Jesus feeds us with his Word

Homily for Ordinary Time – 19^th Sunday Year B 2015

1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51

Introduction

We often use the expression “bread and butter” to refer to the basic source of livelihood.  For many of us, our jobs are our bread and butter.  Without them we cannot live.

From time immemorial, bread has been a basic staple for many peoples, especially those who live in the Mediterranean Basin.  From wheat or some other cereal, they made this food, which gave them daily nourishment as well as bound them together socially.

We still have a residue of this practice in today’s American society, whereby we put some bread at table alongside other foods.  When you go to a restaurant, especially an Italian restaurant, they will put bread on the table, as a matter of course, whether you ask for it or not.  In bread we recognise something beyond mere physical nutrition; bread represents everlasting and profound, the sweat of mankind and the bond of unity.

Scripture and Theology

It is no wonder that Jesus uses the same image in John Chapter six, which we are reading for five weeks; this chapter is called the bread of life discourse.

1.    Two Sundays ago, we heard Jesus feed the thousands with bread and fish that he multiplied miraculously.

2.    Last Sunday, the crowds look for him, expecting him to feed them again.  But Jesus makes a new proposition; he tells them to look for food that lasts and that bread of life is himself.

3.    Today’s and next Sunday’s gospel passages expand on what Jesus means when he calls himself the bread of life.  In today’s passage, the emphasis is on Jesus feeding people with the Word; next Sunday’s gospel will focus on how Jesus feeds them with his Flesh and Blood.

These two ways of feeding are reflected in the two main parts of our Mass: the Liturgy of the Word that has the readings, homily, creed and general intercessions, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist that has the offertory, the Eucharistic Prayer and communion.  And so let us today focus on how Jesus feeds us with his Word.

We know how Jesus traversed the hills and valleys of Judea and Galilee, preaching the Word to Jews and sometimes to Gentiles as well.  We have come to love his great parables such as that of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son and that of Lazarus and the Rich Man.  We are familiar with his great sermons such as that of the Beatitudes and long sermon at the Last Supper in which he teaches the disciples about service to one another.

But what is Jesus really saying in all these teachings, sermons and parables?  In a nutshell, Jesus is conveying the good news, that God loves us.  That despite our human rebellion and sin, God still loves us, to the extent of sending his son to pay our debt for us.  Those of you who are married or who are simply in love know that unrequited love is not fully love.  And so, Jesus is the bread of life in part because he feeds us with this wonderful message of God’s love and the invitation from God for us to love him back.

In today’s gospel, Jesus insists that it is important to listen to this Word that he brings.  He says:  “It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God.  Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”  In other words, for us to have salvation, we need to learn from God.  And Jesus is one who has come from the Father and is now telling us what the Father wants us to hear and put into practice.  And Jesus strongly affirms this message: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”We must listen to his Word and believe in him.

But as we heard in the gospel, the crowds rejected this message of Jesus.  We heard that:

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother?  Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven?'"

They reject what he has to say, because they know him to be a human being like them, moreover one that hails from a rather small village like Nazareth.

Christian Life

Jesus continues to offer himself to us in the Word today.  In fact the whole gospel and the books of the New Testament are Jesus himself speaking to us, through the instrumental words of those who wrote those books.

·        We continue to hear Jesus’ good news when we read the Bible quietly at home or in Bible Study groups.

·        We hear the Word of Jesus when we read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a very important source of that Good News.  For in the Catechism, it is like the Pope and Bishops have prepared the food from the Bible and broken it down into small morsels that we can handle.

·        We continue to hear Jesus’ Word spoken to us in all the teachings of those who have taken the place of the Twelve Apostles, the bishops and their collaborators the priests and deacons, as well catechists.

·        Most importantly, we continue to hear Jesus’ Word at Mass, in the Liturgy of the Word: the readings, the psalm, the gospel, the homily, the creed and the prayers of the Faithful.  This is the Table of the Word.

In all these ways Jesus is continuing to give himself as the Bread of Life for us.

Unfortunately, sometimes like the Jews, we too reject his Word.  Like them we reject this Good News because of the messenger, whom we either despise or do not recognize as being worthy enough to teach us anything.

But more often, we reject this bread of life, because it does not rhyme with our worldview, just as Jesus’ message did not rhyme with the worldview of the Jews; for they expected a political messiah and here Jesus was appearing as only a spiritual messiah.  Whether we are aware of it or not, we live in a very secular world, one that does not put God in first place, one whose ways of thinking are inspired by our individual needs rather than the will of God, a world in which the useful and material are more important than the merely good and spiritual things.

A friend of mine, a good Catholic man recently told me that he has resolved, for every hour he spends reading internet blogs and other media, he will spend a quarter of an hour reading the Bible and the Catechism.  For he realizes now, how much better his way of life will be, influenced more by the theology Jesus Christ, rather than the ideology of the secular and anti-religious media.

Conclusion

When I was learning the English language, I was taught the distinction between the words “listen” and “hear.”  I was told that to hear is simply to use our ear lobes which the good Lord has given us to perceive sound, something that often happens unintentionally.  Even when you don’t want to, you hear things that come to your ears, like the loud noise on the streets as you try to sleep.  But listening is using those ear lobes and other senses to pay close attention to what is being said, to take in what is being said.

Jesus is asking us to listen carefully so that we might understand and believe.  And so let each of us live our lives asking “what is Jesus trying to tell me and how does he want me to respond?”  Do I hear him telling me, “God loves you”?  And do I respond in kind, saying with both words and action: “I love you too?”