I hope that today's Readings (John 6:35-40 and Acts 8:1b-8) will make you hungry - not for just bread but the Bread of Life, which is Corpus Christi, loaded with the Holy Spirit, the source of eternal life, to fuel your active apostolic life and to retain eternal life.
So, are you hungry for Jesus? If you consider yourself as Christian, especially having received Sacrament of Confirmation, you should.
*****
Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς (Ego eimi ho artos tes zoes).
Ego
sum panis vitae.
I
am the bread of life.
John 6:35
This self-identification statement of Jesus was read
in yesterday’s Gospel Reading (John 6:30-35). And this is read again in today’s
(John 6:35:40). It means that this statement of Jesus is of critical
importance.
When Jesus says, “I am”, we know he is the Lord, as
this is how God identified Himself to Moses.
אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה
אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה (ehyeh aser ehyeh )
– Ego sum qui sum -I am who I am
(Exodus 3:14).
אֲנִ֥י
יְהוָֽה׃ (ani Yaweh) - Ego Dominus - I am the Lord (Exodus 6:2)
Yahweh (יְהוָֽה׃
) means “I am”( אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה/ehyeh),
given God’s self-identification statements to Moses in Exodus 3:14 and 6:2.
And, Jesus, who is the Son of God, and God himself,
uses “I am” statement, he is making a Christological statement.
In John 6, Jesus makes his Christological
self-identification with “I am” statement as the Bread of Life (6:35).
So, we now know that Jesus is the Bread of Life, and
this is the food that endures for eternal life, which he encouraged the crowd
to seek, rather than food that perishes (John 6:27). The food that perishes –
perishable food means physical food – food to sustain biological life. This kind
of food does not endure for eternal life (cf. John 6:32-33, 49). The material
food does not lead us to eternal life, because it is not a vehicle of the Holy Spirit.
However, Jesus, being the Bread of Life (John 6:35) is filled with the Holy
Spirit (Luke 4:1; cf. 4:18) since his Baptism (i.e. Luke 3:22), and was incarnated
through the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). And, Jesus will reveal this truth that the
Holy Spirit, who gives eternal life (John 6:63), nothing else can, recalling that God the Creator gave life to the first
human, Adam, through His breath , which is the breath of life (נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים/nishmat hayyim)(Genesis
2:7).
And Jesus said that this Bread of Life will keep
those who receive from becoming hungry and thirsty (John 6:35).
The Bread of Life will not only satisfy hunger for
good but also quench thirst for good.
This nature of the Bread of Life recalls the water given by Jesus,
welling for eternal life, first given to the Samaritan woman by the Jacob’s
Well (John 4:13-15). And, given John 7:37-39 in connection to John 6:63, the
water from Jesus is the living water for eternal life, which is the Holy Spirit.
Thus, the Bread of Life, which is Jesus himself, is
the source of eternal life. And, to be the physical species of the Holy Spirit,
the source of eternal life, the Theos-Logos
(God-Word)(John 1:1) was incarnated (John 1:14) by the power of the Holy Spirit
upon Mary’s womb (Luke 1:35).
Then, Jesus reprimanded the crowd that they did not
believe this truth because they did not recognize this in the sign that he
performed in multiplying the five loaves of bread and two fish (John 6:1-5)
(John 6:36). Nevertheless, Jesus assured
that this source of eternal life, the Bread of Life, Jesus himself, is
available to all children of God, coming to seek it and therefore, coming to
him, as it is in the will of the Father in heaven (John 6:37-38). And this
reflects another “I am” self-identification of Jesus: the Good Shepherd, who
lays down his life for his Father’s sheep, whom he pastors (John 10:11), given
John 10b-16. He is the Good Shepherd so that the sheep under his pastoral care
might be shepherded to eternal life (John 10:10b-11).
And, Jesus also reveals this Christological truth of the Bread of Life further, as this bread for eternal life is for our resurrection on the last day, as it so willed by the Father, who sent him (John 6:39-40), in connection to 1 Corinthians 15:29-58.
Keep in mind, the Bread of Life is the Body of
Christ (Corpus Christi) of the
Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Because it is Sacrament, it is, in essence,
the Holy Spirit, eternal life, as Sacrament is tangible and visible sign of the
invisible Holy Spirit. And St. Ephrem
the Syrian addressed the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist, because the Holy Spirit is poured into the species of bread and wine on the alter through epiclesis
as presiding priests makes Eucharistic prayer during Mass.
Now, today’s First Reading (Acts 8:1b-8).
We read and reflected, and perhaps, mourned the
death of Stephen, the first martyred Saint of the Church in yesterday’s First
Reading (Acts 7:51-8:1). Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. Given the
fact that the Holy Spirit is the source of eternal life (John 6:63), we know
that Stephen enjoys the benefits of eternal life in heaven. So, we continue to
celebrate and honor the life of Stephen, which is a life in the Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:1-16). And it is eternal life.
The Church, which has been under persecution by
those who are affected by evil, as today’s First Reading and the rest of the
Acts of the Apostles, describe. Did the Church begin to shrink because of the
loss of Stephen or out of fear of further deaths of her members?
No.
The constituents of the Church are all living in the
life of the Holy Spirit and filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Church
herself was born of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, as described in Acts 2.
Therefore, the Church is not afraid of “death”, which has been conquered by the
Resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:54-55; Revelation 1:18).
So, though Saul (later Paul), who was at Stephen’s execution,
was more aggressively persecuting, members of the Church continued to do works
of Jesus in his name, defying threat. It is not just Peter, John, and Stephen.
In today’s First Reading, we can see how Philip was
powerfully converting many hearts of Samaritans.
Why Philip’s ministry works in Samaria was so
effective and powerful and productive?
It must be the Holy Spirit in his ministry that
people in Samaria was hungry and thirsty for. They were hungry for the Bread of
Life and thirsty for the Living Water. And, they must have found this set of the
source of eternal life in his ministry works of Jesus.
As we continue to prepare ourselves to be infused
with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, are we getting ready not only to live in
eternal life – to live life in the Holy Spirit but to share such a life and the
Holy Spirit and everything that comes with the Holy Spirit, as well as the
Word, with others? Are we getting to ready to share the Bread of Life with
others as we go on mission?
No comments:
Post a Comment