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. 

 

Sunday Meditation: The Bread of Life

Last week, the Gospel reading had Jesus feeding the multitude.  After giving them this incredible sign, some dodo this week asks him, “What sign can you?” 

 

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,

they themselves got into boats

and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

And when they found him across the sea they said to him,

"Rabbi, when did you get here?"

Jesus answered them and said,

"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."

So they said to him,

"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"

Jesus answered and said to them,

"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

So they said to him,

"What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?

What can you do?

Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

He gave them bread from heaven to eat."

So Jesus said to them,

"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."

 

So they said to him,

"Sir, give us this bread always."

Jesus said to them,

"I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me will never hunger,

and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

~Jn 6:24-35

Bishop Barron gives one of the great sermons on this passage. 

Everything disappears.  Nothing endures.  The Fourth of July fireworks – poof!  Gone.  Baseball game, as much as I hate to say it, the game ends, the season ends.  The players I grew up with, I will always remember, but they are gone now, most of them to their eternal reward. 

 

Sunday Meditation: "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

 

Of course, today’s hymn has to be John Michael Talbot “I Am the Bread of Life.”

 

So lovely.  This is another song I had thought original with Talbot, but it was actually composed by Sr. Suzanne Toolan for the Sisters of Mercy back in 1964.  I found this lovely video on Sr. Suzanne’s life.

 

Thank you Sister Suzanne.