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.” (Jn 6:24-29)
Beginning last weekend on the 17th Sunday of the Ordinary Time and ending on the 21st Sunday (August 25) we will hear the entirety of the 6th Chapter of John’s Gospel. It’s called the “bread of life discourse,” and it is the theological basis for our Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Last week, Jesus fills the people with earthly food: bread and fish. This weekend we read verses 24-35 of the same 6th Chapter. We hear that the people who had been fed have searched and found Jesus again. And the first thing he gives them is a rebuke: “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.” It’s an almost shocking statement, isn’t it? Since we know that Jesus loved those people, it sounds harsh that He would chastise them for coming to see Him again. And that’s when we realize that Jesus has a deeper message He wants to impart. And He adds that in the next sentence: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” The point that He is making is that He didn’t come simply to provide an easy permanent earthly source of life (i.e. bread and fish). In other words, He didn’t come to comfort us here. The reason Jesus came is to lift us up to the Father in Heaven. He came for the express purpose of bringing us into an Eternal Banquet with the Communion of Saints in Heaven. And since Heaven is the goal, and Jesus is the means, this important chapter of John’s Gospel helps us to understand how we are called to respond. And the first way to respond is to believe in Him.
Oftentimes, we can look to the Lord and the Church as disappointing in that we don’t get what we want. We didn’t like the homily, or we didn’t like the teaching with which we disagreed, or we didn’t like the ministries that the parish offers. And that can be natural. We might keep coming to see what we can do to make it better. But we should always remember that Jesus came, and established a Church, so that we could continue to grow in our knowledge of Heaven – our Eternal Home.
(Very Rev. Msgr.) Christopher H. Nalty
msgr.nalty@gmail.com
