Homily for 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B 2018
Exodus 16:2-4,12-15; Ephesians 4:17,20-24; John 6:24-35
Introduction
A story is told of a young lady, an artist and actress who lived in New York City. Although she herself came from a rather difficult background, she was obsessed with Mother Theresa and what Mother did. For this young lady, Mother Theresa was the height of what every human being should be and she wanted to be like or with her. About 1980 or 1981, she found out that Mother Theresa was coming to New York to speak at the United Nations. She was such a fan of Mother Theresa that search high and low and found out at what hotel Mother was staying and went there to see her or if you like to stalk her.
And as she is at the gate of the hotel, Mother’s car pulls up and all these little nuns come out and then finally Mother Theresa comes out herself.
This young lady runs up to Mother and says: “I am so glad to meet you; all the work you do is so wonderful.” Mother Theresa used to all this kind of attention was so nice and took her hand and listened to her. The girl went on: “The work you do is so wonderful that I want to come to Calcutta and do that work with you.”
But Mother Theresa shook her head and said, “No. You don’t do this work because you think it is wonderful. You do this work because you so love the poor people of Calcutta that you cannot be away from them; that is when you come.” A little disappointed, the young lady understood what Mother Theresa was trying to say to her and nodded.
Then Mother Theresa asked her: “But what do you do?” The young lady replied, “Well what I do is not important. I work in a theatre and help put on plays. What use is that?”
Mother Theresa said: “There are so many different kinds of famine in this world. In my country of India, there is a famine of the body, in this country America; there is a famine of the spirit. Stay here and feed your people.”
Yes, there are many types of hunger in our world. The young lady rightly points out the hunger for food, Mother Theresa points out the hunger for spiritual things.
Scripture and Theology
These are the two kinds of hunger about which we hear in today’s readings.
When the people come looking for Jesus on the pretext of wanting to hear his teaching, he tells them: “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” Yes, these people were hungry for food yesterday and are still hungry for more food today.
They are like the Israelites in the desert, as we heard in the first reading. In fact those earlier Israelites were not only hungry, they were also angry and they grumbled against Moses and Aaron saying: Why did we not die in Egypt, where although we were slaves, we had plenty to eat? Why did you bring the whole community to die in the desert?
And like Jesus fed the crowds as we heard last Sunday, God feeds the hunger of the Israelites, raining down quail in the evenings and bread in the mornings.
But is the satisfaction of physical hunger enough? Jesus says no. In fact he firmly scolds the Jews saying: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” And so the same Jesus who feeds the Jews with bread for the belly is now making an even better offer, food that endures for eternal life. Although they are concerned only about their physical hunger, Jesus tells them that they have a deeper hunger which he can satisfy – a hunger for spiritual things, for far more important needs, namely, the need for God. Have you ever gone to the doctor with one complaint and the doctor points out another ailment that you have? Similarly, the people come crying about hunger, and Jesus tells them: “I already satisfied this physical hunger yesterday – but there is another hunger that you have.”
Put simply, Jesus is saying: Look, yesterday you were hungry for physical food and I gave you food to eat. But I notice that you have an even more serious hunger, the hunger for God. And I have something to give you for that: This is bread that endures for eternal life, the Son of God himself, Jesus Christ.
How does Jesus offer himself to the people? He does this by coming down from heaven, becoming man, teaching them the ways of God and his will, but most importantly, suffering and dying on the cross. This action of Jesus is the bread of eternal life, which he gives to the Father for the salvation of the people. Because of this offer, we now all have a chance at salvation – we can be born again as sons and daughters of God.
But you might ask yourself: how can these events which happened 2000 years ago benefit me who is living here today? Well, Jesus thought about that and left us three ways to partake of this bread of life.
First, he told his followers to believe in him and his mission. In Mark’s gospel (16:15-16) he says: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. . . .” And so we have to use our intellect to try to understand his message. We do this particularly in the Liturgy of the Word at Mass.
But he is with us in another way. In the gospel of Matthew (26:26-28) we read:
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, l for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.
And in the gospel of Luke, he adds the words: “Do this in memory of me.”
And so, Jesus, wanting us to have a tangible way of experiencing his gift of himself on the cross, he left us bread and wine, telling us they were his body which he gave up and his blood which sealed the new covenant. From then on, until he returns, this is how we experience his presence. We continue to relish this gift of Jesus every time we come to Mass and receive communion.
But there is a third way Jesus invites us to partake of the bread of life he is offering. Yes, we must believe his message, Yes, we must partake of the Eucharist and the other sacraments. But thirdly, we must also go out and live out in our daily lives, what we have believed and what we have partaken in the Eucharist. That is why at the end of Mass we are dismissed with the words: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life; or Go and announce the gospel of the Lord, presumably by the way you live.” We are being sent out to do what Jesus did at the Last Supper, washing the feet of his disciples. And just like with the Eucharist, after he finished he said: “as I have done, so should you.”
Christian Life and Conclusion
Yes, we have physical needs and many of them: hunger, illness and sufferings of all kinds. And we have spiritual needs, especially the need for God and the need to live with him for eternity. Jesus has offered himself as the answer to our needs, saying: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
- We will never hunger for spiritual food of the Word, if we believe in Jesus in his teaching given us by the Church.
- We will never hunger for the spiritual food of God’s grace, if we approach the sacraments of the Church.
- And like Mother Theresa and the young New York Lady, we will make sure that nobody ever hungers for physical bread, because our faith will move us to help them. Let us make Jesus truly the bread of life for all.
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