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Gospel: John 6: 41-51
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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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When I was a little kid, I had lots of stuffed animals.
A few of them had Velcro strips on their backs; you could turn them inside out and they became a globe. For example, my panda showed me that he came from China; my penguin from Antarctica.
These stuffed animals sparked my imagination, fueling a hunger inside of me to know more about the world around me.
So, I devised a plan.
One day I started digging a hole in my backyard. I was determined to dig my way to China, a land of pandas, bamboo, and apparently a very big wall.
I didn’t get too far before Mom discovered me, breaking the bad news: I wasn’t making it to China that day.
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But my curious heart mirrored the crowds who’ve been following Jesus in John’s Gospel for the last three weeks.
It began with the multiplication of the loaves.
Thousands were following him. They listened to his sermons and watched him perform miracles. But then they were hungry. So, Jesus feeds them all by sunset. They were mesmerized by his power.
At this point, the crowds want to know more about him. “Who is this man?” they say.
So, they keep digging.
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Last week, Jesus urged them to see the hunger beneath the hunger. The crowds need more than a full stomach to be satisfied. In the words of Bruce Springsteen, “Everybody’s Got a Hungry Heart.”
Jesus tells them he can satisfy it. “Whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
This week he tells the crowds how he will satisfy them.
“I am the bread of life, whoever eats this bread will live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
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It’s not the answer the crowds were expecting. Consuming Christ sounded strange, as it does to some today. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Skeptical and confused, they stop digging for the truth. Literally, they “grumbled” against Jesus, disagreeing with what he said.
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How often do we “grumble” against the Lord, even in little ways?
I do it almost every Monday morning! I look at the readings for the following Sunday and say, “Lord, how is this sermon going to come together? What am I going to say?”
Or we grumble when the Lord presses our conscience. He urges us to simplify; to let go of all anger and judgment; or to be more generous with our time.
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Sometimes we also grumble when we think about the Eucharist.
As Catholics, we believe the Eucharist is the Promised Presence of Christ. It distinguishes our faith; it’s our “food for the journey,” as we hear in our first reading.
Still, some turn away in disbelief like the crowds in today’s Gospel. “How can this be?”
It’s the same reaction the Israelites had to God when Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt into the desert. God gave them manna – their daily bread – but they “grumbled” against him.
“If only we could’ve died in Egypt!” they say. They wanted something other than manna.
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What is my own reaction to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel? Do I see him in the Eucharist with eyes of faith? Or do I look on in disbelief like the crowds in the Gospel?
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What happened in the Gospel over the last three weeks, and what happened to Israel in the desert, is much like what happened to me as a child.
I was so curious about the world around me, I literally tried digging a hole to China.
The crowds following Jesus do something similar; they follow him, looking for answers.
“Who is this man? How can he satisfy hungry hearts?”
When Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life, whoever believes in me will never hunger… and whoever eats my flesh will live forever,” they turn away in disbelief.
May the opposite be true for us.
May we approach this altar with loving hearts and eyes of faith, ready to receive the Lord who is, “the bread of life,” our food for the journey, our way to eternal life.
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Image credits: (1) Little Boy Digging by Bryan Rupp (2) I am the Bread of Life, the Rock Church (3) Catholic Daily Reflections (4) Pinterest