The passage that we have as the gospel reading for today’s Eucharist is part of a larger section called the “bread of life” discourse in the gospel of John. The discourse begins with John 6:25 and ends with 6:71. For the next three weeks the gospel reading will be taken from the bread of life discourse. I wish to make the sermons during the next three weeks a series on the Bread of Life discourse. Today we will deal with the “The OT and the bread of life.” Next Sunday we will deal with the “History of the controversy of the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine.” The third week we will deal with “The Eucharist and daily life.”
First, let me provide a little context for today’s topic for reflection. The bread of life discourse follows the miracle of the multiplication of loaves. The crowds continue to follow Jesus after the miracle. Having fed them with physical bread, Jesus begins to talk about a different kind of bread – the bread of life. But in doing so, he stirs up a controversy. First, Jesus identifies himself as the as “bread from heaven.” Secondly, he claims that bread that he gives as superior to the bread the Moses provided in every way – the most significant difference being that the ones who ate the bread that Moses gave died but that those who ate the bread that he would give would never die. The people get very upset over Jesus’ claim.
Thus, today’s gospel reading begins with the Jews murmuring. John has the Israelites murmuring for a very specific reason. John wanted to connect the bread of life discourse to certain OT themes. The first of them is the murmuring: In Exodus 16:1-3, the Israelites grumbled against Moses because there was no food. God then rained down “bread from heaven.” Along with this bread which the Israelites called ‘manna’ (Ex 16:31), God also gave them flesh or meat in for form of quails. Later, the Israelites grumble not against the lack of food but the quality of food (Num 11:1-6). They were fed up with the quails and manna which they called “wretched food” (Num 21:5) and they desired to eat cucumber, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (Num 11:4-7). In Exodus 17:1-3 the Israelites grumble against Moses because there was no water to drink. God then brought forth water from the rock to quench their thirst (Ex 6-7). John in today’s gospel has the Israelites continuing to murmur. They murmur because this man whose father and mother they knew was claiming to be “bread from heaven.” When will the grumbling stop?
The second theme that John uses to connect to the OT is manna. It was the crowds that had asked Jesus to give them a sign – a sign similar to the manna that their ancestors ate in the dessert. The people introduced the manna theme because they believed that in the final days God would once again provide manna. They believed in a second Exodus like we believe in the second coming of Christ. With all of Palestine and Israel under Roman rule, people were hoping that the Messiah would come and initiate this second Exodus. If Jesus was this messiah then Jesus should be able to provide manna the way Moses did. There was one stumbling block. From the Jewish perspective, Jesus, whose origins and family they knew could hardly be that Messiah. From Jesus’ perspective, those final days had already arrived. He himself was the manna – the bread of life.
The third these theme is the theme of a meal or a banquet. When the Jewish family gathers for the Passover meal, the children ask questions about the event that is being enacted and the head of the house would narrate the whole Exodus story as an answer to their questions. In this passage too the Jews ask questions and Jesus answers questions. However, since the questions are asked within the context of the Passover, the meal or the banquet theme becomes significant. Once again, the Jews expected that in the last days there would be a messianic banquet in which the people of Israel would sit for an intimate banquet with Yahweh or with the messiah. Through the multiplication of loaves and by calling himself the bread of life, Jesus in the gospel of John suggests that the messianic banquet is at hand. Jesus is the bread of life for those who are faithful to Yahweh and believe in the One that Yahweh has sent.
Jesus said three things to the murmuring people. First, he said, “Stop murmuring.” (Jn 6:43) Second, he insisted that they “listen and learn from the Father.” (Jn 6:45) And third, he asks, “to simply believe so that they have eternal life.” (Jn 6:47) There is a certain simplicity in the answer. Isn’t this the advice that we often give to our children? Stop whining! Just listen! and Watch this! This week let us do these three things. If our basic spirituality is a spirituality of constant asking and murmuring, if our spirituality does not include listening to God in prayer, if we are lacking in simple faith, then it is time to take the advice of Jesus seriously. Stop whining! Just listen! Simply believe!
