Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We are in the second week of our five-week series of the Bread of Life discourse. We began with the multiplication of loaves last Sunday. Today, Jesus takes us beyond the multiplication to “the food that endure to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you" (Jn 6:27). The multiplied loaves was also given by the Son of Man. But there is something different about “the food that endures up to eternal life.”
The Psychology of Hunger
I want to begin, though, with the first reading, where the Hebrew people grumbled because of hunger. The people said, "Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt…” (Ex 16:3). In other words, they’d rather risk slavery and have food than have freedom and not have food.
There is an entire field of study called the psychology of hunger. It tells us that food is a powerful motivator. Hunger makes people not only be extraordinarily resourceful but also take risks or do things that they would not otherwise do. The people in the desert were not unreasonable. They were hungry. Don’t we use the word ‘hangry’ when hunger makes us irrational?
Before we comment on the rebellion of the people in the desert, we must examine our own relationship with hunger. If we never have risked starvation, we must be careful not to judge people who’d rather work to avoid starvation than spend time on spiritual matters. Similarly, we must be extremely compassionate with people who today face hunger, famine, and death by starvation. They are spiritual in their own way, not just in the same way as us who do not face hunger and starvation.
Man does not Live on Bread Alone
But then, what do we make of Jesus’ words, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life…” (Jn 6:27). To understand this, perhaps we need to look at other times when Jesus talks about food and spirituality. For example, when Jesus was tempted in the desert to change stone into bread, Jesus answered, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). Jesus did not stop eating after he came out of the desert but began his ministry with great zeal. Again, in the story of the Samaritan woman when the disciples returned with food and urged Jesus to eat, he said, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work” (Jn 4:32). Jesus did not give up food, but he was teaching his disciples that there are things as important as food.
For a moment think about the time, the energy, and resources we invest in providing for our basic needs. And rightly so, because our basic needs sustain our lives. When Jesus says, “Do not work for food that perishes”, I don’t think he is asking us to quit our jobs. Rather, Christ is telling us that as eager we are to provide for our basic needs, that eager must we be to discern and accomplish God’s will. A person may do well in providing for the basic need of the family, but if the same person has lived an undiscerned life and goes back to God without fulfilling the purpose for which God created him or her, a life would have been wasted?
Today, Jesus is cautioning us against sacrificing eternity by putting all our time, energy and resources into securing our earthy life without also putting the same time, energy, and resources into feeding our souls.
Bread and Bread of Life
Finally, let us come to the difference between the ordinary bread and the Bread of Life. In the Old Testament, the difference between the bread the people ate in Egypt and manna in the desert was that the latter was given by God. As Moses said, "This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat” (Ex 16:15). No one knew what manna really was, how it came about, or where it came from. It was a form of miraculous bread that God gave them. In the New Testament, the difference between the bread that Jesus multiplied and the Bread of Life that God gives, is Jesus. The multiplied bread was barley loaves but the Bread of Life that God gives, is Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life that comes down from heaven” (Jn 6:35).
Just as we know very little about manna, we only know that at the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit somehow transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. We do not know how it actually happens. The Catholic explanation is transubstantiation, but it is only a theological explanation. The fact is that just as the Hebrew people had manna in the desert, just as the five thousand people had enough food from five loaves and two fish, today from this altar we will receive Jesus in the form of Bread. This bread is the Bread of Life. This cup is the Cup of Salvation.
Both bread and Bread of life are important. It is Christ who taught us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread.” The same Christ also teaches us that without Him, without the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation we risk eternity.
May our compassion for the hungry and our participation in the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation bring us to eternal life. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph