He Is the Bread of Life

Aug. 4: Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

As always, Bishop Barron has a better homily than I can imagine writing. You should probably read my reflection first, to avoid disappointment.

Reading 1 

Ex 16:2-4, 12-15

The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!"

Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not.

"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat."

God gave the Israelites free bread from heaven. They didn’t have to plant and harvest wheat, grind the grain, bake the bread. They didn’t have to do anything! How was this a test?

Turns out, it’s a test of faith. God wants them to see that they must rely on him for everything. If they save their manna for another day, they won’t need God to leave it for them the following morning. It would also mean they don’t trust God to provide for them that next day.

It’s hard to accept that kind of radical dependency. Especially so in our modern day, when we’re sitting in air-conditioned comfort, not wandering the desert with a half million other refugees.

Responsorial Psalm 

Ps 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54

R. (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
What we have heard and know,
and what our fathers have declared to us,
We will declare to the generation to come
the glorious deeds of the LORD and his strength
and the wonders that he wrought.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
He commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven;
he rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountains his right hand had won.
R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Exodus is a long and complicated book. There’s more to it than simply leaving Egypt, which is why it gets recapitulated frequently in the Bible, including this psalm.

The details are as important as the whole. That’s why this little section recounts the importance of the manna. Generations passing along of these stories are why Jesus was able to use the manna as a metaphor for the Eucharist in today’s Gospel.

Reading 2 

Eph 4:17, 20-24

Brothers and sisters: I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; that is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Although the new believers in Ephesus have entered a new life through Christ, they still live in a pagan culture that does not truly know God. Paul is telling us that the less Christian influence there is in society, the lower the moral standards are. Christians, however, should not behave according to the common social conventions. We are called to put away our old sins and follow Jesus’ teachings, as they were passed down to us from the Apostles.

Alleluia

Mt 4:4b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
One does not live on bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Interestingly, this is Jesus refuting the Devil during the temptation. Satan seems to have implanted a similar idea in the crowds in today’s Gospel.

Gospel 

Jn 6:24-35

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."

We’re going to be reading from this chapter every Sunday all month, so I have to be careful not to get ahead of myself. We Catholics call it the “Bread of Life Discourse.”

This passage is particularly controversial, as it’s central to the debate between Catholics and Protestants. Is Jesus speaking metaphorically or literally, when he calls Himself the “bread of life?” We, of course, believe this is literal.

The crowd, having been taught the Exodus story since childhood, certainly believed the manna was literal. It wasn’t a metaphor for foraging in the desert; the whole point of the bread from heaven is that they couldn’t make bread from the Earth.

So, Jesus bringing that story up is an indication He means what He says. This will become even more clear as the discourse continues.