The Tenth Sunday after Trinity
“ For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world”
Summary
For a month over the summer our readings are all about bread: Jesus, alongside, Elisha, Elijah and Moses, feeds the people of God and asks us to reflect on what we need to be fed and why. In this morning’s gospel, John 6:24-35, Jesus accuses the people following him of just wanting more bread just to fill their stomachs and not understanding the true sustenance he offers, the bread of life. The crowd wonder if he will provide mana for them as Moses did in Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15. This bread, Jesus points out, was not provided by Moses but given by God and now God is giving them Jesus, the bread of life. In the wilderness, God told the people: “in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” The bread is not just to feed them, it is to teach them, it is to bring them into right relationship with God. The wilderness is not just the space between Egypt and the promised land, it is the place where God will re-form his people so that they once more understand who they are and what they are here for. The bread they need is bread for the journey: the resources they need to go where God is leading them. We are not fed by bread alone. We are not made just to survive, we are made to thrive and we do so by becoming who we truly are: a people made by God to journey outwards, carrying to others the life that we have been given, sharing that which will enable all God’s people to thrive.
First Reading
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, “Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.”’ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked towards the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.”’
In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
GOSPEL
John 6.24-35
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
