Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
18th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Readings:
Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15
Psalm 78:3-4, 23-25, 54
Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
John 6:24-35
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The words LORD or GOD rendered in capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Bread from Heaven
Our psalm response sets the theme for this Sunday's
readings: "The Lord gave them bread from Heaven." In the First Reading, the
children of Israel grumbled that God was not meeting their needs on their
exodus out of Egypt and journey to Canaan. To show them that He was ready and
able to care for their needs, God gave the children of Israel manna, bread from
Heaven, to nourish them on their journey to the Promised Land. This miracle
foreshadowed the "bread from Heaven" Christ makes possible in the "Thanksgiving"
sacred meal we call the Eucharist, from the Greek word for "thanksgiving," Eucharistia,
the Greek translation of Toda, the Hebrew word for the sacred
"thanksgiving" communion meal of the Old Covenant (Lev 7:11-15/7:1-5;
Num 15:9-10).
Our psalm reading recalls the history of the past generations of the Israelites and God's gracious deeds on their behalf. First, He nourished them on their journey out of Egypt by feeding them manna, the "bread of angels." Then, Yahweh took them to His holy mountain at Mt. Sinai, where He elevated the children of Israel above all other peoples on earth, making them His holy covenant people. God is gracious in the same way by continuing to provide for the needs of His New Covenant people. He feeds us the "living bread" from Heaven, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of God the Son in the Eucharist. He provides this miracle feeding to nourish us spiritually in the exile of this earthly life as we journey to God's Sanctuary in the Promised Land of Heaven.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul reminds the faith community of Christians at Ephesus that their lives are spiritually transformed and configured to Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism, through which Jesus calls Christians to a life of holiness. Acknowledging our transformed lives, we must commit to leaving behind our old sinful lives of selfish desires and self-deception. Paul's message is that a life of sin will only alienate us from God. Instead, Christians receive a divine calling to live in the image and the likeness of our Holy Savior, Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus begins His "Bread of Life Discourse" the day after the miracle feeding of 5,000 men. God the Son promises to meet the needs of everyone who has faith in Him and submits in obedience to Him in the Sacrament of Baptism (Mk 16:16). He will take care of His covenant children just as Yahweh fed the children of Israel on their exodus out of Egypt. God the Son will nourish them on their journey through the perils of their earthly lives. As promised in His Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus provides the heavenly bread of the Eucharist to everyone who accepts Him as Savior and Lord on their exodus from this life while making their journey to the Promised Land of Heaven.
The First Reading Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 ~ God Gives Bread from Heaven
2 Here in the wilderness the whole Israelite community
grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we
had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our kettles of
meat and ate our fill of bread! But you have led us into this wilderness to
make this whole assembly die of famine!" 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I am
going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out
and gather their daily portion; thus, will I test them to see whether they
follow my instructions or not." [...] 12 "I have heard the grumbling of the
Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight, you shall eat meat, and in the
morning you shall have your fill of bread, and then you will know that I, the
LORD, am your God." 13 In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. In
the morning, there was a layer of dew all about the camp, 14 and when the layer
of dew evaporated, fine flakes were on the surface of the wilderness, fine
flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. 15 On seeing it, the Israelites asked one
another, "What is this [man hu]?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses
told them, "It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."
The people's suffering as they traveled through the wilderness was greater and more widespread than in the previous crisis when the Egyptians pursued them to the Yam Suf (Red Sea) in Exodus 15:11-12 or the thirst the people and animals experienced described in Exodus 15:24. They accused God's agents, Moses and Aaron, of intending to lead them to die of famine in the desert.
The Israelites depleted the food supplies they brought with them from Goshen. Living in Egypt, they became accustomed to a healthy diet of staples like bread and barley beer [henket] and vegetables like leeks, lettuce, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, beans, chickpeas, and onions. They also enjoyed fruits like dates, figs, melons, grapes, olives, and pomegranates. In addition, they had a plentiful supply of fish and, more rarely, wild game and chickens (Chronicle of a Pharaoh, pages 94-95; Num 11:5; 20:5). The Israelites complained to Moses that it would have been better to die of old age in slavery than to die prematurely by starvation in freedom. The response of the Israelites to their suffering shows a lack of gratitude for their redemption from slavery and a lack of faith in God's divine providence. One might ask, if the people were hungry, why didn't they kill some of their livestock? It was because they knew that their future prosperity depended on their flocks and herds. A dead animal would never reproduce or give milk or wool. Therefore, they needed to preserve their animals for their future prosperity.
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus, will I test them to see whether they follow my instructions or not."
There are two ways in which God tested the people on the wilderness journey to Mt. Sinai (Ex 6:4-5):
The journey from Egypt to Mt. Sinai provided the introduction to an intimate relationship with Yahweh for the children of Israel. God intended for the hardships they endured on the journey to humble the people and teach them to trust and depend on Him for their every need. However, despite the miracles God worked on their behalf, the Exodus generation remained rebellious and ungrateful. Rendering His divine judgment, God condemned the Exodus generation to forty years of wilderness wandering until every member of their generation died except for two faithful men: Joshua (a prince of the tribe of Ephraim) and Caleb (a Gentile convert) and a new generation, trained in obedience, grew to maturity.
In his last discourses to the new generation of the covenant people in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses recalled their testing in the wilderness, reminding the Israelites who had grown up during the forty years of that experience. He urged them to remember and Learn from this that Yahweh your God was training you as a man trains his child, and keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and so follow his ways and fear him (Dt 8:6 NJB).
12 "I have heard the Israelites' complaints. Speak to
them as follows: At twilight [bein ha-'arbayim = "between the
twilights," plural ending] you will eat meat, and in the morning you
will have bread to your heart's content, and then you will know that I am
Yahweh your God" (NJB). [...] = literal translation (Interlinear
Bible: Hebrew-English, Vol. I, page 184).
Between "the twilights" of a day is noon, the middle of the
day between the twilights of dawn and dust. God assured the people that
at noon (between the twilights), they would eat meat, and in the morning, they
could eat as much bread as they wanted. Noon was the usual time to have the
main meal, and on a desert journey, one didn't travel at the hottest time of
the day. The purpose of these miracles was for the people to know that Yahweh
is their God and not just the God of their forefathers (Ex 3:13). The manna
blessing continued for the next forty years, but Scripture only mentions the
gift of the quail twice (in the first manna feeding in Ex 16:13 and Num 11:31-32).
13 In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. In
the morning, there was a layer of dew all about the camp, 14 and when the layer
of dew evaporated, fine flakes were on the surface of the wilderness, fine
flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.
"Evening" began after the sun reached its zenith at noon and
began to descend into the night. Sundown signaled the end of one day and the beginning
of the next day. That day, at the noon meal, they ate quail, and the following
morning, they ate "bread from Heaven."
15 On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this [man hu]?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."
The meaning of the word "manna" is a puzzle. The Hebrew text used man hu in Exodus 16:15 when the people asked, "What is this?" However, later Scripture uses the Hebrew word man for the miracle bread: The House of Israel named it "manna (man)." It was like coriander seed; it was white, and its taste was like that of wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31). Some Biblical scholars have suggested that the Hebrew words man and man hu derive from the Egyptian word mannu, which means "food" (Davis, Studies in Exodus, page 189). The expression man hu is usually translated as, "It is manna," but the Greek Septuagint translation of this verse is ti esti touto, "what is this?" as in the NABRE translation. "What is this?" became the most widely accepted explanation of the meaning of "manna" and is supported by the rest of the Scripture passage following man hu in 16:15 when the Israelites asked, "What is this [man hu]?" and Moses told them: "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."
Some scholars have attempted to associate the miracles of the quail and the manna with natural phenomena occurring in the Sinai Peninsula. For example, in the autumn, large flocks of quail migrate from Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, flying southward to central Africa and returning in the spring. In this long migration, sometimes large flocks of birds fall to the ground from exhaustion. Since the quail feeding only occurred twice (Exodus 16:13 and Num 11:31-32), it could have been a natural phenomenon. However, no one can deny that God used what might have been a "natural" occurrence at a specific time and place to address the needs of the Israelites.
Some have suggested that the manna was not a miracle but a gum resin produced by several flowering trees in the Sinai. Others suggest that the manna was a substance from the excretions of two species of scale insects found on branches of the tamarisk trees in June in the Sinai (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 4, "manna," page 511; Davis, Studies in Exodus page 192). However, these natural substances only occur seasonally. They cannot be ground into flour, baked into flat cakes, or boiled into mush like the manna described in Exodus 16:23 and Numbers 11:7-9. Nor are these other substances found covering the ground with the morning dew as in the Biblical text, nor do the natural substances occur year-round in large enough quantities to feed at least two million people. St. Paul called the manna spiritual or supernatural food (1 Cor 10:3). Jesus compared Himself to the "bread which came down from heaven" (Jn 6:31-65) and not to the secretions of insects or tree resin. And other Bible passages describe the manna as supernatural food previously unknown (Dt 8:3, 16; Ps 78:24; 105:40; Neh 9:20).
The miracle feeding of the manna prefigures the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we also have rules which govern receiving the miracle:
As the New Covenant children of God, we are obliged to submit in obedience on our journey to eternal salvation in Heaven in the same way God tested the obedience of the Old Covenant people of God on their journey to the Promised Land.
Responsorial Psalm 78:3-4, 23-25, 54 ~ Heavenly Bread
Response: "The Lord gave them bread from heaven."
3 What we have heard and know; things our ancestors have recounted
to us. 4 We do not keep them from our children; we recount them to the next generation,
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD and his strength, the wonders that he performed.
Response:
23 So he commanded the clouds above; and the doors of heaven.
24 God rained manna upon them for food; grain from heaven he gave them.
Response:
25 Man ate the bread of the angels; food he sent in
abundance.
54 And he brought them to his holy mountain, the hill his
right hand had won.
Response:
Our psalm reading recalls the history of the past generations of the Old Covenant people and God's gracious deeds on their behalf. Among God's wondrous works was His gift of manna to feed the Israelites for forty years after leaving Egypt. They first received His gift of the "bread of angels" on the journey out of Egypt to God's holy mountain, Mt. Sinai, where He took Israel as His covenant people. Then, He continued to feed them on their journey to the "holy land" He promised to the Patriarchs, where they were to build His Temple on another "holy mountain," Mt. Moriah (2 Chron 3:1).
In the same way, God is gracious in providing for the needs of His New Covenant people. He feeds us the "living bread" from Heaven: the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of God the Son in the Eucharist. He provides this miracle feeding to nourish us spiritually in the exile of this earthly life as we make our journey to God's "mountain" Temple in the "holy land" of Heaven.
The Second Reading Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 ~ New Life in
Christ
17 So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no
longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; [...]. 20 That is
not how you learned Christ, 21 assuming that you have heard of him and were
taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, 22 that you should put away the old self
of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, 23 and be
renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and put on the new self, created in
God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.
St. Paul contrasts the Christian's "new life in Christ" with the sinful life of the pagan Gentiles that was far from the holiness of Christ. The "futility of their minds" refers to the pagan's concept of what was divine, which was an invention of their understanding instead of knowing the One, True God. Having learned the truth of Christ, Paul writes that we must "put away the old self" (verse 22), and the "new self" (verse 24) must take hold to make the Christian a new creation in the image and likeness of God. Christians "put on" the new self (verse 24) in the Sacrament of Baptism. When a Christian submits in obedience to Christ's command to receive the gift of God's sanctifying grace in the Sacrament of Baptism (Mt 16:16), they, adult or child, die to the old self that was a child in the family of Adam. The baptized person is reborn as a sinless new creation in Christ Jesus and a child in the family of God. As Paul writes in Galatians 3:27 ~ For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
The Gospel of John 6:24-35 ~ Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life
24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his
disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum
looking for Jesus. 25 And when they found him across the sea, they said to him,
"Rabbi, when did you get here?" 26 Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I
say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you
ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for food that perishes but for
the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For
on him the Father, God, has set his seal." 28 So they said to him, "What can we
do to accomplish the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This
is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." 30 So they said to
him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you
do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them
bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to
you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from Heaven. 33 For the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 So they
said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the
bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in
me will never thirst."
Notice the significant juxtaposition of three events in John Chapter 6:
The key to these three seemingly unrelated events is the statement in John 6:4 that it was near the time of the Passover Feast. It is also significant that the event in our reading takes place on the Jewish Sabbath. The annual feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits, falling within eight days, celebrated the liberation of the Exodus experience when Moses led his people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea to freedom (Lev 23:4-14). The "baptism" of the children of Israel in the Red Sea (Yam Suf = Sea of Reeds) was another creation story (1 Cor 10:1-2). In the first Creation, the division of the waters created land. However, in Moses' Red Sea miracle, the divided waters created a nation as the children of Israel emerged from the waters of chaos, no longer as enslaved people but as free people.
As Moses led the Israelites across the wilderness, God continued to care for His people by miraculously feeding them manna, the bread from Heaven. Within these three related events in John Chapter 6, just before the Passover, John shows us Jesus as a new Moses. Like Moses, Jesus miraculously fed a multitude, made a water miracle, and then, in the Synagogue in Capernaum, those who witnessed the miracle feeding of the multitude the day before sang Moses' Song of Victory (Ex 15) that was part of the Sabbath liturgy. In Chapter 6, John's Gospel presents Jesus as the new Moses who will lead a new Exodus liberation. Jesus, like Moses, will lead His people out of bondage by liberating them from slavery to sin and death. Jesus is the future prophet-redeemer God promised to Moses and the people: I shall raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kindred, and will put my words into the mouth of the prophet; the prophet shall tell them all that I command. Anyone who will not listen to my words which the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will hold accountable for it (Dt 18:18-19 (NJB).
The people who witnessed the feeding miracle of the five thousand got into boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found Him leaving the Synagogue Sabbath service (Jn 6:59), they asked Jesus, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" The feeding miracle took place near Tiberias, a city located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee that the Romans and St. John called the Sea of Tiberias (Jn 6:1, 23; 21:1). Capernaum is on the northwestern side of the Sea. The people, most of whom were pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread, were watching for Jesus ever since the multiplication of the loaves and fishes miracle when they wanted to make Him king (Jn 6:15). They realize He had somehow, perhaps by another miracle, eluded them, so they asked Him how He came to Capernaum on the other side of the sea (verse 25).
Verse 26 is Jesus's eighth use of the double "amen" in St. John's Gospel. Jesus always uses it when making an emphatic statement. In verses 26-27, Jesus combines a teaching about "works" and "faith," which cannot be separated (Jam 2:14-26). James, Bishop of Jerusalem, taught in James 2:26, As a body without a spirit is dead, so is faith without deeds [works]. In verse 27, Jesus told the crowd not to "work" for ordinary, earthly "food." He used "food" as a metaphor for earthly, material wealth. His point was that all earthly "works" would perish. Earthly food is necessary to sustain earthly life. However, it is limited in use because it is perishable. Therefore, it is not sustainable beyond its earthly limitations; it cannot safeguard against death (Jn 6:49). Even the manna that came down from Heaven in Exodus 16:20 was perishable. Only Christ can give the food that satisfies eternally by sustaining spiritual hunger and giving eternal life. He offers what Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 55:2-3, Why spend money for what is not bread; your wages for what does not satisfy? Only listen to me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Pay attention and come to me; listen, that you may have life. The supernatural food that Christ promised and Isaiah prophesied is His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This teaching will become more apparent as the narrative continues (Jn 6:50-58).
Verse 27 refers to John 5:27, where Jesus told the people that God the Father has given the Son authority to execute judgment because He is the "Son of Man." While the title points to His humanity, Jesus intends to remind His listeners of the Messianic passage in Daniel 7:13-14 of the glorious figure who looked like a man but was to receive the eschatological kingdom and eternal rule from God. "Son of Man" is the mystical term from Daniel's vision identifying Jesus as the divine, conquering Messiah who has the power from the Father to rule the nations of man. Describing his vision, Daniel wrote: As the visions during the night continued, I saw coming with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man. When he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, he received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations and peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship shall not be destroyed (Dan 7:13-14).
Jesus will use the title "Son of Man" for Himself ten times in John's Gospel. At this point in John's Gospel, Jesus has referred to Himself as the "Son of man" in John 1:51, 3:13, 3:14, 5:27, 6:27. He will also use the title in 6:53, 6:62, 8:28, 12:23, and 13:31. Except for Acts 7:56, Revelation 1:13, and Revelation 14:14, the title "Son of man" appears only in the Gospels. In all the Gospel accounts, "Son of Man" is Jesus' favorite title for Himself. Only He uses it, and it is always a Messianic reference linking Jesus to Daniel's prophecy of the divine Messiah in Daniel 7:13-14.
The "seal" that God set on the Son in verse 27 is the seal Jesus received at His baptism by God the Holy Spirit (i.e., Mt 3:16). The third Person of the Most Holy Trinity is the power of God operative in Jesus's signs (see Mt 12:28; Acts 10:38; 1 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13 and 4:30). There may also be a connection to the seal placed on bread by the baker. The Greek word used for "seal" is sphraagizo, which means "to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation (literally or figuratively); by implication to keep secret, to attest," and also means a "baker's mark" (Thayer's Greek Dictionary). It assured that the bread was "sealed" by the baker who made it, just as Christ, the true bread, is "sealed" or marked by God the Father.
In verses 28-31, the crowd challenged Jesus and quoted from Exodus 16:1a: 28 So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." 30 So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
"Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" The Greek word for "do" or "doing" appears three times in the literal translation of the Greek text where the people say, "What must we be doing to be doing the doings of God?" (Interlinear Bible: Greek-English volume IV, New Testament; page 267). The people still do not understand that it does not only depend on them.
In response to their challenge, Jesus told them they must believe in Him and stop trying to accomplish the works of God themselves. If they continue to do everything according to their power, they will miss the "doings" of God = Jesus the Messiah. The "new Moses" was telling them what Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:3. He told the new generation of the covenant people it was not manna that would continue to feed them, but it was the word of God that would always feed them. It also is what Jesus said to Satan in the Temptation when Satan challenged Him to turn stones into bread in Matthew 4:4. Jesus said, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."
In verse 30, the people ask Jesus for a "sign" that His authority comes from God because prophets worked "signs" to signify their authority. They asked for "works" from Jesus, but He asked them for faith. Their faith in Him will be the "sign" that He is God's representative. Jesus was telling them that faith in itself is a "work" of God. The "work" of God is to believe in Him. The people failed to understand what Jesus was telling them about "belief" (verse 29). So, they asked again, implying if they saw a convincing sign, something even more remarkable than anything witnessed before (verses 2, 14, 26), they would believe Him, meaning believe in His words.
There is a wordplay in the Greek text on the word "works" in verse 28, which translates as "to work the works." However, the term "work" in verse 28 does not mean what it does in verse 27, "to work for," but "to perform," as one performs the works that please God. In verses 26-30, "work" or "works" appears five times in the Greek text (Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, New Testament, vol. IV, page 267). In the symbolic significance of numbers in Scripture, five is the number of grace and the power of God. See the document on "the Significance of Numbers in Scripture."
31 Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness
The crowd already sees Jesus as the "new Moses." His
multiplication of the loaves and fish links Him to Moses' greatest miracle, the
feeding of the multitude with the heavenly manna, the bread from heaven (as
does His walking on the water witnessed by the Apostles). Therefore, they think
He is referring to manna, so they ask Him to provide manna as Moses did as a
"sign" of his authority. Their challenge to Jesus is, "Moses gave us bread from
heaven"; if you are the "new Moses," can you do the same?"
To appreciate the significance of their request, it is important to remember that there was a general belief that when the Messiah came, He would come as one "greater than Moses," the national prophet-hero of Israel, in the signs He would accomplish. A Jewish commentary on Ecclesiastes (Midrash Koheleth, 73) states: "The former redeemer caused manna to descend for them; in like manner shall our latter redeemer cause manna to come down, as it is written, 'there shall be a handful of grain in the earth' (quoting from Psalms 72:16)." His questioners require a more extraordinary miracle than the multiplication of the loaves and fishes from one who claims to be the Messiah! The key to understanding the challenge the people made to Jesus concerning manna is the national expectation of the "prophet greater than Moses" promised in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 and a Moses-like sign.
In verses 32-33, Jesus answered them: 32 So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from Heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." First, He corrected them, saying it was not Moses but God who gave the people the miracle feeding of the manna. The people respond to His correction by making a request: 34 So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
Jesus's response was remarkable: 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." Jesus identified Himself with a particular choice of words that recalls one of the most significant events in the history of Israel: the revelation of God to Moses in the incident of the burning bush (Ex 3:14). "I am"/Ego ami in Greek, recalls the Divine Name that God revealed to Moses, YHWH (Yahweh). But here and elsewhere in John's Gospel, it forms the prelude to the explanation of a parable. In this case, the parable is revealed in the action. Jesus explains the gift of manna and the multiplication of the loaves as parables of His gift of Himself, the true bread from Heaven. Also, see John 8:24, where Jesus said, "That is why I have told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins."
Jesus corrected two misapprehensions on the part of His questioners. First, with another solemn "amen, amen, Jesus told them that Moses was not the giver of the manna. Moses was only the instrument of God's action. Second, He told the people that while the manna was in a sense "bread from Heaven," it was not the "true" bread of God. The true bread is "the bread of life." While all bread is a gift from God, the bread Jesus offers is a miracle from God that gives not only bodily nourishment but a greater gift. What distinguishes the "true bread" from the manna in verse 33 is that the bread of God gives "Life" in the present tense, indicating something which is continually giving life. And it is offered to all humanity, not just one nation or people. Jesus offers the "Bread of Life" that is ever descending and "gives life to the world."
Jesus made an explicit announcement in verse 35 when He stated: "I AM the Bread of Life." The crowd was quite prepared for the idea of uniquely heavenly bread but not for such a mystical statement as "I AM the Bread of Life" and the claim such a statement carried. "The Bread of Life" means primarily bread that gives life, but with Jesus's following declaration in verse 35b, it becomes bread that is life itself!
Jesus made a two-fold promise to the crowd in verse 35 that is similar to the promise He made to the woman of Samaria in John 4:14 when He told her that no one who believes in Him will ever thirst and He would give water that becomes a spring of eternal life. Jesus will take up Satan's challenge in Matthew 4:3-4. Satan said: "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." He (Jesus) said in reply, "It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God'" quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. The Living Word of God transforms "hearts of stone" by feeding us the Living Word. He is the Son of God, the Word made flesh, and the true Bread that came down from Heaven to strengthen us in love and in our fight against sin. "As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened by the sins in daily life, and this living charity wipes away venial sins. By giving himself to us, Christ receives our love and enables us to break our disordered attachments to creatures and root ourselves in him ..." (CCC 1394). "By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sins. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins—that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church" (CCC 1395).
Catechism References:
Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 (CCC 2836-37)
Ephesians 4:23 (CCC 1695); 4:24 (CCC 1473, 2475, 2504)
John 6 (CCC 1338); 6:26 (CCC 2835); 6:27 (CCC 698, 728, 1296); 6:32 (CCC 1094); 6:33 (CCC 423)
Receiving the Eucharist (CCC 1384-90, 1394-95)
The necessity of Baptism (CCC 183, 1253, 1256*, 1257*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; revised 2024 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.