19th Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year B, By Rev. Fr. Lucas Binnah Junior

1st Reading: I Kings 19:4-8 /Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 34:2-3.4-5.6-7.8-9 (R. 9a) 2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:30-5:2 /Gospel Acclamation: John 6:51 /Gospel: John 6:41-51

Theme: Jesus, The Reason For Living

Today, we continue St. John’s discourse on Jesus, the Bread of life. Many questions come to our minds asto why Jesus claims he is the Bread of Life (cf. Jn. 6:35, 41, 48). What is the inner meaning and significance of such a statement? What can we do to have access to the Bread of Life, who is Jesus? Given the fact that some people and certain things in the world claim to offer life, it is ad rem that Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, life per se, that is life in and by itself, should come clear on what is really essential to our living, here and in the hereafter.

In the first reading, we are told that the Prophet Elijah was fed by an angel of the Lord, and that, that particular food, cake baked on hot stones plus a jar of water, was able to sustain him for forty days and forty nights. What kind of food could keep a person alive for over one month? What kind of ingredients could be found in such a food? Did we have more than the five classes of food: protein, carbohydrate, vitamin, mineral salt and fat and oil? To cap it all, we are told that he “walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God” (I Kgs. 19:8). Yet, in all these, we are very much aware that this food had expiry date, it had only limited nourishment, for it could not offer Elijah eternal life after forty days and forty nights. Instead, what kept Elijah alive was God, the one for whom and in search of whom, he journeyed for forty days to the mountain. And when he found him, he was fully satisfied beyond measure!

This experience of Prophet Elijah who was being pursued by Queen Jezebel with the intention of killing him, brought him much exhaustion. Jezebel took Elijah for granted. She thought she could control things with her whims and caprices. In the same vein, Jesus’ townsfolk took him for granted and treated him with contempt. They looked down on him because they were familiar with his family background and his humble beginnings. This explains why they could not accept Jesus as divine, as someone coming from God with power and might. What put them off was his claim: “I am the bread of life which came down from heaven” (Jn. 6:41). How can the son of a poor Joseph and Mary, a mere carpenter’s child whose knowledge was based on the rudimentary use of hammer, nail and wood claim to be God? This was a mind-boggling episode and a big puzzle for them! It was completely unacceptable and it seemed to have touched their very being, their Jewish sensibilities. It seemed as if their egos were punctured and would not take it kindly. They were highly offended. It was the bitter pill to swallow, and they could hardly accept that!

Even at that, Jesus maintained firmness and focus, and insisted: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven”. He continued: “This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn. 6:50-51). By this, Jesus shows us that nothing whatsoever, should make us compromise standing by the eternal and profound truth. However hard and bitter the truth may be, it is still the panacea that will set us on the path of freedom (cf. Jn. 8:32). By their persistent unbelief, the Jews grieved the Spirit of Truth (Jn. 15:26), the one who reveals the truth and helps us to accept and live it. That is why the second reading instructs us: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).

We all know the function of food to the human body. The daily bread we eat provides energy and nourishment in order for us to survive as human beings. Food sustains our existence however limited it is. Nonetheless, Jesus points us to an existence, a life which is unlimited, eternal and divine. This life can only be given by Christ himself, and therefore, he calls it the “Bread of life.” By this statement, Jesus is calling us into an active, personal, intimate and daily human-divine relationship with him. The food of Elijah in the first reading and the historical manna mentioned in today’s Gospel sustained life for a moment, but could not and can never ever preserve life eternally. In the same vein, no created thing or man-made invention, however powerful, potent and viable it is, can preserve our lives forever. Only God can. Only Jesus can. Only the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, can ‘feed’ us satisfactorily and perpetually. He is the reason for our living and existence. Cut off from him, we can do nothing and apart from him we are nothing (cf. Jn. 15:5).

Those who ‘feed’ on Jesus, the Bread of Life, live in virtue as recounted in the second reading. Such people see the truth and accept it. They are changed positively by the truth because they are contrite and ready to live by the truth. They are kind, tender-hearted, forgiving, imitators of God, loving, selfless, and self-sacrificing (cf. Eph. 5:2). These are the people who walk in love, just as Christ. They are the ones who walk the talk. However, those who reject Jesus, those who do not believe in him and because of that live in vice, are advised thus: “Let all bitterness, and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph. 4:31).

Dearly beloved, let us pause for a moment and think about our lives. Why are we alive this very moment and what accounts for this? Is it because we have eaten and still have stockpiles of food, money, quality medicines, wealth, properties and resources? Is it because we have other people at our beck and call who are ever ready to do our bidding? Could it be our intelligence, our ability to manage things and the physical exercises – the work outs – we do regularly? Although these are important in prolonging our lives, they can never give us eternal life. If they could, nobody would be subject to death. Then, the martyrs and saints, heroes and heroines, the intelligentsia, role models, scientists, celebrities, the sons and daughters of Mother Earth who have etched their fame and engraved their names on stone will still be here with us. Beloved one, God is our life whether we believe it or not. We breathe because God allows it. He owns us and the world. We are made in and for him. We belong to God. We live and move and have our being in God alone, no one or nothing else! This is the point Jesus, who is God in person, is making when he says “I am the Bread of Life.” Therefore, let us pray for the conviction to accept this profound truth and to enter into a deep, intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the reason for our living. May God richly bless us! A happy Sunday! Remember: #Jesus-The-Reason-For-Living#

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