Eighteenth Sunday of the Year August 01, 2021
Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians
4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35
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
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