Ex 16, 2-4, 12-15 / Eph 4, 17,20-24 / John 6, 24-35
Last
Sunday we began a picnic – a picnic in Galilee with Jesus as our host. On this picnic we will be hearing the good
news from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. In fact we will be hearing from that same
chapter through to the last Sunday in August.
That’s five consecutive Sundays with the same chapter! The sixth chapter begins with the story of
the multiplication of loaves – which we heard last Sunday. And then John moves us into a profound and
prolonged reflection on the Eucharist and on Jesus as the Bread of Life – the
Bread of our lives. We are beginning
that reflection today.
The
whole thrust of this chapter – and really the thrust of the whole gospel of
John – is to help us become aware of God’s presence – God’s closeness – in our
lives. Jesus will use signs to
help us become aware. For any Jew – for
Jesus – as well as for John, the author of the gospel – a sign is any
word or gesture – any concrete thing that helps us become aware of God’s transforming
presence in my life. For Jesus – we
always become of aware of God as the God who is changing us – the God who is
renewing, reshaping, recreating us.
When
Jesus says in today’s gospel: I am
the bread of life. – he is using sign-language to bring us to awareness
of God’s presence to us. He is making
himself the sign – the concrete reality that points to God’s
presence. What does the sign say? What is Jesus saying to us?
I am the bread of life. The image he is using is food, and we eat food. Eating is tasting and taking in; it’s digesting and assimilating. When we eat something, then what had been outside of us, other than us becomes part of us. We become what we eat, the saying goes. Just so, Jesus is telling us this: you take me in – you consume me – and you will know God’s transforming presence in your life. You take me in – you feed on me – by tasting and taking into yourself my way – my values – my teaching – my style of life. Live, as I live! Love, as I love! When my values – my vision of life actually become your own, then I become truly the bread of life for you – then I become living bread for you.
At
this Eucharist Jesus continues to say to us: when you have tasted, digested and assimilated
me as your bread of life – your living bread, then you will
experience God. But how does that really
happen – experiencing God? You will
experience God as changing your love – changing your affections. We will find ourselves becoming less
self-concerned and more self-forgetful – less self-promoting and more large-hearted,
more open-handed. And we will experience
growing within us a magnanimity – a grand and generous spirit – that will make
us friend and soul-mate to Jesus. Gratefully,
we will recognize Jesus in who we are becoming.
We will recognize the living Lord in ourselves.
And
then – then we will be empowered – empowered to let go of being the center of
our own lives. We will be free with the
freedom God wants and works for us.
On
July 31st, we celebrated the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the
founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.
I’d like to conclude these thoughts on Jesus as our bread of life
by sharing with you some reflections from Karl Rahner, a famous German Jesuit
theologian. Once he was asked why any
sensible modern man like himself would think to remain or become a Jesuit? His reply was quite simply that he found
among his Jesuit brothers the living spirit of Jesus. But listen to how he describes how that living
spirit is concretely lived. Listen to
his words.
“I think of Jesuit brothers whom I
myself have known. I think of one who in
a village in India that is unknown to Indian intellectuals helps poor people to
dig their wells. I think of one who for
long hours in the confessional listens to the pain and torment of unimportant
people who are far more complex than they appear on the surface. I think of one who is beaten by police along
with his students without the satisfaction of even being a revolutionary. I think of my Jesuit brother who in his
prison ministry must proclaim over and over again the message of the Gospel
with never a token of gratitude, who is more appreciated for the handout of
cigarettes than for the words of the Good News he brings. I think of the one who with difficulty and
without any clear evidence of success plods away at the task of awakening in
just a few people a small spark of faith, of hope and of charity.”
I
think Rahner is describing for us the concrete shape our freedom will take on
when we let Jesus empower us with his love and his life – when we let Jesus
become our living Lord, our Bread of Life. Then with Jesus we will say to our world: Take and eat, my life for you. Take and drink in, my love for you.
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