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18th Sunday (B)
Ex 16:2-4, 12-15
The people started grumbling by contrasting the life they had under Pharaoh against the life in the desert with Yahweh (v3), to which Yahweh readily responded to their complaint. He promised to “rain down bread from heaven”, a divine gift, poetically described as a rainfall of bread (v4): The instructions on collecting the manna are given in considerable detail (vv16-30), with the limitation to the quota of a single day established to avoid greed and accent providence. The provision of food comes in two forms. The small quail migrate to Sinai and Palestine in the spring in large numbers. Manna, the bedouin ‘mann’, is a sweet-tasting substance found on the tamarisk tree, probably the excretion of plant lice. Both phenomena, natural in themselves, are miraculously provided for the Israelites on their journey. ‘Man Hu’, “What is this?”, is an Aramaic expression; the question is a play on the word manna, giving the word a popular etymology.
John 6:24-35
The crowd, made up of those who had witnessed the miracle of the loaves (vvl – 15), follows Jesus to Capernaum. Their search for Jesus is because their hunger had been satisfied not because of the signs, here not referring to the miracle but to its deeper significance, Jesus himself as the bread of life. They should work not for material bread, even miraculously provided, but for the teaching of God, which like the spring water earlier presented (4:14) is the true nourishment that remains for eternity and need never be replenished (v27). Even though they had seen the sign of the loaves, they asked for another in order to believe in Jesus, one akin to that of Moses (v30). Jesus moves the “sign” request to a deeper level. At the miracle of the loaves, they had not seen the real “sign” (v26), only the wonder itself. Moses was not the author of the bread in the desert; it was God himself, who now gives new bread leading to eternal life. They must look beyond material bread and wonder-working to grasp the meaning of the true bread, attainable only in faith (vv32f), i.e. faith in the person of the Son of God (v29). Faith is not a human accomplishment but is effected by God himself. The crowd’s final request remains on a non-faith level: “Give us this bread” (v34). This request for an uninterrupted supply of bread is full of Johannine faith possibilities Those who accept the truth of his revelation will never again suffer spiritual hunger or thirst (v35). The bread here is not eucharistic but refers to Jesus himself and his divine teaching.
Eph 4:17, 20-24
Believing in Christ means living a new life in Christ. St Paul underlines the moral imperatives that accompany this new life. From a life of darkness, ignorance, and sinfulness (v17, Rom 1:21ff), Paul describes this Christian transformation in baptism as a vesting or clothing in the person and thinking of Christ (v24; Gal 3:27), calling for an ongoing assimilation into the image of the Creator (v24; Col 3:10f). Like a tattered suit of clothes, the old self is put aside completely (v22).
Jesus is the true Bread from Heaven. He alone can satisfy all our hunger and quench our thirst. As we pray “Give us this day our daily bread” may we express it with total confidence in his providence. Amen!
