Bread of Life
Eighteenth Sunday - Year B
Exodus 16:2-4; 12-15; Ephesians 4:17.20-24; John 6:24-35
"If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted" (Ex. 16:3). When they crossed the Red Sea and saw the Egyptian soldiers dead on the shore of the sea (Ex. 14:31), they sang to the Lord. Now, free at last, they idealize their life in Egypt. Why do so many faithful after their baptism return to the slavery of sin? Just as the Israelites were baptized in the cloud and the sea (1 Cor. 10:2), so we were baptized in water and filled with the Holy Spirit. The challenge that Christian freedom brings with itself seems to overwhelm many of us.
The second reading presents a clear contrast between the Gentile and the Christian lifestyle. From futility of mind to the renewal in mind and from the old man to the new man. The sacrament of baptism refers us to the story of creation when God created man in “His image” (Gen. 1:27). Here, this image is qualified as “righteousness and holiness of truth” (Eph. 4:24). What the old man - Adam - lost by sin, the new man - Christ - won by His obedience. Before we enter the waters of baptism, we put away the old man, and when we emerge from those waters we put on the new man. We become united to Christ and our new life for God begins.
God knows that we cannot make it to the promised land without His help and so He provides “heavenly bread” (Ps. 78:24). The Israelites had Moses as their leader, we have Jesus Christ. The Israelites ate the manna, we have the Eucharist. But there is an enormous difference between these two realities. "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17). Moses was a servant, and Jesus is the Son (Heb. 3:5-6). The manna of the Old Testament was unable to provide immortality, but they who eat the bread of the New Testament “shall live forever” (John 6:58).
The joy of freedom lasted only a month and then the grumbling began. The Israelites were hungry and they wanted food. The Jews from the Gospel also want the bread that gives life to the world and they want it always (John 6:34). But, here is the point. Obedience and trust give access to that food. By providing food subjected to certain rules - not leaving anything for tomorrow and not gathering the manna on the Sabbath (Ex. 16:19-20; 25-29) - God wants to test whether the people will follow His instructions or not (Ex. 16:4). In the Gospel, to get access to the Bread of Life, we need to believe in Jesus and come to Him. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35).