The Gospel for Monday, February 2, 2004
John 6:27-40
"Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal." Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to carry out God’s work?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is carrying out God’s work: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you yourself do, the sight of which will make us believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus answered them: In all truth I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered them: I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst. But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me, because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day. It is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day. -- The New Jerusalem Bible. 1995, c1985. Doubleday: Garden City, N.Y.
A Study
"What sign will you do [that] will make us believe in you? .... Our fathers ate manna in the desert .... He gave them bread from heaven to eat."
Do John and the authors of the Pentateuch over-dramatize the Israelites' incomprehensible thanklessness? Or because they have been promised that they are God's chosen people, do they demand that God hold up what they consider to be His end of the bargain made between God and them in Egypt?
"The rabble who had joined the people were feeling the pangs of hunger, and the Israelites began to weep again. ‘Who will give us meat to eat?’ they said. ‘Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic! But now we are withering away; there is nothing wherever we look except this manna!’" (Numbers 11:4-6, NJB)
Now, 1300 years later, the people are again dissatisfied with God's provision for them. Isaiah has been fulfilled. John Baptist proclaimed Jesus' coming. Jesus is here, revealing Truth with grace and infinite patience. And still this Israel wants more, and more.
Finally, he lets the cat out of the bag: "It is my Father's will ... that I should raise that person up on the last day." All of Jesus' cards are face-up onthe table, now, and, in the next few verses, he begins the explanation of what he has been teaching.
To the Samaritan woman he offered living water, and she wanted to know where she could get "this water," so that she would never thirst. And now, these Galilleans want "that bread always." We should thank our God that he does not have our limited patience, for any of us, possessed of God's power, would likely have ended it all when faced with such arrogant and demanding thanklessness.
A Reflection
This crowd of insatiable people -- they're just like we are! We can never have enough of the good life. If we have steak, we want lobster to go with it. If we have a car for each driver in the family, we have to have a van for the weekends, or a truck to haul the boat, or a motor home.
Jesus -- this God-and-man who cares deeply about the least of us -- nevertheless continues to make his offer of living water and bread from heaven to all of us. The people to whom Jesus spoke wanted a reliable source of bread to eat, and water for which no trip to a well was required. But he offered them something of far greater value -- but for which they had no desire.
Jesus fed five thousand men plus their women and children, from a few loaves and two small fish. But that wasn't enough to convince this crowd. They wanted more, the first century equivalent of free cell-phone service for life, with DVD-quality video on demand.
He was offering to them what he offers today. Have we learned to desire any better things than our spiritual forbears did? Or do we want the next "good thing," when Jesus stands at our side, offering the best things while we pointedly look the other way?
Do we also reject the one who says so lovingly, "I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me...."?
Today, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
6:47:25 AM 
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