Bread from Heaven

A few years ago, the results of a survey were release that indicated that one-third of US Catholics (around 69%) did not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. At the time many, bishops were alarmed.  The reality is that the survey was flawed, but it still might be true that many Catholics are unclear about this.

Belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is truly fundamental to Catholics.  If we do believe that large numbers of Catholics are unclear about this belief, what would be the best approach to help change this situation?

At the end of our Gospel reading today, Jesus reveals himself using Eucharistic language as the bread of life. When the crowds listening to Jesus hear him say “the bread that came down from heaven (Jn 6:41), they think of the Manna which fed the Israelites in the desert.

Jesus is not, however, the bread of life which has come down from heaven, but the bread of life who has come down from heaven. Nor is Jesus merely ordinary bread. The kind of bread, which feeds human hunger, but instead the bread Jesus will offer, is imperishable food that endures to eternal life.

As the bread of life, Jesus reveals something essential about his nature and mission in the world, but this revelation proves difficult for the crowds to understand and accept. A few verses latter in 6:41 the crowds murmur, and complain that this is difficult to accept. In a certain sense, this is exactly like our modern situation. We are also surrounded by people who need to be persuaded that Jesus truly the bread of life.

What can we do about this? Many people think that all we need to do is give people better teaching and this will solve everything.

Another approach would be to say that all we need to do is have people experience the mystery and beauty of the liturgy and they will come to believe. The Catechism has an interesting note about this.

Quoting Second Vatican Council the Catechism notes, “The sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church”: [SC 9] it must be preceded by evangelization, faith, and conversion. It can then produce its fruits in the lives of the faithful.” (CCC 1072).

But what does it mean to be evangelized and converted?

Our US bishops define conversion as, “the acceptance of a personal relationship with Christ, a sincere adherence to him, and a willingness to conform one's life to his. (National Directory of Catechesis, p. 48).

To put it more simply “Conversion to Christ involves making a genuine commitment to him and a personal decision to follow him as his disciple” (NDC, p. 48).

Perhaps our Gospel for this Sunday, gives us a model for how Jesus handled the lack of belief among the crowds who followed him? The end goal is to inspire belief both in his divine person, and in his Eucharistic presence.

This section of John (John 6:24–35) is actual a series of three questions, each with a response by Jesus.

If you have been following along in what is now our second Sunday on John 6, our Gospel actually skips ahead in the narrative. At the end of last week’s Gospel, the crowds try to make Jesus king by force, and he withdraws alone. The crowds also observe that the disciples get into a boat and leave without Jesus.

In a section skipped by the lectionary at this point, Jesus joins the disciples in the boat by walking on the water. This explains the surprised question that opens our Gospel. “Rabbi, when did you come here?” (Jn 6:25).

Jesus begins with the immediate questions of the crowd. The crowd is curious about Jesus.  Jesus has already created some sense of connection and initial trust with the crowds through his feeding of the 5000.

Instead of simply answering their question directly, Jesus challenges them saying, “you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled” (Jn 6:26). Jesus is using this dialogue to move the crowd a bit closer to the truth. Clearly, he senses that they now have some initial curiosity and openness to his message. Jesus actually draws their attention to the miraculous sign that has just taken place in the feeding of the 5000.

Sometimes people act as if miracles are a kind of concession. Some might even suggest that it would be more high minded to believe in Jesus without miracles. In John’s Gospel, however, provided the miraculous “signs” lead to Jesus, they are good. They help people to move forward in the journey of faith.

In fact, Jesus acknowledges that the crowds gather to listen and to seek him because of the signs, yet seeking and listening do not always lead the crowd to immediately believe or understand.

Jesus points out that the crowds were still primarily seek their own comfort. They are mostly still following him to satisfy their human hunger. In the feeding of the 5000 in last Sunday’s Gospel, it was very clear that Jesus provided an abundance of food. We certainly do not get the impression that Jesus does not want to feed crowds, or that he does so grudgingly or by way of concession.

Yet Jesus contrasts seeking him because of the ‘signs’ which would be good, with seeking him “because you ate your fill of the loaves” (Jn 6:26).  The food meets a human need, while the signs point to the true reality of who Jesus is.

Jesus tells them, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life” Jn 6:27.

Jesus’ talk of working for the food that leads to eternal life prompts the next question, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” The connection between “work” and “eternal life” makes this sound like a salvation question.

While it is not true that the ancient Jews of Jesus’ day believed that they earned their salvation through their works, it is a perennial danger of religious people in any age to try to gain God’s approval by doing things (CCC 2092).

On the other hand, our good works are important, but our works are always the fruit of what has taken place in our heart.  Jesus make this point clear, by immediately pointing the crowds back to the heart. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (v.29).

This prompt the final questions. “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? (v. 30). It is hard to know what to make of this response. The crowds seem to understand that belief in Jesus is central. They also notice that he told them to seek Jesus because of his signs, rather than for food (v. 28), but then the sign they ask of him is to make manna, the bread that God gave the Israelites in the desert (Ex 16:4–5; Nm 11:7–9; Ps 78:24). They say, “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’ ” (Jn 6:31).

Jesus does not get frustrated or push them away. He allows their religious experience in the narratives about Moses feeding the people with manna from heaven to be a bridge to a new understanding.

He points out that it was not Moses, but God the Father who provided bread or manna. Now God the Father has provided something new, “true bread from heaven” (v. 32) who (the true bread is now a person) gives life to the world (v. 33).

This appears to inspire some initial belief with the response, “Sir, give us this bread always.” (v34). Have some of them journeyed to a new threshold of conversion beyond merely being open and curious? Finally, Jesus summarizes, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (Jn 6:35).

While Jesus has clearly moved their hearts forward, this is not the end of their journey (or the end of the narrative in John 6), and some who follow Jesus have not yet come to belief. Not surprisingly, the journey to the fullness of conversion often occurs in stages.

Some important Catholic thinkers, such as Sherry Weddell [Forming Intentional Disciples: the Path to Knowing and Following Jesus (Our Sunday Visitor: 2012)] have proposed five thresholds of conversion: initial trust, spiritual curiosity, spiritual openness, spiritual seeking, and finally intentional discipleship (p. 129-130).

1. Initial Trust
2. Spiritual Curiosity
3. Spiritual Openness
4. Spiritual Seeking
5. Intentional Disciples

I think that we do observe Jesus in this dialogue with the crowd, moving people through the thresholds of conversion, until they begin to actively seek him with their whole hearts, and then make that decision to follow him, an put him at the center of their life. Obviously, people will be at different stages in this journey. It is not enough to simply declare the truth, “I am the bread of life” but once their hearts are ready, they will be transformed by it.

 

 EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B