NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (1Kings 19:4-8; Eph 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51) Theme: Jesus is “true food” on our journey of life Reflection: From the mystery of life to the message and to the mission of testimony - We can notice that from three Sundays we have been reflecting on the “discourse on the bread of life” from the Gospel of John. The whole reflection starts with the multiplication of the five loaves of bread and two fish. It is continued with the self-affirmation of Jesus: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). He affirms this in the context of the “search of the people for the bread”. He admonishes people to search not for the bread that perishes but for the bread that remains and lasts long and the bread which only he can provide (John 6:27). While proclaiming and distinguishing between the perishing bread and lasting bread, he unveils the “actual content” and “true significance” of the whole discourse: “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41). This is the starting point for our mediation today. - From the miracle of the multiplication Jesus develops and builds up the truth that the people have to carry with them and live. The truth that finally he reveals is that he alone can give true bread and he himself is that true bread which the Father prepared and sent into the world for the eternal nourishment of the people. The destiny and motive of whole proclamation is to bring the people to this knowledge and acceptance of true and eternal bread. This is the reason why evangelist John, while narrating the miracle that Jesus has performed, elaborates and gives further message and meaning of the miracle. Miracle is not something that has happened and gone but “something that still happens in our lives”. The multiplication has been performed by Jesus and, in every celebration of the Eucharist he still performs that miracle in our lives. Therefore, the miracle has all the tenses. It has a past because it has been worked. It has a present because it is still happening. It has a future because it will take place with its eternal meaning. - The Christian life itself is a miracle because it has its beginning from God, it sustains in God and it will arrive finally to be in God. Thus, as a miracle, Christian life is a mystery. It is mystery because all life is from God from the foundation of the creation: it is the past of the mystery. Life is totally donated to man through his Son Jesus Christ in history and in time: it is the present of the mystery. The same life is not yet fully realized and it will be completely consummated only when the life re-enters into its author, God and that mystery is moving forward with the hope: it is the future of the mystery. Jesus himself, who is the ultimate mystery, reveals and realizes the true life before our eyes. The mystery of Jesus is reveals both in the “Word” and in the “Flesh” because he is the “Word made Flesh”. In the beginning he is the Word but he is not remained only the word but assumed the human nature, the flesh. The mystery of the Word is transformed into the mystery of the flesh. He is both “proclaimed word” and “broken bread”. This is what we celebrate in the liturgy of the Mass. He does not remain as a mystery which is beyond comprehension but reveals it and makes it happen in front of our naked eyes. As a consequence, the mystery is transformed into the message we listen and the mission we imbibe. - To put it in simple words, Jesus does not simply say that he is the “bread descended from heaven” and remains there. Instead, he gives the bread as the nourishment of life. we participate in the mystery with our faith and sacramental life and thus we need to live the mystery. Living the mystery means to listen to message and to do the mission. In the context of today it means this: we need to receive the true bread and we need to provide to the needy the same bread. Message and mission together make the mystery. - Christian life is a mystery: it has to receive and give and give and receive and it is a reciprocal exchange. As the reciprocal taking and giving, life is always a movement. In other words, life is a journey. It goes ahead. Life cannot take stop. When it takes a stop what happens? It becomes stagnant and it becomes unbearable. We can analyze the examples of a stream: as long as the water ‘runs forward’ it is fresh and gives energy to those who receive it and if it stops flowing, it becomes stagnant, undrinkable and moreover poisonous. Life too is like that. If it does not go forward and it finds itself stopped, there is no energy that passes. No one can have some force from it. It is like almost dead. The readings of today, in particular, the first reading puts forward to us this kind of “state of life” of the Prophet Elijah and God comes always to our aid and “makes the life move forward”. Bread God provides: Nourishment for the long and eternal life - Elijah walked for forty days – first reading: The first reading is the best example for the desperation of life from part of man and for the providence that arrive in the right for the sustaining of life from the part of God. Life is God’s gift and he alone takes it back to himself when he wants. Until then the life cannot be stopped. Although it seems to be difficult to carry forward because of the various hindrances, man is not the author and master of life. He has to push it forward until God wills it. Same situation is found in the case of Elijah. He is tired physically and but more than that he is depressed psychologically and spiritually. He is desperate because he finds himself running away for the good he has done. He is afraid because Jezebel seeks to kill him. He is rejected and thus flees for life. His flee and his run for life is so exhausting that he desires to die and he asks God for the same. His prayer is for the cease of life: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better that my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). The amount of fear and anxiety he undergoes for the good he has done is seen here. He has not done something of himself or for himself but has accomplished what God himself has commanded to him. But the result is something unimaginable: escaping for life. His words become true in every human life in one instance or the other. - He really desired that God may take his life. He really prayed that he may die. But he is not the master or author of his life. God still wants him. God still wills that he continues his mission. The mercy and providence of God reaches him in due time. Exactly in the moment of distress and fear, which is dominated by physical hunger, God sends his angel not with the sole words of consolation but with the food that energizes him. Not once but twice, an angel empowers him with his presence and with the providence. Elijah is not aware of the amount of the journey he has to make. But the angel does know. That’s the reason why, angel provides him the food for the second time telling that the journey is a long one. The important phrase is this: “He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of the Lord” (1 Kings 19:8). We can understand two noteworthy elements here: o First, the amount of the food he has taken is not the matter but ‘the food provided by God’ is important. It is God who provides. When he provides, even though it is a small portion, it is enough to complete the journey and thus a mission. Elijah has walked for forty full days with the food provided by God. He is nourished by “the cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water” but is it enough, ordinarily speaking, for the journey of forty days? But here, to Elijah, it was sufficient. It is not because of the quantity of the food but because of the power of God’s providence. o Second, the prophet is re-filled with the faith and spirit of God rather than mere material food. Once he is filled with the confidence that it is not he who does but it is God who acts in him he can re-start his journey with the enthusiasm and vigor. It is this spirit-filled ‘will’ that made him to continue his journey without counting either the days or the distance and to reach his destiny of God’s mountain. - God provides all that we need, but provides in its time: hurrying up or becoming desperate with the distrust with regard to the providence of God is meaningless. We need to believe that God provides when it is ultimately needed. He gives us the mission and he makes us move forward in the mission. If we are tired and lose courage he comes into our aid, not because we ask but because he wills. Thus, like the prophet Elijah, our mission should be ‘accomplishing our journey’ and ‘arriving at our destiny’ and ‘reaching the mountain of the Lord’. - “Who believes in me has the eternal life” – Gospel: Jesus first of all condemns the unbelief of his people. Their unbelief is manifested in their rejection of him and his words. They are not able to ‘digest’ and ‘accept’ his words. His words seem to be hard for them. “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41) is still harder to digest for their mindset. That’s why Jesus, instead of taking about the bread, immediately asks them to believe though they do not understand for now. He invites them to accept it as God’s doing. And he finally affirm that the faith, not the food alone, that saves man: “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life” (John 6:47). - Only after guiding them into the sphere of faith, Jesus says that he is “the bread of life” (John 6:48). In order to rouse in them the authentic faith he compares between the food that perishes and the food that lasts long. He makes the comparison between the manna and the bread he gives. Both are from above. Both are sent by God. Both have come down to feed the hunger of man. It is God who sent Manna and it is God who sent Jesus. Manna in the desert is to nourish the people in their journey to make them reach the Promised Land. Jesus who has come down is the bread to nourish the people in their journey to the eternal life. Comparing both, Jesus affirms the superiority of ‘his bread’ which is himself. Those who eat manna see death but those who ‘eats’ him will not see death. This Eternal Manna is Jesus himself and he says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Jesus wanted to clarify the doubt the Jews and thus create in them the faith but the things have turned to the worse as it will be seen in the further verses. - Jesus highlights that the food which he gives is “his flesh and his blood”. His bread is made available to all. He made this bread to reach to all by his ‘sacrificial death’ on the cross for all. He invites all to eat this bread so that they will the mountain of the Lord, presence of the Lord and in other words, they will “reach the eternal life”. For this, the requirement that is demanded is the faith that Jesus has made himself ‘bread of life’ for us: to believe that he is the food for our life’ journey towards our promised land, towards the mountain of the Lord and towards eternal life. Life is a journey – Jesus is our support and our food - Life is a journey: life is a journey. We are always on the move. We cannot stop or we cannot turn back in our Christian vocation. We are called to march forward towards the altar of God in this life and towards the eternal banquet in the next life. Insofar we journey we are not fixed to a particular system. Insofar we are moving we are not immersed in the same mode of life. Instead, we grow and better ourselves. Since we are the pilgrims and journey throughout, we place ourselves on the road: we are on the road to heaven. We walk ahead to climb God’s mountain and thus, we always look high and watch above. We have to keep our sight above and in high. In a word, our journey is upwards. But in the journey there is no guarantee of safe and painless life. In this journey there is a assurance that everything will be alright without any obstacles. - We climb the mountain of God and in our climbing we also look into the valleys. We try to move upwards and we experience also moments of ‘down’ in life. Our spiritual journey is always entangled within the passing moments of this life. It faces the individualism where no one is found ‘near and next’ to us and thus experiences loneliness and rejection. It faces the liberalism where everyone goes in proper way and thus experiences various psychological complexes such as fear, anxiety, depression and finally death. It faces socialism, political influences, technological attractions and with all these the journey of life takes different ‘roots’ which lead to injustice, unhappiness, perplexity, madness and finally to the state of putting end to the life. - In all these moments of darkness and un-life, the heart of man still searches for the life. Man still hopes for life. He keeps on moving forward with lot of desire for bettering the life. This ‘desire for life’ is something that makes that one to rise up and keep going forward. There are lots of ‘falls’ and lots of ‘stops’ in life. We are tempted to stop our journey. Many a time, our unbearable conditions seem to be very much powerful than our force. We face the situation which Prophet Elijah has faced during the various moments of our life. How many times we must have prayed to God to take away our life? How many times we must have cursed ourselves for the conditions we live in? How many instances there are in our life in which we wanted to end to our life without willing to live anymore? These are the moments of depression and suffering, be it physical or psychological. Exactly in these ‘obscure’ moments that God’s providence and help comes to our aid. - Jesus is our support: God does not leave us alone and drowning. He extends his hand in the right moment. Only we, as the people of hope, have to manifest faith in him and in his providence. Better examples are given to us these Sundays. Last Sunday we meditated that the people of Israel were in the same condition of losing their life for the cause of hunger and they started blaming God and murmuring against him. God has immediately promised and fulfilled an act of providence: he sent them the Manna for their journey. With that they walked for forty years in the desert. Today we have, as we have already seen, another example of Elijah who is offered food by God’s angel and immediately got up and re-started his journey and walked for forty days. In our times, we have the “true and living bread” which has come down from heaven in the person of Jesus Christ. He is our support. He stands by us. He takes our hand and rises up. He does not want that we fall down and lose our life. He has not abandoned the sinking Peter, instead, extends his hand to guide him into the boat of life. What is required of us is to come to his recourse: to seek for his help. The journey will take its start again with the support that Jesus offers to us. He does not wish that we fall short of our destiny. He asks and encourages reaching the mountain of the Lord, to the eternal presence of the Lord. - Jesus is our food: Jesus is our support because he extends his merciful look and generous help. He is not only the God of mere words and mere promises. He is the God who becomes everything for us. He becomes human flesh so that he can ‘be with us’ and this is the first act of love in the incarnation. He becomes ‘Eucharist’ – ‘offering his body and blood’ for our spiritual nutriment and this is the final act of love in the death and resurrection. The whole mystery of Jesus found in the Eucharist: he is our food. He feeds us with his body and blood (as food and water) and makes us to get up and walk so that we keep moving forward. We do not die of hunger and thirst. He invites to come to him those who are hungry and thirsty so that he could satisfy them with his own body and blood. What is required of us is to ask for it and to believe in his presence in the Eucharist. We need to participate with ‘faith’ and ‘confidence’ in the Eucharist so that we are ‘nourished’ by the word and by the food. It is the only way that Jesus has chosen in order to enter deep into our human lives: the Eucharist. Therefore, we need to journey forward and upward until we arrive at our destiny of communion with God. And Jesus is “true food” on our journey of life. Let us consume him, let us get and walk and we are not worried about either about the amount of distance or about the number of days. We can journey all through our life, facing all the valleys of life, by the power of his presence in the form of Eucharist. Let us hurry up with faith to his altar to be filled by this spiritual nourishment which has descended from heaven.