Sunday Meditation: The Bread of Life, Continued

Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse didn’t finish with last week’s Gospel reading.  Jesus continues after the Jews were murmuring in incredulity.  But Jesus doubles down that He is the Bread of Life, more substantial than the manna which had come down from heaven.  He too has come down from heaven.

 

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said,

"I am the bread that came down from heaven, "

and they said,

"Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?

Do we not know his father and mother?

Then how can he say,

'I have come down from heaven'?"

Jesus answered and said to them,

"Stop murmuring among yourselves.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,

and I will raise him on the last day.

It is written in the prophets:

They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father

except the one who is from God;

he has seen the Father.

Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;

this is the bread that comes down from heaven

so that one may eat it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;

whoever eats this bread will live forever;

and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

~Jn 6:41-51

This week we return to Fr. Geoffrey Plant, who is so marvelous at detailing the full context of a passage.    

 

Did you get all those “I am” statements?  I think the totality of all those “I am” statements constitute the core of John’s Gospel. 

Sometimes what I think gets missed in the Bread f Life Discourse is the foundational element of faith that is required.  It’s not just that Jesus says He is the bread of life, but that he adds, “whoever believes has eternal life.”  This is the second time in this passage He used the word "believe."  Check last week’s reading, verse Jn 6:35.  It’s not just receiving communion that provides eternal life.  Anyone can do that, but it is in believing that you are taking in Jesus that gives you eternal life. 

 

Sunday Meditation: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

 

The perfect hymn to complement today’s Gospel reading is “Eat this Bread (Drink this Cup),” performed here by Taize Music.