Sunday, August 1, 2021
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15
Second Reading: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
Gospel: John 6:24-35
The Gospel today continues our reading of John chapter 6. The story of Jesus feeding 5000 men with 5 loaves and 2 fish. John called it a sign. Why does he call it a sign? What does a sign do? It points to something else. Signs in the Gospel of John point to Jesus. There are 7 signs in the Gospel of John. What is the sign of the multiplication of loaves saying about Jesus? How did those who saw the sign interpret it?
First of all, it made them remember Moses feeding Israel with manna in the desert during the Exodus. They also remembered Deuteronomy 18: 15 where Moses said, “He will raise up for you a prophet like myself from among the people, from your brothers, to whom you shall listen.” And so, they said, “this is the prophet who is to come into the world.” They wanted to take Jesus by force and make Him king. Their interpretation was not very correct because t misses the type and manner of his kingship. They wanted an imperial king who will liberate them from the power of Rome just like Moses liberated them from the power of Pharoah. This way, they misunderstood the sign.
John wants to make sure his audience don’t misinterpret the sign. To do this, he takes us progressively deeper into the meaning of the miracle. To understand chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, we have to keep in mind that the Exodus story is the dominant motif behind John’s telling of this miracle story. He tells us it was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover. This is the interpretative key that will help us to understand what is happening here. Jesus chooses this most sacred time to teach His disciples that He is the Bread of Life. Later on, He will choose this sacred time again to institute the Holy Eucharist.
The first reading today from the Book of Exodus tells the story of Israel complaining against Moses and Aaron. They are barely one month out of slavery in Egypt. Hungry, they began to grumble and to say that they were better off as slaves in Egypt, “if only we had died at the Lord’s hand in the land od Egypt, as we sat by our kettles of meat and ate our fill of bread! But you have led us into this wilderness to die of famine!” their ingratitude nonetheless, God mercifully rained down bread for them for each day. God satisfied their physical hunger with daily bread. But He was preparing something much deeper which became clearer when Jesus said, “do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.”
When the people came looking for Jesus, He said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” Clearly, they misunderstood the sign. Jesus said to them, “do not work for food that perishes but work for food that endures for eternal life.” Then they asked Jesus, “what shall we do” what work does God want us to do? Jesus answered them, “this is the work of God, that you believe in the one He sent.” Realizing that He was talking about Himself, they asked Him, what sign will you give us so that we will believe in you? This is incredible coming from the same people He miraculously fed and they wanted to take Him by force and make Him king only the previous day. They pressed further to the point of making reference to the manna which their ancestors ate in the desert. Jesus used the opportunity to clarify, “it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven, my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” And they said to Him, “give us this bread always,” Jesus replied, “I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
Remember when Jesus met the Samaritan woman by the well, He said to her, “whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again but whoever drinks the water that I shall give, will never thirst again.” Just as God fed His people with bread from heaven in the Exodus satisfying their hunger and gave them water in Exodus 17 satisfying their thirst, Jesus promises those who come to Him that they will never hunger or thirst. The feeding of the 5000 is a sign that points to Jesus as the Living Bread come down from heaven which anyone who eats will not die but have eternal life. It points to Jesus as the one who alone can satisfy our deepest hunger and thirst. He gives us Himself in the Holy Eucharist to satisfy our spiritual hunger and give us eternal life. Just as manna nourished and preserved God’s people on their journey to the earthly Promised Land, in Christ, God gives us the Living Bread that nourishes and preserves us on our journey to our heavenly promised land.
Happy New Month
Rev. Fr. Chidi Onwuka MSSCC