After the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus, in the company of His disciples gets away from the enthusiastic crowd who want to carry Him off and make Him King. Their enthusiasm, fueled by the thought of a never-ending superabundance of food and other good things filled their minds. But as we saw last week, this was not our Lord’s intention, He was merely fulfilling a need of the people — hunger. God feeding His people.
But it was also a symbol — a sign of things to come.
Here also in the first reading we see God feeding His people — (this also was a sign of future events, for He would eventually send the ‘True Bread’ from heaven) — The Israelites were panicked by their prospects in the desert. They could see no clear way of avoiding starvation, surrounded, as they were by barren wilderness. So, they complained to Moses and Aaron: ‘You had to lead us into the wilderness to make a whole community die of famine’ But God heard their troubled words and offered them a most unexpected solution, He told Moses: ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion’ They must work for their food by showing faith and obedience to God. So, each morning the Israelites found ‘fine flakes of bread, like hoar frost on the ground’ that had indeed fallen from the sky during the night. God’s loving response of ‘bread from heaven’ had an additional purpose beyond strengthening the physical bodies and spiritual faith of the Israelites — this was certainly important — but at a more universal level for mankind, it anticipated God’s gift of the Eucharist — the ‘Bread of Life’. The Eucharistic bread which Christ would initiate, would also sustain us, but in the fullest sense — a spiritual food befitting the cherished sons and daughters of God. Again, a sign — a symbol of things to come. It was this task that Jesus would have to confront in today’s Gospel.
When the people had noticed His absence, those who had been so wonderfully fed with the five barley loaves and two fish on the mountain became agitated. Where was Jesus? After a new crossing of the sea; new searches in the area of Capernaum, they finally found Him in the town. Then begins an exchange of questions and answers, in the course of which Jesus’ words and clear statements will be less and less understood and will end up eliciting an unequivocal reaction of refusal. Perhaps because, what Jesus was offering was not what they were expecting.
Their first words on finding Jesus is rather an abrupt question, almost as if they were annoyed at Him that they had been put to such a great deal of trouble in finding Him: ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ But He is not shaken or misled by the words addressed to Him. On the contrary, here begins one of His instructions that is of the deepest significance. Despite interruptions, contradictions and murmurings, Jesus continues without wavering, His discourse on the sign of the multiplied loaves is a patient effort on His part to make the people understand its meaning. Jesus does not answer their initial abrupt question; the important thing is for them to become sincerely conscious of the deep reasons why they are there. Jesus speaks: ‘I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs, but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.’ He counsels them: ‘Do not work for food that cannot last but work for food that endures to eternal life. The kind of food the Son of Man is offering.’ The subject is difficult for them to comprehend, surely this is what they’re asking of Him — an abundance of food? But the subject is both mystical and sublime. Again, our Lord is patient with them, even though their interruptions interfere with the unity of His teaching. He must take things gently so that His teaching is treated in such a way as to be understood. Whether it would be accepted was down once again to the individuals free will. His multiplication of the loaves had seemed a foretaste of the superabundance of good things that they were looking for at the hands of the Messiah. He must now teach them to seek rather, for the food of the soul, ‘the food that abides unto eternal life’. It is He, who gives this food: ‘For the Father, God Himself, has set His seal upon Him,’and confirmed the doctrine of Jesus with miracles. The people of Capernaum have seen enough of these miracles to make them regard Jesus as a Master — one chosen by God to convey commands to them — what they hadn’t realised yet was that He was really God Incarnate.
Jesus loved them to a fault, these ‘sheep without a shepherd’ He had so much more than barley loaves and fish to give them, He had food that ‘would endure to eternal life’ but He must stir them to ask for it — This other food —this ‘Bread of Life’ must be received in faith and welcomed as a gift of the ‘Son of Man’.Marked with the Father’s seal, we must listen to Him: ‘This is my Son the beloved, my favour rests on Him’(Luke 3:21) But these sheep would only go as far as their material minds would allow, and no further. — God they would accept, the God of the Old Testament; the ‘Son of Man’ who stood before them (in their eyes) was still a son of man and no more. But Jesus was not to be turned away from His task that day; He had reached a crucial moment in His mission on earth: whether He was to be accepted or not, He would answer them plainly.
They asked Him: ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, which would leave them in no doubt: ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one He has sent’. They were momentous words: He insisted on this fundamental faith as the beginning of all else.
The men who had gathered in the synagogue at Capernaum that day listened, but were in a dilemma — Jesus was their benefactor; He was their friend; He had done many great works among them; they put Him above all others in their esteem; but He wanted something more — He said God had sent Him — he said they were to believe in Him on this account alone. This was much to ask. Therefore, they said to Him: ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you?’ ‘What will you do?’ How quickly they had forgotten His many miracles! Something we can all be guilty of. How quickly we forget sometimes the graces and favours bestowed on us by God — How patient He has to be with us. ‘Our father’s had manner to eat in the desert’ they said. As scripture says: ‘He gave them bread from heaven.’ The reference here could not be mistaken, it was an open challenge to Jesus, coming this time, not from his enemies the Scribes and Pharisees, but from those who professed to be His friends. Jesus accepted the challenge, but He does not allow Himself to be led into establishing a meaningless comparison between the signs worked by Moses and the one He had accomplished only the day before. He would gently lead them step by step, as a Shepherd leads His sheep. He is content with reminding His hearers that the gift of the manna should not be attributed to Moses but to God: ‘I tell you most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father that gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread’ He continues: ‘For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’ He was of course speaking of Himself —’The Word made flesh’ Such a statement in their minds could not be questioned, for that which sustained life was bread, especially bread from God in whatever form it came. ‘Sir’ they said ‘Give us that bread always.’ Now, on this acceptance, Jesus must take them further, He had spoken many times in parables, now He must speak plainly as the Father did with Moses at Mount Horeb when He revealed His name ‘I AM’(Exodus 3:14)
‘I AM the bread of life’ He said: ‘He who comes to me will never be hungry. He who believes in me will never thirst’. Yes, Jesus, God’s word made flesh is this promised bread. — He had come directly from the Father; the only indispensable condition to feed on this bread is to believe in Him. To accept Him is to accept eternal life — this was always His message and they had failed to grasp it. ‘I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse’ (Deut 30:19) Would they now accept Jesus for who He was — for what He was? We shall see next week. God bless.
