25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed! I tell you, you’re not looking for me because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the bread and had all you wanted! 27 Don’t work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is the one on whom God the Father has put his seal.”
28 So they said to him, “What should we do in order to perform the works of God?” 29 Yeshua answered, “Here’s what the work of God is: to trust in the one he sent!”
30 They said to him, “Nu, what miracle will you do for us, so that we may see it and trust you? What work can you perform? 31 Our fathers ate manna in the desert — as it says in the Tanakh, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[John 6:31 Psalm 78:24; Nehemiah 9:15] 32 Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn’t Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven; 33 for God’s bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on.” 35 Yeshua answered, “I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty.
18th Sunday in Ordinary TimeWhat can we do? (John 6:28)
You’ve probably heard of the Rubik’s Cube, a puzzle requiring tremendous concentration to solve. You must move the parts of the cube in an exact sequence to master it. Many start out enthusiastically, only to give up after a few minutes, frustrated by the puzzle’s complexities.
You could say the crowd in today’s Gospel is treating Jesus like a kind of puzzle. They can’t seem to figure him out. He was a prophet, no doubt. But he said and did things that stretched their laws and traditions in uncomfortable ways. What did he mean about being the “bread of life” (John 6:35)? How could he do things that only God could do, like heal the sick or forgive sins? They couldn’t get their minds around him because they hadn’t yet started thinking “outside of the cube.”
Still, you have to admire their tenacity. Even when Jesus gives them an answer that they don’t understand, they try a different tack. “When did you get here?” “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” “What sign can you do?” They really want to know, and they’re not about to give up! And as we will see at the end of this chapter, no one was more tenacious than Peter. After having heard Jesus give so many baffling—and seemingly scandalous—answers, he decides to keep following him. “Master,” he asks, “to whom shall we go?” (John 6:68). There’s no one else who speaks with the same authority, passion, and love. All I can do now is stay with you until it all makes sense.
How tenacious are you? Sometimes we want to know exactly what God is doing in our lives—Should I stay at this job? Should I marry the person I’m dating? Why wasn’t my loved one healed when I prayed? Sometimes there isn’t a yes or no answer, and other times we just have to wait. Whatever happens, stick with it. Stick with Jesus, and you will be rewarded!
“Lord, I believe that you are my ‘bread of life.’ Help me hold fast to you” (John 6:35). Amen!Exodus 16:2 There in the desert the whole community of the people of Isra’el grumbled against Moshe and Aharon. 3 The people of Isra’el said to them, “We wish Adonai had used his own hand to kill us off in Egypt! There we used to sit around the pots with the meat boiling, and we had as much food as we wanted. But you have taken us out into this desert to let this whole assembly starve to death!”
4 Adonai said to Moshe, “Here, I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you. The people are to go out and gather a day’s ration every day. By this I will test whether they will observe my Torah or not.
12 “I have heard the grumblings of the people of Isra’el. Say to them: ‘At dusk you will be eating meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will realize that I am Adonai your God.’”
13 That evening, quails came up and covered the camp; while in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Isra’el saw it, they asked each other, “Man hu? [What is it?]” because they didn’t know what it was. Moshe answered them, “It is the bread which Adonai has given you to eat.
Psalm 78:3 The things which we have heard and known,
and which our fathers told us
4 we will not hide from their descendants;
we will tell the generation to come
the praises of Adonai and his strength,
the wonders that he has performed.
23 So he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down man on them as food;
he gave them grain from heaven —
25 mortals ate the bread of angels;
he provided for them to the full.
54 He brought them to his holy land,
to the hill-country won by his right hand.Ephesians 4:17 Therefore I say this — indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking.
20 But this is not the lesson you learned from the Messiah! 21 If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth, 22 then, so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires; 23 and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed, 24 and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.
Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion:[Mass Readings:
1st Reading: Exodus 16:2 There in the desert the whole community of the people of Isra’el grumbled against Moshe and Aharon. 3 The people of Isra’el said to them, “We wish Adonai had used his own hand to kill us off in Egypt! There we used to sit around the pots with the meat boiling, and we had as much food as we wanted. But you have taken us out into this desert to let this whole assembly starve to death!”
4 Adonai said to Moshe, “Here, I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you. The people are to go out and gather a day’s ration every day. By this I will test whether they will observe my Torah or not.
12 “I have heard the grumblings of the people of Isra’el. Say to them: ‘At dusk you will be eating meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will realize that I am Adonai your God.’”
13 That evening, quails came up and covered the camp; while in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Isra’el saw it, they asked each other, “Man hu? [What is it?]” because they didn’t know what it was. Moshe answered them, “It is the bread which Adonai has given you to eat.
Responsorial: Psalm 78:3 The things which we have heard and known,
and which our fathers told us
4 we will not hide from their descendants;
we will tell the generation to come
the praises of Adonai and his strength,
the wonders that he has performed.
23 So he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down man on them as food;
he gave them grain from heaven —
25 mortals ate the bread of angels;
he provided for them to the full.
54 He brought them to his holy land,
to the hill-country won by his right hand.2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:17 Therefore I say this — indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking.
20 But this is not the lesson you learned from the Messiah! 21 If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth, 22 then, so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires; 23 and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed, 24 and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.
Gospel: John 6:24 Accordingly, when the crowd saw that neither Yeshua nor his talmidim were there, they themselves boarded the boats and made for K’far-Nachum in search of Yeshua.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed! I tell you, you’re not looking for me because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the bread and had all you wanted! 27 Don’t work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is the one on whom God the Father has put his seal.”
28 So they said to him, “What should we do in order to perform the works of God?” 29 Yeshua answered, “Here’s what the work of God is: to trust in the one he sent!”
30 They said to him, “Nu, what miracle will you do for us, so that we may see it and trust you? What work can you perform? 31 Our fathers ate manna in the desert — as it says in the Tanakh, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[John 6:31 Psalm 78:24; Nehemiah 9:15] 32 Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn’t Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven; 33 for God’s bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on.” 35 Yeshua answered, “I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty.]
1. In the first reading, the Israelites “grumbled against Moses” even though they had seen God work miracles through him to set them free from a brutal slavery in Egypt. Why do you believe the miracles were not sufficient to put their faith in God when they experienced difficult times in the desert? Why do you believe God would respond in such love rather than punish the Israelites for their lack of faith and trust in him? How would you describe the message this reading is intended to convey to us?
2. The Responsorial Psalm calls the bread the Lord gave the Israelites “bread from heaven.” In what ways is this bread that the Lord “rained” down from heaven (Exodus 16:4) a foreshadowing of the Eucharist? In what way is it different?3. In the second reading, St. Paul exhorts his fellow believers to no longer live in the “futility of their minds,” but to “be renewed in the spirit of your minds.” This reading is also similar to Romans 12:2: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” In both readings, St. Paul is calling for a “renewal” of our minds. Specifically, he is calling us to live a life ruled by the Holy Spirit, not by the world or our “flesh,” which is “corrupted through deceitful desires.” In what way do you see this as a call for your own life? What steps can you take to respond to this call to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind”?
4. In the Gospel reading from John, even though the crowd had seen Jesus multiply the loaves, they still ask him to perform a sign similar to the Israelites receiving manna in the desert. The crowd referred to this manna as “bread from heaven to eat” (John 6:31), yet were not able to see Jesus as the “true bread from heaven” (6:32). In what ways were the responses of the “crowd” that followed Jesus to Capernaum similar to those of the Israelites in the desert? In what ways were they responding as men and women of the flesh, not of the Spirit?
5. The Gospel reading ends with these words of Jesus: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (6:35)? Though it is not included in this Sunday’s reading, what do you think the crowd’s reactions were to these words of Jesus? What is your reaction to these words?
6. The meditation ends with these words: “How tenacious are you? Sometimes we want to know exactly what God is doing in our lives—Should I stay at this job? Should I marry the person I’m dating? Why wasn’t my loved one healed when I prayed? Sometimes there isn’t a yes or no answer, and other times we just have to wait. Whatever happens, stick with it. Stick with Jesus, and you will be rewarded!” These are challenging words. How tenacious are you in holding onto to your faith and trust in Jesus, no matter how long you have been waiting for an answer to prayer, or no matter what your circumstances may be?
7. Take some time now to pray for grace to “hold fast” to Jesus in all circumstances. Use the prayer at the end of the meditation as the starting point.
“Lord, I believe that you are my ‘bread of life.’ Help me hold fast to you” (John 6:35). Amen!
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