The Gospel Reading of the 18th Sunday (John 6:24-35) describes how the crowd Jesus fed miraculously out of five barley loaves and two fish (John 6:1-15, Gospel Reading of the 17th Sunday) reacted to that sign and how Jesus responded to them.
Jesus knew that they kept pursuing him because they were
hoping to be fed by Jesus again and confronted them (John 6:26). This evolved
into Jesus’ discourse on the bread of life, through which he progressively
revealed himself as the living bread of life to be eaten for eternal life by
those who believe in him (John 6:26-58). Namely, this is Jesus’ self-identification
as the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which he instituted at the Lord’s
Supper on the night before his death (Matthew 26:26-28//Mark 14:22-24// Luke
22:19-20;1 Corinthians 11:23-25). And the Second Reading of the 17th
Sunday (Ephesians 4:1-6) reflects that those who believe in him and eat his
body and drink his blood come together as one body in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, the crowd that tenaciously pursued
Jesus began to lose their interest in him as figured out that the prophet, who
miraculously fed them (John 6:14), like Elisha feeding 100 people out of 20
loaves (2 Kings 4:42-44, First Reading of the 17th Sunday), was
Joseph’s son, whom they knew (John 6:42). But Jesus continued to describe himself
as the living bread of life more elaborately and told that those who desire to
have eternal life must eat his flesh as this living and life-giving bread and
drink his blood (John 6:43-58). Upon hearing Jesus’ self-revelation as the
living bread of life (John 6:26-58), the crowd left and even the disciples
murmured about this because it was so hard to accept (John 6:60-61a). So Jesus asked the disciples, “Does this shock you?”(John
6:61b).
Jesus further explained that the living bread of life,
as his living flesh (sarx) comes with the Holy Spirit, to give life, and
his words are also this life-giving Holy Spirit in essence (John 6:63). This
reminds that he is the Word incarnated in the human flesh to dwell among us
(John 1:1, 14), by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). But the incarnated
Word is not just to be among us but to feed us as the living bread of life for
eternal life.
Alas, many of the disciples just could not take this
truth and left (John 6:66), and
16th Sunday (Mark 6:30-34) 17th
Sunday(John 6:1-15) 18th Sunday (John 6:24-35) 19th
Sunday (John 6:41-51) 20th Sunday (John 6:51-58) 21st
Sunday (John 6:60-69)
Jesus asked the twelve if they would want to leave, as
well (John 6:67). Then, Peter said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you
are the Holy One of God”(John 6:68-69).
The Gospel Reading of the 18th Sunday (John
6:24-35) is the beginning of the crowd’s struggle with the identify of Jesus
(John 6:25-59), as well as, Jesus’ bread of life discourse (John 6:26-58).
The disciples accomplished their mission with the
Jesus’ authority over evil spirit, and returned to him to give him their report
(Mark 6:7-13, 30). It was also when a large crowd appeared, so Jesus and the
disciple quickly sailed the Sea of Galilee and reached an isolated place to
rest (Mark 6:31-32). But the crowd tenaciously pursued Jesus on foot and came
to the place where he would get off the boat ahead of him (Mark 6:33). As he
landed and saw the crowd, he was moved with compassion because they were like
sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34a). So, he taught them many things (Mark
6:34b). So this is reflected in the Gospel Reading of the 16th
Sunday (Mark 6:30-34). Then, Jesus fed the crowd miraculously out of five
loaves and two fish (Mark 6:35-44). The Gospel Reading of the 17th
Sunday (John 6:1-15), was the Johannine version of this feeding by multiplication
of bread and fish.
Upon feeding, Jesus performed another miraculous sign
by walking on the water in catching up with the disciples, whom he sent ahead
of him, away from the crowd (John 6:16-21).
On the day after the day of feeding, the crowd
realized that Jesus and his disciples had already left, and they sailed to
Capernaum in search of Jesus (John 6:22-24).
Jesus sensed that the crowd continued to pursue him
not because they appreciate the sign of multiplying five loaves and two fish to
feed the crowd as great as at least 5,000 but simply hoped to be fed again (John
6:26). So, Jesus confronted them of their motive to follow him:
Amen,
amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but
because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give
you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal (John
6:26-27).
In the above words, as he opened his bread of life
discourse, Jesus commanded to work for food that endures for eternal life, only
given by the Son of Man, Jesus himself. Food that perishes does not endure for
eternal life.
So they became interested in the food that endures for
eternal life and inquired Jesus what work they would have to do for the food
that endures to eternal life (John 6:28). In response, Jesus said:
This
is the work of God, that you believe in the one He sent
(John 6:29).
The crowd, then, asked Jesus for a miraculous sign as
a work of God, in order for them to believe in him, thinking that it would be
like the fact that God worked the miracle of sending manna from heaven (John
6:30-31), And this miracle that they were referencing to, the manna from heaven
sent in the morning and the flesh of quails in the evening by God, in response
to the Israelites complaint about a lack of feed during Exodus, is described in
the First Reading (Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15).
But Jesus told them that the work of God in him was
greater than the miracle of manna:
Amen,
amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father
gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes
down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:32-33).
Jesus built his revelation
of the truth upon the crowd’s thinking of the manna in Exodus as a reference
point in explaining that the food that endures for eternal life (John 6:27) is the
bread of God, given by the Father and comes from heaven, to give eternal life, just
as the manna was given by Him and from heaven. Then, the crowd demanded Jesus
to give them the bread of God from heaven that gives eternal life (John 6:34).
In response, Jesus said:
I
am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever
believes in me will never thirst (John 6:35).
This is the first self-revelation of Jesus in his bread of life discourse (John 6:26-58).In the rest of the discourse, Jesus will further elaborate what he means by he is the bread of life, which keeps those who seek it from hunger. And we will see how the crowd react to Jesus’ further revelation of the truth of this bread. We will also see how the bread of life is different from manna, though both of these are sent by the Father from heaven in the Gospel Reading of the 19th Sunday (John 6:41-51). In this, we will also see that Jesus, the bread of life is the new manna, for eternal life, but the manna during Exodus was not for eternal life (John 6:49, 58).
The Second Reading (Ephesians 4:17, 20-24) tells that accepting
Jesus as the bread of life for eternal life, keeping us from hunger, is to
attain the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness. Do you
understand why so? You sure will by the 21st Sunday as Jesus will
reveal the essence of his bread of life discourse in its Gospel Reading (John
6:60-69). So, stay tuned, as we will
listen to Jesus as he continues to unpack his Christological truth in regard to
the Eucharist for our eternal life, which makes us in new creation in him, for the
bread of life is not a mare material bread but, in essence, with the Spirit of
life, namely the Holy Spirit (i.e. John 6:63; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17).
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