Sunday Reflections

Eighteenth Sunday of the Year August 01, 2021

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

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In the depression years of the 1930’s millions of Americans were out of work and many thousands were hungry. In a number of cities, religious groups set up breadlines to feed the hungry. One of these was the Franciscan monastery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Every evening, the Friars, Brothers and lay volunteers prepared and gave a nourishing sandwich of bread and meat to hundreds of hungry men and women. It was interesting to note the reactions of the recipients. Many accepted the well-prepared and well-wrapped food with a smile and a thank you. Others, with heads hanging, snatched the food package and shuffled off. Some tore the bag at once and started eating as they hurried away. Most of them ate every last crumb after a silent prayer and put the wrapping into a nearby container, though some would eat only the meat and discard the bread on the roadside. A few discontented ones just opened the package and then threw the entire contents away in protest.

The Gospel of John is very different from any of the other three Gospels. In John you never really know what's what. Water is not really water. Wind is more that wind. Bread is not only bread, it is life. Jesus loves to use double-speak in the Gospel of John, talk that means more than what you first suppose. Today's reading from John is a great example of what I mean. Jesus is talking about bread, but he's talking about more than bread.

Today’s readings challenge us to be more concerned with spiritual food than with physical food and to get our spiritual food regularly from the word of God and from the Holy Eucharist – the Heavenly Bread — because only God can satisfy the various forms of our spiritual hunger.

Today’s gospel passage took place immediately after the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and feeding the five thousand people.  Jesus escaped to the mountains to avoid people from making him their king. Jesus at any time did not want to be a political king. Nor did he want the disciples to be influenced by the ideas of the crowd. Hence he forces his disciples to cross the sea by boat.

The next morning, it did not take long for the crowd to realize that Jesus had disappeared. The crowd then went looking at him. As such, they set out to Capernaum where Jesus and his disciples were known to resort. When they found Jesus on the other side of the sea, they asked when he had come to that place.  The first time they had gone looking for him Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Now the welcome was totally different. He told them directly that it was not out of love or devotion that they came to him.

Jesus had to confront them. He told them that they had truly come not because of any signs they had seen but because they had seen the miracle of loaves.  They did not understand the meaning of what Jesus was doing with regard to his teaching and the miracle. Perhaps they did not even want to understand; they were just seeking their own immediate benefit. Jesus, through his humanity, was representing the presence of God in the world. His presence indicated that God is the source of all our needs: material needs, social needs, emotional needs, and spiritual needs. The abundant feeding with the bread and fish was a sign of much deeper nourishment that comes from God.

Two soldier friends served together in Iraq. One was a dull fellow. The other was sharp. Yet, there was a chemistry that made them inseparable. The slow one was wounded. His friend gave him blood. When he found the fellow whose blood had saved his life, he said to his companion, "I feel like a new man."

Can something ‘New Feeling’ happen within us after receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus during the Eucharist? Something similar should take place each time we receive the Eucharist. Receive the Eucharist well and the chances are good that you take on yourself characteristics of Jesus. We come to mass looking for a spiritual transformation, a refuelling.

May we always seek the spiritual food and get refuelled.

(You are most welcome to add your thoughts and reflections in the comment section below)

Happy Sunday