The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph,’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other.
No one can come to me unless he is drawn by my Father who sent me, and I will raise him up on the last day.
It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God, and to hear the teaching of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father, except the one who comes from God: he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly, everyone who believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead;
but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ (John 6:41-51)

Reflection - The living bread that nourishes life

At the end of last week’s Gospel, Jesus said: I am the bread of life, those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never thirst. In other words, Jesus feeds us with the living bread of God’s word, which is himself. But this word can only be received by those who believe, that is, who are in relationship with Jesus. The first step is to recognise where Jesus comes from (God).

In a great example of unbelief the Jewish authorities reject Jesus at the beginning of this week’s Gospel because they know where he comes from and therefore he cannot be ‘from heaven’. Once again they are unable to read the face of God in Jesus. They think they know exactly who Jesus is - we know his father and mother. And their focus remains firmly fixed on the bread they ate, not the person who provided it.

Jesus tells them to stop complaining and insists that only those drawn by God can believe in him. Jesus insists again that God draws people to belief in him. One cannot be taught by God apart from hearing and believing the word of Jesus. And those who believe have eternal life.

Jesus again insists that he is the Bread of Life. Referring to his earlier conversation with the crowd in last week’s Gospel, Jesus says that those who ate the manna in the desert are dead; and those who eat the bread of life he is offering will live. Life comes from being in relationship (in communion) with Jesus.

The Gospel concludes with Jesus once again stating that he is indeed the living bread which has come down from heaven. Those who eat this bread will live for ever. The bread that Jesus will give is his own flesh offered on the altar of the cross for the life of the world and given in prophetic sign at the Last Supper.

If we enter into communion with Jesus we can become the living bread through whom God continues to feed his people with wisdom, compassion, hope, forgiveness and love.

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