Jesus, the Food of our Life

August 1, Sunday

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus confronts us today with the question: “Why are you looking for me?” Why are we looking for God, for Jesus? Is it merely for the things he gives us? We receive much from God, that is true, but do we look for Jesus for himself, for what he means in our lives? It is he who makes our life meaningful and tells us how we can keep growing as his brothers and sisters. And he also asks to learn from him to give ourselves to others, to become each other’s food and drink. Let us ask him to teach us how.

 

First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4,12-15

On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole company of Israel moved on from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. The Israelites said, “Why didn’t God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!”

God said to Moses, “I’m going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day’s ration. I’m going to test them to see if they’ll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration.”

God spoke to Moses, “I’ve listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: ‘At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you’ll eat your fill of bread; and you’ll realize that I am God, your God.’”

That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What is it?). They had no idea what it was.

So Moses told them, “It’s the bread God has given you to eat. And these are God’s instructions: ‘Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for everyone in your tent.’”

 

Second Reading: Ephesians 4:17-19

The Old Way Has to Go

And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.

 

Gospel: John 6:24-35

          The next day the crowd that was left behind realized that there had been only one boat, and that Jesus had not gotten into it with his disciples. They had seen them go off without him. By now boats from Tiberias had pulled up near where they had eaten the bread blessed by the Master. So when the crowd realized he was gone and wasn’t coming back, they piled into the Tiberias boats and headed for Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

 When they found him back across the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

 Jesus answered, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free.

The Bread of Life

 “Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”

 To that they said, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”

Jesus said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”

They waffled: “Why don’t you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what’s going on? When we see what’s up, we’ll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert. It says so in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus responded, “The real significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.”

They jumped at that: “Master, give us this bread, now and forever!”

Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.

 

Prayer
Our living God,
we hunger for lasting life and happiness
and the fulfillment of all our hopes.
Satisfy all our hungers
through your Son Jesus Christ,
our bread of life.
And when he has filled us with himself,
may he lead and strengthen us
to bring to a waiting world
the food of reconciliation and joy
which you alone can give to the full.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Why do you look for Jesus?

We often misunderstand our God as a miracle worker; as someone who solves all our problems with miracles. Pause for a moment and think of the content of our prayers to God … are they all for some miraculous intervention of God in our lives or in the lives of our loved ones? For a healing, for success in business, for so many of our needs over which we have no control… Today’s Gospel says Jesus runs away from them and goes up the mountain alone.

Jesus going alone to the mountain is a clear sign. In the Bible, a mountain refers to the place where people conversed with God in prayer. Today the gospel invites us to go up the mountain of prayer – the mountain of personal relationship with God, and not to run after miracles.

People were looking for Jesus because he had just fed over five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. In the very next scene, the disciples are presented in a boat, caught in the midst of a storm. The evangelist John presents the inner turmoil of the disciples. They were totally disturbed because, they understood the proposal of Jesus – Jesus invited them to follow the example of the little boy who dared to share his bread. He did not keep it for himself. He did not ask the people to pay for it. He gave up all he had to satisfy the hunger of the multitude – the hunger of the world. Now it is the turn of the disciples and their hearts are troubled because accepting this proposal is difficult.

Therefore, the reference to the turbulent sea is the agitation of the Christian community. The Word of God calls for a conversion, a radical change in life’s choices. This is the fear that every believer experiences when we do not see Jesus by our side. We do not feel him near us, and we are agitated.

But, once we welcome him in to our boat, into our hearts, the waves are calm. And at this point begins today’s gospel passage.

The passage was written for us; today we need to understand well what Jesus wants to do with our lives. We are the disciples tossed by the waves of the sea today. Jesus wanted to introduce to his disciples and the crowds, the new world – the world of sharing, mutual support, where there is no more hunger. But we are agitated at his proposal; but we are still seeking him, for the wrong reason.
Are we looking for God or the loaves and fishes?

 

Video available on Youtube: Why do you look for Jesus?