THE MANNA FROM HEAVEN VERSUS THE BREAD OF LIFE

 

Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Bible Readings: Exodus 16:2-4,12-15; Ephesians4:17,20-24; John 624:35

In the gospel reading of last Sunday, we read about how Jesus fed five thousand people with fives loaves of bread and few fish (John 6:1-15). Today, this same crowd came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found Jesus, the question that they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here’, was not because they genuinely cared about him; rather, it was for their own personal gain. They were looking for Jesus because they wanted more of the loaves of bread which he had given them the other day (John 6:29).

This brings us to the first learning point from today’s readings: why do you look for Jesus? Many of us are like the crowd that came looking for Jesus. First, like the crowd, we look for Jesus only when we are in need. The problem with looking for Jesus only when we are in need is that when we have no need, then, there is no need looking for Jesus. Two, we look for Jesus not for things of spiritual value but often for things of physical and perishable worth. That is why he tells us not to work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal (John 6:26-28).

This food that endures to eternal life, which Jesus himself would give, is the bread of life. The bread of life is Jesus himself (John 6:35). The feeding of the five thousand was just a sign pointing to this bread of life. Jesus wanted the crowd to see beyond the mere bread that offers temporal satisfaction and look at Jesus, the bread that offers eternal life. The same is the case with the Manna which Moses gave the Israelites in the wilderness. The Manna was a prefiguration of the ultimate food which Jesus would give us, his Body and Blood.

In the case of the Israelites, Moses gave them Manna from us. In our own case, Jesus gave us himself. Unlike the perishable Manna which Moses gave to the Israelites, the bread which Jesus would give endures forever. This bread of life satisfies our deepest longings. Whoever eats it shall not hunger and whoever drinks it shall not thirst (John 6:35). If the Israelites murmured and struggled to have this mere Manna, what efforts are we making to have the bread that endures for eternal life?

Now that we have heard and learnt from Jesus himself, St. Paul in the second reading admonishes us to make some changes in our life. First, he says we should not go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Second, we must give up our old way of life (whoever receives the body and blood of Jesus Christ is a new creature); we must put aside our old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Third, our mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that we can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth (Ephesians 4:17-24).

Dear friends, Jesus loves us. Out of his love, he provides for us and nourishes us not with any perishable food but with his very self. Let us hunger for this bread and make effort everyday of our life to receive it with reverence and thanksgiving.