Year - B

Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Exo 16: 2-4, 12-15; Eph 4: 17, 20-24; Jn 6: 24-35)

REFLECT: Believe in Jesus, the true bread who gives Eternal life…

My dear friends, today we are in the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In life, we see different categories of people; people who work for bread of life (just to satiate physical hunger and satisfy their needs), people who work for eternal life (only spiritual hunger) and people who work for both the bread of life and bread of eternal life (who strike a balance between the two). Last Sunday, we reflected on the multiplication of bread and fish for 5000 people with five barely loaves and two fish and  today with one single bread promises to give eternal life and that one single bread is Jesus Himself. Bread of life is ordinary food that can help us to live or exist in the world but the bread of eternal life is an extra-ordinary food and strength, which enables us to live life extra-ordinarily for the good of one and others in close union with God. So Jesus is the eternal bread and eternal life-giver. Thus, today we need ask what we need to do to obtain Jesus the eternal bread, who makes us live forever and what are the works God wants us to do in life? Whom do we need to rely on for daily food and eternal food? So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1.     Believe it, for it is done by God:

Believing in God is nothing by leaving everything in God’s hands and relies on him for everything that happens in life. Today there is a growing tendency among us that ‘I did this’ or ‘I did that.’ Most of us feel belittled to acknowledge that it is done by God or by some good people sent by God as an angel. This I-ness leads to a sense of pride and arrogance, makes us land up nowhere on earth and end up life in failure or we become disgusted or fed up with life. But we need to and should acknowledge that all the good things we do and obtain from others are done by God. There are many benefactors and well-wishers to help and support us. It is not they who give us rather the spirit and grace of God enables them to contribute or share with us. It may be through the prayers of someone that God uses different people to cater to the needs of us, His own people, that is the generosity of God. So we need to believe that it is done by God.

That’s what we heard in the first reading from the book of Exodus. The 16th chapter of Exodus reveals God’s fidelity, might and sanctity as well as the suspicion, ungrateful and faithless nature of Israelites. When the people of Israel were hungry and murmured against God, God sends them food to satiate their hunger through Moses, without even reacting to them in anger. God understands the hungry people, but he was not angered by their murmur and complaints rather God gives them food to fill their hungry stomach to ease the situation. We see here, how God assures his love and support to the people of Israel as they were brought out from the land of Egypt. It is not only the love of God that is manifested to the people of Israel but also the might of God and authority over the entire universe. That’s why God says, “Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” Further, we see towards the end of the first reading Moses saying, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” Yes, Moses did not even say that it was he himself who gave food to satiate the hunger of the people Israel rather he acknowledges that the mighty act of quenching the thirst and hunger of people was done by God himself. Therefore, we note here the Moses just becomes a medium through whom God manifests his love and care to people and works wonders.

Perhaps, something similar is what we hear Jesus saying in today’s gospel, “It was not Moses who gave you manna in the desert but My Father.” So what we need to understand and believe that it was done by God alone. The mighty and miraculous works can be done only by a mighty God, who loves us unconditionally without any parameter. Looking a little deeper into our own lives we find that the help and support we receive from others, the miracles and healings that we obtain is not our or someone’s credit rather it is God’s. God uses peoples and places; we become mediators and instruments of his work. So today let us come to knowledge and truth that whatever miracle and healings done to us or done by us are not to be credited to oneself but to God alone.

Today, let us be docile to the spirit of God to understand that to God alone belong glory, honor and majesty. It may be we who do but it is God who makes us do and it is God who has full control, for he is full of power, might, wisdom and knowledge. If God does not make us do, we won’t be able to do; we will have no power to do. So let us give credit to God for all the good that we do, for he is our creator, power-giver and healer. Let us believe that the good we experience in life is done by God and is from God, so that we don’t become ungrateful and faithless like the people of Israel. Today what God wants from us is to believe in his power and might, remain faithful and grateful for all the wondrous things God has done. Such attitudes will place us in the right direction of God.

2.     Live as Christ taught: 

Pope Francis very beautifully points out, “To be a Christian is not to have a label but to live and testify to faith in prayer, in works of charity, in the promotion of justice, in doing good.” Yes, these above mentioned aspects are the hallmark of Christian living. Living life as Christ has taught us sets the standard of living for us Christians. The most important aspect of our living as followers of Christ is to live in communion with each other and to live as one family of God. However, it is not easy to live as Christ lived or taught, because it involves lots of challenges and attitudinal changes to be Christ-like and to live like Christ. But what God expects from us is at least an effort on our part to be and to live like Christ in life. That’s what we see in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Ephesians.

St. Paul reminds the Ephesian Christian that they need to be renewed in the spirit of their minds, to put off the old nature and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, for St. Paul to live as Christ lived or taught or the path of Christians has a distinctive mark of living in union with each other and loving without any conditions or prefixations. The followers of Christ are called to live like Christ in attitude and approach. The path that Christ chose and taught us is to live in love. That’s why St. Paul tells the community of Ephesus not to live as the pagans or gentiles do in the futility of their minds, reminding that the lives of the gentiles reflected futility, darkness, alienation and ignorance.

Moreover, the words of St. Paul, “To put off the old nature and to put on the new nature” is nothing but to give up sin and live in the grace of God through Christ in the Holy Spirit as we are all created in the image and likeness of God. Living as images and likeness of God is our originality, because we are created in his image and likeness. The loss of original nature is due to sin and its consequences. That’s what we hear in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Ephesians, “To put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.” Yes, it reminds us of the deviated desires of first parents (Adam and Eve), how they were created in the image and likeness of God and how they lost their original nature because of the deception of the devil and the desires of first parents, who were thrown away from the Garden of Eden, the beautiful paradise that God had placed Adam and Eve. As they lost the grace of God due to sin, Jesus’ grace and redemption is what has helped us regain the original nature by putting on the new nature of Christ. So let us pray that we live like Christ in attitude and approach, doing the will of God and loving one another as God’s children.

3.     Believe in Jesus, the bread of life:

Blaise Paschal a famous philosopher and theologian of 17th C very beautifully says about the existence of God; it is better to believe in the existence of God than to question his existence, “You live as though God exists. If God exists, you go to heaven: your gain is infinite. If God does not exist, you gain nothing and lose nothing. You live as though God does not exist. If God exists, you go to hell: your loss is infinite. If God does not exist, you gain nothing and lose nothing.” Yes, we need to believe in God, his existence, his works through different people, by whom he comes into contact with us and becomes as a father and mother. Perhaps, the gospel reading of the day does not deal with the belief in the existence or non-existence of God, but to believe in God the Father, who makes things happen by his providential care for us and to believe in the work of Jesus.

The gospel reading of the day very clearly says, “Work for the food that’s not perishing but lasting and life eternal. Jesus says very emphatically that the Son of man will give it to you, for he is the one on whom the Father put his mark or seal. Yes, it is God the Father, who sent his son to give us eternal life. Therefore, we need to believe in God our Father. Our belief in God should not be for material benefits, which are prone to destruction, transition and temporary, rather believe in God for spiritual benefits that makes life long, life promoting and life cherishing for one another. Our belief in God discloses our belief in Jesus too, because Jesus is the reflection of the Father and they are in close union with each other. Thus, it is through Jesus that God chose to give us bread that lasts forever and Jesus becomes the bread of life that satisfies, strengthens and saves our lives from danger. That’s why in today’s Gospel reading Jesus reminds us that only Jesus can give us eternal life. For, Jesus is the true bread who gives lasting impact to live everlasting life.

In addition to the above, Jesus tells bluntly to people that they were seeking him not because they saw signs rather they ate the fill of their loaves. Therefore, Jesus says do not work for food that perishes but work for food that nourishes your life and your soul forever, given by Jesus, the Son of God. Yes, last Sunday we reflected on the multiplication of loaves and fish but People failed to understand the real meaning of the feeding miracle. They were excited about Jesus’ work and did not believe in his work. That’s why they demanded a sign from Jesus as done in the Old Testament, how the people of Israel were fed in the wilderness by Moses. Jesus makes them understand that it was not Moses, who gave bread from heaven but God his Father and our Father too.  Jesus declares to them that he himself is the true bread from heaven to fill their hunger and quench their thirst.

Today, let us believe in Christ and make a personal commitment to him. we need to believe that Jesus is the eternal bread from heaven. It is not something we heard in the first reading that when people were hungry God gave them something to eat, rather here God gives someone special and that special gift is Jesus, the eternal bread, who satiates the hunger and quenches the thirst. We all of us know that food and water is so essential for physical sustenance of life, similarly for the spiritual enhancement Jesus an eternal bread and eternal drink is indispensable. Yes, Jesus is the eternal bread who satisfies the hunger that no one can give in the world and the eternal drink, who can quench the thirst of everyone, which no one could give on earth. That’s why Pope Francis very well says, “Jesus does not eliminate the preoccupation with and search for daily food. No, he does not eliminate the concern for all of us that can make life more advanced. But Jesus reminds us that in the end, the true meaning of our earthly existence is in eternity, is in the encounter with him, who is gift and giver. It is the hunger for life, the hunger for eternity that only Jesus can satisfy because He is the bread of life.”

True, Jesus is our daily bread, who makes us strong to deal with the things of the daily activities; to deal and face the good and bad; to walk towards God and work for the building up of the Kingdom of God and makes us move towards eternal life. But the people in the gospel reading of the day were seeking for ordinary food that fills the hungry stomach or empty stomach to quench the thirst of the body or mind. But Jesus wants to give them food of life that lasts forever, that would sustain their soul forever and would have a lasting imprint in hearts forever. So we have an eternal bread and eternal word Jesus himself; Let us listen and believe in his word, eat the bread he offers and walk in the ordinances and statutes of God to satiate the physical and spiritual hunger and thirst for Jesus alone. Let us remember “if the Lord who could take care of our human needs to fill the hungry stomach and quench the thirsty, he would also grant us the grace to fill of the spiritual vacuum to be completely filled by the spirit of God to the one who asks him and seeks for him.” So let us seek for the true bread, Jesus, to give us life eternal.

RESPOND:

Do we believe that the good that we experience in life and good things that are done by God and do we acknowledge the same?

Do we live life in the attitude and approach of Christ to be worthwhile Christians and true followers of Christ?

Do we believe in Jesus the bread life that Jesus is the gift and the giver and it is he who alone can satisfy our physical and spiritual hunger and take us to eternity?

So let us realize that good experiences and good things are from God, live like Christ in attitude and approach and believe that Jesus is the heavenly bread, who satisfies both the physical hunger and spiritual hunger, giving us eternal life. Amen.

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968