We are in the eighteenth Sunday of ordinary time. The gospel of today
from John 6 is the continuation of last Sunday which will be followed in the
next Sunday as well. John 6 is the source for Eucharist – it is called as
Eucharistic discourse. In this chapter, Jesus does the miracle of the
multiplication of bread, relates that to Himself as living bread and affirms
the necessity of His continuous presence in the world.
In the wilderness people grumble against Moses and Lord that they were
brought there to die in hunger (Ex 16:3). From the text we can infer that they
lacked food which is essential for living. If stomach is not filled properly,
all other things get affected automatically. And so, people had right to appeal
to Moses and get necessary food. But their complaint is not directed to the
eradication of food problem rather oriented toward comfort. They compare their
wilderness life with Egyptian slavery and say that they had enjoyed good food
(fleshpots and meat) in Egypt (Ex 16:3).
It is a lie. How can we imagine someone having good food in slavery? Of
course, they were frustrated with little food or having same kind of food
everyday but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have freedom to eat or barred
from eating leisurely. In Egyptian slavery they neither had sufficient time to
eat nor had proper food to get necessary nutrition for the hard work. Here in
wilderness, with all relaxation and freedom springs lie from their mouth to
increase their comfort. Lie is one of ancient and primordial sin which made man
to be stubborn and continue to sin. The serpent lied to human, following its
craftiness human lied to God, and thus sin entered the world. Now the freed
Israelites lie to Moses and Lord – the
beginning of their fall in wilderness. Although they lied, God with His
merciful heart provides them manna and meat for forty years, until they entered
the promised land.
Jesus was a great teacher of His time. People flocked to listen to His
teaching because He welcomed everyone without any discrimination and taught
them with authority. To come and listen to Jesus is not simple. They had to
forgo their days work, wages,… they also need to see to their material needs
such as food and water. Despite all these discomfort people ran to be with
Jesus. It is to them that Jesus performs the miracle of multiplication of
loaves, which can serve as a sign that His teaching has authority and has God’s
approval. If God is not in harmony with Jesus’ teaching the miracle would not
have taken place. Hence, the miracle is an affirmation that Jesus has God’s
approval. Sadly, people fail to see this miracle as a sign. They go in search
of Jesus to witness this miracle again and again. Jesus rebukes their attitude.
The people who came to listen to Jesus without bothering about their material
need have now turned their focus from Jesus to food which He gave. They are in
search of a person who can give them their daily bread.
Despite witnessing great miracle, people once again ask for sign from
Jesus quoting manna in the Old Testament as a sign for Moses’ prophetic role (Jn
6:30-31). Jesus corrects them that the manna given to their ancestors was not by
Moses, rather by God in which Moses was only a mediator (Jn 6:32). Manna was a
food for their journey to the promised land. Now God is giving new manna for each
one’s journey toward eternal promised land. Jesus promises this new manna as a
sign. In response to people’s request to give this new manna, Jesus tells them
that it is He who is new manna. Whoever eats Him will live forever, never be
hungry, nor ever be thirsty (Jn 6:35). The priestly class of Jesus’ time
neglected their duty of teaching God’s ways to people. Consequently, hunger and
thirst for God increased among people. Jesus was clearing people’s hunger for
God’s word and their thirst for God’s mercy. In doing so, the miracles and
exorcisms that Jesus did were only signs for the people to place their trust in
Him. The real need of the people was not material food but a spiritual food.
Jesus with His discourse tells them to have their focus fixed. May they be
filled with the teachings of Christ so that they may act in God’s way. Unless we
hear, we do not act. Unless we have input, there is no possibility for
qualitative output. Jesus is the source of their and our input. Without listening
to Him we go astray. Let us listen to Him, without being distracted by few
blessings that we enjoy from Him. Let us be focused on Jesus.
Comments
Post a Comment