What are you hungry for?
If you were part of the crowd who witnessed the
multiplication of the five barley loaves
and two fish into enough food to feed thousands in John's Gospel, wouldn’t you be
mesmerized? Wouldn’t you find it
difficult to see beyond the tangible miracle to the deeper reality that Jesus
is hoping to convey? His spectators know
the story of Elisha and the twenty barley
loaves that fed a hundred people from 2 Kings;
they are wondering if Jesus can do the same.
To them, the loaves and fishes are but one more spectacle, one more miracle among
many, and it is this tangible reality that they cling to. The
hand of the Lord does certainly feed
them, as Psalm 145 says, giving them food in
due season and satisfying the desire
of every living thing. But is it
really our physical hunger that needs satisfying?
The Bread of Life discourse, of which we hear the prelude this weekend, asks us to consider more than the tangible miracle: it asks us to consider who Jesus truly is,
what he is about. When he gives in
abundance, far more than they could eat,
he is beginning to suggest that he has new food to offer us, food that will
become integral to our identity, an identity grounded not in tangible
sustenance, but in intangibles of our life as Church: unity of the spirit through the bond of
peace, Paul tells the Ephesians, is the path to new life, which we are to embrace with all humility and gentleness, with
patience and love. As Church, we are called to be one body and one Spirit; following a
path through death to resurrection, it is this promise – not the tangible
promise of common bread and fish – that is to bring us to new life.
What are you hungry for?
Might it be a path to new life in Christ?
Might it be a path to new life in Christ?
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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