Gospel JN 6:30-35
The crowd said to Jesus:
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?
What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:
He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
So Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”
So they said to Jesus,
“Sir, give us this bread always.”
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.”
Reflection:
The crowd asked Jesus for a sign, saying that during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, their “ancestors” had provided them with manna, a form of bread that fell from Heaven.
“What can you do?” they asked Jesus.
They weren’t actually looking for Jesus to provide bread; they were looking for him to perform a miracle that would prove that he did in fact come from God.
Jesus told them that it was not their ancestors but God who had taken care of them in the desert.
He also understood that the people hungered for more than bread. Their hunger was for a God that understood, loved and forgave them.
Jesus told the Israelites, “My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven…. bread that gives life to the world.”
Upon hearing his words they replied, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Over two thousand years have passed and people still yearn for signs of God’s love and forgiveness. We cannot fill the hunger within us with material success, power or prestige.
As the song goes, we are “looking for love in all the wrong places.”
Jesus told the people of his time, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” His words still ring true for us today.
It is through His message that our hearts are filled with the Love, Hope and Peace that only Christ can give.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27