BIBLE STUDY #101


EIGHTENNTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

August 5, 2012



READING 1

EXODUS 16:2-4, 12-15



The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The Israelites said to them,

"Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt,

as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!

But you had to lead us into this desert

to make the whole community die of famine!"



Then the LORD said to Moses,

"I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.

Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;

thus will I test them,

to see whether they follow my instructions or not.



"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.

Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,

and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,

so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."



In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.

In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,

and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert

were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.

On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?"

for they did not know what it was.

But Moses told them,

"This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat."



The Word of the Lord



READING 2

EPHESIANS 4:17, 20-24



Brothers and sisters:

I declare and testify in the Lord

that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,

in the futility of their minds;

that is not how you learned Christ,

assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him,

as truth is in Jesus,

that you should put away the old self of your former way of life,

corrupted through deceitful desires,

and be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

and put on the new self,

created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.



The Word of the Lord



GOSPEL

JOHN 6:24-35



When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,

they themselves got into boats

and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

And when they found him across the sea they said to him,

"Rabbi, when did you get here?"

Jesus answered them and said,

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

you are looking for me not because you saw signs

but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Do not work for food that perishes

but for the food that endures for eternal life,

which the Son of Man will give you.

For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."

So they said to him,

"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"

Jesus answered and said to them,

"This is the work of God that you believe in the one he sent."

So they said to him,

"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 him,

"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."



The Gospel of the Lord



Reflection



Last week Jesus fed the 5,000 with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, with 12 baskets of bread leftover. The words that Jesus prayed over the bread remind us of the prayers said at Mass when the bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, and the abundance of bread reminds us of the abundance of God’s love and gifts to us, especially and foremost in the Eucharist.



This Sunday and the next three Sundays we will hear the Bread of life Discourse, explaining the Eucharist in more detail (remember, there is no Last Supper in John’s Gospel – only the washing of the feet on the night before Jesus died. This is John’s theology of the Eucharist).



The Bread of Life Discourse has three sections: 1) 6:22-34 is the introduction we hear this week; 2) 6:35-59 is the discourse proper and 3) 6:60-71 is the reaction of the disciples and Peter’s confession.



Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus withdrawing to the mountain alone to escape the crowds that would make him king. Today’s Gospel begins with the crowds looking for Jesus. When they find him they say to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" This may not be just curiosity concerning his whereabouts; it could be probing deeper into Jesus’ origins (see 1:38, 14:3)



Jesus response is a bit cynical; he says that they are looking for him because they ate the bread and were filled, not because they are looking to be spiritually filled. The crowds don’t see Jesus as the Messiah, just a wonder worker who provides food.



Jesus admonishes them not to work for food that perishes, but for the “food that endures for eternal life.” He will give them this food because God has ‘set his seal’ on him; that is, God has chosen this task for Jesus.



The crowds then ask him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"

Jesus’ response is to believe in him. Sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? It sounds like all we have to do is profess our belief in God and his Son, Jesus, and we’ll be saved. On closer examination, it becomes a little harder. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Believing in Jesus means listening to what he says and putting it in practice. What does Jesus teach us? There are 3 main areas I like to focus on. First, He teaches us the necessity of depending on the Father through prayer (and for us, sacraments). Jesus prayed continually, and we need to do so, also. If we want to grow in our faith, prayer is a necessity. Secondly, He teaches us to be virtuous: for example, to be kind, forgiving, sacrificing, and loving at all times, regardless of how others treat us. Lastly, God has been generous to us, and we need to be generous to others. That could mean helping others with their physical needs or it could mean sharing our faith with others. Doing the work of God is a lot harder that at first glance. It’s no wonder that it is placed in the context of John chapter 6, John’s famous treaty on the Eucharist. As hard as we try, we can’t do the work of God on our own. We need God’s grace to be virtuous and generous, and the Eucharist is the prime way to receive God’s grace. We thank God for this great gift and pray that we all make the Eucharist an important and central part of our lives.



I get the impression that the crowds don’t totally believe Jesus; they want a sign, that is, proof. They want Jesus to show them something that will prove his claims. As an example, they cite the manna in the desert as the bread form heaven they were given to eat. One of the reasons they believed in Moses was the manna from heaven.



Jesus reminds them that it was God who gave them the manna, not Moses. Now, God is giving them the true bread from heaven which is bread that gives life to the world. Not physical life, but eternal life.



The people ask for this bread, and Jesus responds that he is the bread of life come down from heaven, that those who come to him will never hunger or thirst. He is referring not to the cessation of physical hunger, but that he will fulfill all our spiritual needs. And offer us eternal life. Here again, we have a Eucharistic theme.



In the first reading from Exodus, the people have left Egypt and are being led by Moses through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. The people are grumbling about the lack of food. They were afraid of famine in the desert. They complained to Moses about their hunger, saying that at least in Egypt there was plenty of food instead of dying of hunger in the desert.



There are 3 times this grumbling occurs: in this episode, in Exodus 17, and in Numbers 20. Each time Moses intercedes with God and God intervenes by supplying food and/or water.



There are those who say that the food and water occurred naturally in the desert, but the people (and the author of Exodus) saw it s God intervening to provide for them in their need. They received bread (manna) from heaven to sustain them on their journey to the Promised Land. We are reminded of the Eucharist, the bread of life come down from heaven that sustains us on our pilgrim journey to eternal life.



In the second reading from Ephesians, St. Paul tells us that instead of conforming ourselves to a set of external laws, we conform in faith to the person of Jesus and all else, such as service, love, obedience to laws, etc. flow from that personal relationship with Christ.



Fr. Phil