Last week we began the “Bread of Life” discourse from the Gospel of John. The reading ended with Jesus teaching His disciples that He is the bread of life that came down from heaven, and whoever comes to Him will never hunger. In today’s reading, it is not surprising that the hometown crowd murmurs to each other how can this Jesus, the son of a local carpenter, make this claim. Jesus understands their “murmuring”. Despite His patient teaching, they struggle to grasp that the Father sent Him, and that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. In short, He and the Father are One. Jesus is God, and He continues to explain that He is the true bread come down from heaven. The ancestors of His listeners ate the manna in the desert, but they still eventually died. However, those who believe in and consume this bread from heaven will not die, but “live forever.” Our reading ends with the eucharistic theme: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”.
As scripture scholar Raymond Brown points out, this discourse in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel informs us that Jesus feeds His followers both through His teaching revelations and His eucharistic flesh and blood. Jesus has revealed, He is “from God” and has been sent by the Father. He is the divine Son of God and is the new manna from heaven, but far greater in that whoever eats this bread (His flesh) will not die. Over the next few weeks, Jesus will explain in even more direct terms what He is trying to reveal. But for now, let’s think about our own reaction to what we have heard so far in this Gospel. Would we, too, have been skeptical if we had been in that crowd listening to Jesus? Are we still skeptical today? Or do we open our hearts and try to truly draw near Him in our faith? Jesus said of God, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day”. God does not force us to faith or belief in the Gospel message, but He draws us. The key question is: do we allow ourselves to be drawn ever closer to God?