  Love will give us what is really best for us, the same way a good parent will want a child to be healed of illness even if it means using medicines the child doesn't like taking.  Love also means sharing the best gifts.  That's what God the Father brings us, a life in which we can have eternal life, with Him.  Ultimately, love is about this sort of relationship, in which the best gifts are ours, even if we are not quite prepared to understand what is best.  So let's just start there, with the bread of heaven that wants what is truly best for us, eternal life, a kind of life that adds to our live not just in time but also in the here and now, in the qualities we understand are good, that make us more fully human somehow.  That is, truly human in the sense of the fullness of what we can be, in the potentials built into us by Creator that we might not even be aware of in us.  Love can bring us a joy and peace we can't really understand, and not based on visible external circumstances.  It's in John's gospel that Jesus will also tell us that we are given this bread of heaven so that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete (John 15:11), and that He leaves us with His peace which He gives not as the world gives (John 14:27).    All of this is part of this bread from heaven, standing there in Person, the gift of God the Father for the salvation of what it truly means for us to have life.  Can we do the work of that faith?

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

 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  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."

- John 6:16-27

Yesterday, the lectionary skipped back to chapter 6 of John's gospel.  We read that Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.   Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.  Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.  So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.    This is the fifth sign given to us in John's gospel.   It's nearly the time of the Passover, as recorded in yesterday's reading (see above), and we're given more allusions to the time of the Exodus, of Israel leaving Egypt.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus fed the multitudes bread in the wilderness, and today He sends His disciples crossing over the sea, just as the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.  Moses walked on dry ground in the midst of the water; Jesus walks upon the water as if it were dry ground. 

On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone -- however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks -- when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.  And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"  Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  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."   Jesus turns thoughts, once again as is common in John's gospel, from everyday things to the things of God.  Everything works as metaphor, and in this sense, everything is a kind of sign.  It's not so much the bread He fed them that is significant, and for which they seek to make Him king.  What He wants them to understand is the great gift of the heavenly bread He offers, for which the "worldly" bread was a sign.

Jesus repeatedly gives us signs of divinity, signs of the presence of God.  They are signs that only God could make:  walking on water and defying the laws of physics, appearing before the disciples although they left Him on the mountain (defying time and space), the breaking and multiplying of the bread, and the other signs reported so far in John's gospel.  But, the great thing is that these signs are to be read a particular way.  He's just fed thousands of people in the wilderness from five loaves and a few fishes.  But he doesn't want these people to be impressed by that in such a way that they want to call Him king.  This is what He resists, and resists very strongly.  So the text tells us.  Instead, He tells them that they've got it all wrong.  They received that bread and were fed in the wilderness not for the bread itself, but for the thing that the bread is a sign of.  It's that that He wants them to desire.  It's that heavenly bread, heavenly food that is the point.  That's what He wants them to work for.  No matter how spectacular the sign, it's not the sign that's the thing.  It's where the sign is pointing, -- and over and over again, Jesus tells us to look up from whatever material viewpoint we're using and take a good look at what the sign is pointing to.  That's His point.  That's what He wants us to get excited about.  That's what He wants us to work for, to chase after, to thirst and hunger for.  And this is what John's gospel will do for us over and over and over again.  From the surface meaning of the words Jesus uses, He will always point us to a deeper or higher meaning, something beyond the surface of what we see or hear or experience.  The signs work the same way.  These people in today's reading have followed Jesus everywhere, even across the sea, in order to demand to make Him king over them, because He fed them in the wilderness.  But it's not that bread He cares about.  It's the food of eternal life that makes the difference, that He wants them to labor for.  It doesn't matter how great the sign, there is always something more important He's pointing us toward, something more spectacular, and better news, that the gospel message is really all about.  A man walks on water?  Then you have to think about who that Man might be.  Moses crossed the Red Sea, but here is Someone clearly greater than Moses.  Even so, Moses and Jesus have this in common:  it's not the signs done through either one or by either one that are important.  What was important to Moses and what is important to Christ is faith.  Moses may have "pointed" to Christ when he prophesied about the "Prophet" who was to come, and Christ is both God and man, but the great good news is really the grace of God, and the food of heaven that He's here to give and to present to us.  The really good news is in those words to the disciples:  "It is I; do not be afraid."  That's because He's always with us. His grace is with us.  His food -- the food of heaven -- is always on offer to us.   And it's these things that all the signs point to.  It's this reality of grace that is present to us that the signs are meant to speak to us about.  And if we miss that, we miss the entire point.  There's a famous quotation from President John Kennedy, made during his inaugural speech, that many people like to repeat:  "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country."  This was a compelling statement, asking people to think about the community of the country.  But the gospel message stands that on its head.  Jesus is here as the Son Incarnate, and He appears with a different saying.  His message, His signs, say to us:  "God doesn't ask what you can do for God -- God is here to show you what God can do for you."   God doesn't just give food for the day, but food that endures to everlasting life.  We have grace on offer.  Salvation.  Mercy and love are here in the signs, and even in the direct question posed to the paralytic He healed, for which Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath, "Do you want to be made well?"   This mercy, this love, that makes whole, that heals, that feeds us, that gives eternal life, and life in abundance, those are what the signs point to.  That's where He wants us to look.  That's what He wants us to value, and to work for.  Can we see?  And do we have ears to hear?

Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"

 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

- John 6:1-15

This week, the lectionary skips back to chapter 6.  Last week, we read through most of chapters 7 and 8, in which Jesus was attending the Feast of the Tabernacles (an autumn festival, Sukkot in Hebrew) in Jerusalem.  In our last reading, Jesus was speaking to the leadership in the temple:   "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."  Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."  Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon!  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'  Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?  And the prophets are dead.  Who do You make Yourself out to be?"  Jesus answered:  "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing.  It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.  Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him.  And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."  Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

  After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.  Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.  And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.  Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.  My study bible points out the parallels in the whole of chapter 6 to the events of Passover and the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.  In the Exodus account (Exodus 11-17), it says, god first performed signs against Pharaoh, then gave instructions on how to be saved at the time of Passover (Exodus 11:1-12:14).  In today's passage, we read that the multitudes follow Christ because of His signs.  We're also told it is the time of Passover.  In the Exodus, the Jews ate unleavened bread because they were hastily driven out of Egypt and had brought no provisions (Exodus 12:39).  Here the multitudes are fed with earthly bread because they had brought no provisions, rushing to see Him and taking no thought for other things.  In the Exodus, Moses leads the people across the Red sea and walks on dry ground in the midst of the water (Exodus 14:15-31).  In tomorrow's lectionary reading, we will see that  Jesus sends  His disciples across the sea and then walks on the sea as if it were dry ground.   Finally, in the Exodus, God fed His people manna and gave them drink from a miraculous water source (Exodus 16:1-17:7).  Later on in chapter 6, Christ declares Himself to be the true food and drink, the true bread that has come down from heaven.  My study bible says, "These parallels show that Christ our God is the fulfillment of the old covenant, and that the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood, which free mankind from the slavery of sin, fulfill the sacrifice of the Passover lambs (1:29), which brought the people out of slavery into the Promised Land."

Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"  But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.  Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."  One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"  My study bible suggests that Christ is testing Philip here to increase His faith and so that Philip would get help in understanding Him (14:8-10).  Two hundred denarii is worth six months wages for a contemporary laborer.  My study bible says that Andrew has greater faith than Philip.  The prophet Elisha had multiplied bread for 100 men (2 Kings 4:42-44), and so he offers the food brought by a lad.  Andrew, however, also shows a "weakness" in faith, questioning what five loaves could do for so many people.

Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.  So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."  Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.    This feeding of the multitude is so central to the message of Christ that it is reported in all four Gospels.  It is the fourth sign given in John's gospel.  Jesus' taking of the loaves, giving thanks (which is eucharisto in the Greek), and distribution of them prefigures the celebration of the Eucharist.   Later on in this chapter, Jesus will teach about the bread of life.

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."  Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.   The Prophet was a figure predicted by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).   But the faith of these people that Jesus is "the Prophet" is predicated on their being fed with "earthly things," worldly goods, and misses entirely the spiritual dimension of worship and relationship to God.  Because of this misunderstanding, says my study bible, Jesus departed from them.  His mission is not to become a worldly king.  It parallels the image of the people of Israel desiring a king to rule over them in the Old Testament, such as the Gentiles had.  But Jesus is not that kind of King, and His is not that sort of Kingdom.

Over and over again, we return to Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman:  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.   Just doesn't want to be a worldly king.  Perhaps, we could ask, if they had truly understood Him?  But His disciples never ask Him to become king.  Perhaps they expected that this would happen, that the coming of the Kingdom would really fully be a complete kingdom such as the Roman Empire was ruled by Caesar and had conquered pretty much the known world.  Perhaps a king like Alexander the Great, who really had gone to the end of the continent and ruled from the Mediterranean across all of Asia.   But none of this happens.  This is a different thing going on here, a different call, a different kind of rule.  This is a kingdom of love.  Worldly rule is different.  This gift given to the people is given from love.  It's not a "proof" even though it is a sign of the presence of the Kingdom about which Jesus speaks.  Jesus isn't looking for votes, either.  But He's looking for hearts that will respond in spirit and in truth.  He's looking for those who can "recognize" who and what He is.  And He's looking for the hearts that love and respond to God the Father, and in them He will find His sheep.  That's what this is all about.  In that sense, this feeding in the wilderness is a sign to all about what kind of Kingdom this is.  Giving thanks becomes a key to that in the sense that we understand the goodness of God, the goodness of the gifts were given, and that the gifts are given not as bribe or manipulation but as extension of love.  That's where the reality of this Kingdom departs from, and become so much more than, the reality of what we call "worldly."  Not that the world isn't part and parcel of the Kingdom, not that all that is of this world is somehow incorporated and transformed in the grace and energy of that Kingdom, but that the Kingdom is a kind of energy and reality that adds so much as to transfigure what a gift really is and means.  It's the energy of love that transforms a gift into something that is truly of the heart, and reaching to the heart of the recipient.  And that's where we "worship in spirit and truth," in the heart.  What we give thanks for is that sort of a gift.  It may look like our every day currency of life:  bread and fish, food, which are also things we depend on.  But this gift is tinged with something more than that; it's a gift from a Father who loves us and wants us to be fed with more, and to understand our need for spiritual food -- that this is inseparable from true well-being, wholeness, the fullness of who we really are and can be.  That's how the Eucharist links us up with the body and blood of Christ.  It becomes the presence of the Kingdom with us and in us. It becomes a kind of reality that infuses everything else, and that's the nature of grace.  And this is what we have to remember about this Kingdom.  It may touch everything.  It fills with meaning.  It gives everything another added dimension.  It teaches us about spirit and truth.  It also makes relationships, because its whole nature is love, as will be written in a letter of John, the author of this Gospel.  It adds a boundless reality to that which we know with our five senses.  Let's remember what this is, what it is to be fed with this, and the nature of this Kingdom.  For all that, we may be truly grateful.