The readings for The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080121.cfm
We all have a relationship with food.
And like most any relationship, it’s not always good, is it?
I mean, we don’t don’t always eat because we’re hungry.
Someone once said - and I can’t recall who - that it’s not what we’re eating, but what’s eating us - that decides for us most of the time.
Sometimes we eat, just because it’s time or we’re bored or we’re stressed or for some other random reason, but not always because our bodies are truly hungry.
And much like the crowd following Jesus, we’re always looking for our next meal.
But the problem we all suffer from, is not that we are hungry, but how we try to fill our hunger.
Our world is full of bread of all kinds and not all of it is good for us.
In fact, in order for us to know if a food is good for us to eat, we need to know where it came from and what ingredients it’s made from.
That’s what Jesus is teaching in today’s gospel.
The people have shown up hungry. Just as we heard last Sunday, Jesus fed 5,000 of them with five loaves and two fish.
Today they show up and their first question is, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
They don’t marvel at His last miracle or give thanks to God for His generosity or even wonder who He is.
Instead, they’re focused on where their next meal is coming from and whether Jesus already set out the free food and they’ve just arrived too late to eat it.
They were interested in their own wants and Jesus knows it. He always does. We can fool ourselves, but we can’t fool Jesus.
He says to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled”.
The people are concerned about filling their bellies, but Jesus is concerned about filling their lives.
The people want to feed themselves with bread, but Jesus wants to feed them with God.
“Do not work for the food that perishes,” He tells them, “but for the food that endures for eternal life.”
The food that is Jesus himself.
He is the bread that is broken and freely given for the life of the world.
He is the bread that is eaten and yet never runs out.
He is the bread that consecrates those who believe in Him, eat his flesh and have a real relationship with Him.
When we truly believe in Jesus, eating and taking him into our lives, we live differently.
We see ourselves and others - as persons created in the image and likeness of God rather than as obstacles or issues to be overcome.
We trust the silence of prayer, rather than the words of argument.
We choose love and forgiveness rather than anger or making someone pay for what they’ve done.
We live in a place of humility and gentleness rather than of maintaining appearances and being divisive.
We listen for God’s voice rather than our own - and ultimately, we seek life rather than death.
Jesus tells the crowd, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
He is offering the people - Himself.
He is the bread that never spoils, that nourishes and sustains life and is more than enough to fill them up. (Pause)
Jesus makes us the same offer.
He offers Himself to us to sustain and to nourish us.
And in every situation in our life we have a choice what we consume, the “quick fix” or the one that truly satisfies.
And in that choice, we choose the life we want today, tomorrow and for all eternity.
So I ask you to consider - how will you choose to fill the hunger inside of you?
What “bread” will you choose to fill yourself up?
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