Jesus The Bread of Life Fr Nelson Lobo OFM Cap

 WONDERING GURU

20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

18^th August 2024

(Proverbs 9: 1-6; Psalm 34; Ephesians 5: 15-20; John 6: 51-58)

 

Story: In his book entitled God’s Psychiatry, Charles Allen tells this story: As World War II was drawing to a close, the Allied armies gathered up many hungry orphans. They were placed in camps where they were well-fed. Despite excellent care, they slept poorly. They seemed nervous and afraid. Finally, a psychologist came up with the solution. Each child was given a piece of bread to hold after he was put to bed. This particular piece of bread was just to be held—not eaten. The piece of bread produced wonderful results. The children went to bed knowing instinctively they would have food to eat the next day. That guarantee gave the children a restful and contented sleep.

Today Jesus speaks of Bread.  His one among the famous 7 I AM sayings: I am the bread of life. 

In Germany there is a Christmas bread called S-T-O-L-L-E-N. It was first prepared in 1545 for the Council of Trent.  And since then, has been the standard traditional Christmas bread baked and consumed by German folks around the world.

In Poland, Eastern Europe, there is another Christmas bread called oplatki, launched in the tenth century.  And it’s still being prepared every Christmas.

In Italy there is a bread called Panettone.  Panettone comes from two words, the Italian word for bread is “panne” and “Tony” name of a person. Back in the 15th century, the 1400s, there was a baker by the name of Tony.  That’s where it came from.  And he wanted to impress the king because he wanted to marry his daughter, so he baked some bread.  Hence, Panettone bread.  I don’t really think that’s the best way to impress a king however Tony made a mark on history because if you go into any Italian market, you find a section with Panettone.

If you go to the Holy land “Bethlehem” in Hebrew means “house of bread”.  “Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.  For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.’ Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, always give us this bread.’” “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 

This crowd is under the misapprehension that Moses and not God was ultimately responsible for the manna; and this crowd is following Jesus now not because they want to hear the words of eternal life, but because they think they’ve found in Him a never-ending supply of bread. So, we have three types of people in the crowd who heard him but went away.

·      Materialists- They only want goodies not God.  Missionaries in the third world would speak about ‘rice Christians’. Only if you give them goodies they come to the church otherwise no.

·      Legalists- Some people want only a set of rules to follow.  We call it the sin of legalism.  For them the rules are more important than relationships.  They want the Law but not the giver of the Law.

·      Sensationalists-What sign will you give us?  Jesus had fed 5000 people just the previous day.  Yesterday’s miracle was not enough for tomorrow.  Some people crave for spiritual excitement regularly.  They want only mountain top experiences without any valleys in between. 

Modern Crowd-Russian sociologists wrote that some of the contributing failures of Soviet communism were widespread despair and alcoholism among the Russian people. Replacing God with the state and illusory hopes of a utopian worker’s paradise cannot ever satisfy the human heart.

 St. Augustine spoke about God-shaped vacuum in every soul. We can attempt to fill that vacuum in our hearts with a host of irrelevant things to satiate our hunger for significance except Jesus. You are all familiar with the old saying:  Money can buy you a house, but not a home; money can buy you an education, but not wisdom; money can buy you a bed, but not restful sleep; money can buy you influence, but not respect; it can buy you medicine, but not health; a spouse, but not love; quiet, but not tranquility.  Despite the failure of money, power, pleasure, drink, drugs, or many other glittering distractions that promise peace and fulfillment but cannot deliver, we still scramble and claw to find our meaning in everything except our maker and His purpose for us.