Bread of Life, 20th Sunday

In Isaiah, we hear the people cry out, “restore us to health and make us live.”

And the Lord answered them, “do not remember the former things or consider things of old. I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
This new thing is what we have been breaking open, hoping to perceive more clearly,
 what John is revealing about Jesus in his Bread of Life discourse. And what have we learned so far?

 We learned in Jesus’ feeding the multitude of God’s extravagant outpouring of Grace. Not only does God, through and with his Son Jesus, fed 5,000, he could of fed 5,000 X 5,000. In the Kingdom of God all hunger, whatever its source, will be satisfied, all thirst, whatever its cause, will be quenched.

We learned that natural food, as necessary as it is, is limited and lacking, and its satisfaction short lived. Jesus tells them, don’t strive for food that will perish, when it is only the Word of God that completely satisfies all needs and opens up eternal life.

We learned that mana, the food provided by God to those in the desert, was indeed miraculous food and this food met their needs, but it sustained only natural life and in time all those who ate of it reached the end of natural life, even Moses dies not knowing the living bread.

Jesus tells the crowd that mana was the old thing, but now the Kingdom of God at hand, and there is something new which is more.   This new food is not mana. It is beyond man. Jesus calls it “the Bread of Life.”

The crowd does not understand nor perceive the new thing God is doing in Jesus. They only want their bellies full. “Give us this bread”, they shout. But, Jesus produces nothing. Nothing is conjured up out of thin air.  There will be no multiplying of loaves this day.

“I am the bread of life”, he tells them.  And like the Word of God, this bread lacks nothing. Whoever comes to Jesus will never hunger, whoever believes in Jesus will never thirst.

 We learned that with this many in the crowd fell into disbelief. How can this man be anything more than he is? Is this not Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph?

The crowd fails to perceive the signs of the Kingdom of God that are present in Jesus.  They do not realize that the giver of the gift has become the gift. Jesus doesn’t give life, he is life (and the truth and the way).

“I am the living bread that comes down from heaven.”  Jesus (with the fullness of life within him) has become self-gift to be given away for the life of world.

“I am the life”, he tells them, “and the life I give is my flesh for the life of the world.” This is sacrificial and sacramental, eucharistic and universal. It is flesh given up for others. It sanctifies what it touches and all of creation gives thanks for this gift of flesh, this gift of salvation.

But, the flesh Jesus offers us is not just his body. It is his being; body, soul and spirit. But, it is also his experience and relationship with God his Father. All of Jesus becomes gift. There is nothing partial about it. Nothing is held back. Nothing is lacking. This is the “new thing” God is doing.

And this self-gift of sacramental and sacrificial flesh must be eaten. This drove the crowd mad. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” It appears that not only must this flesh be eaten, Jesus says “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you do not have life within you!” There is no option. No other way. No flesh, (broken and shared), no blood (spilt and drunk) no life within.

 We know that in the complex and diverse biological world all life must be fed. We know from experience bread must be eaten and wine drunk, if they are to produce the effects they have hidden within them. Bread becomes strength and health, wine become joy and well-being.  Their true value lies in their true effect. They are what they become.

And like natural bread and wine, Jesus’ body and blood, must be consumed. It must be brought within us and internalized to produce the veiled effect within the Eucharist. But, this living bread (life itself) when eaten does not simply become part of our biological makeup. This bread of life changes life. The bread does not become us, we become it.

The value hidden within comes to perfect fulfillment in its effect within us. Jesus, the living bread, becomes for us, eternal life.

To help get our heads around the magnitude of this “new thing” God is doing let’s take a moment for two radical ideas. First is Jesus statement of fact, “whoever eats this bread and drinks this wine remains in me and I remain in them. Just like the father who sent me, remains in me, I remain in you.” The living bread, given up for the life of the world, when consumed by the baptized who love him becomes nothing less than God, who is “beyond us” and “for us”, now becoming God “within us”; faithfully indwelling, radically relational and the only source of eternal life.

The second idea is found in the opening to John’s Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh to dwell among us.” This - is the bread of life. The Holy Mystery of the God coming to dwell with us. Loving us always. Given up as self-gift for the life of all creation and who now through Jesus is within us.

“Do not remember”, God says, “the former things or consider things of old. I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”