God Provides

08-01-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Today’s gospel is a sequel to last weeks account of Jesus feeding a large crowd with five barley loaves and a few fish. Here Jesus is challenging a crowd to see in the bread they have eaten a sign of gods generosity and providing for all the blessings in their lives, as well as the blessing of life itself. The first reading from Exodus recounts how escaped Hebrew slaves were fed in the wilderness, first with quail, then with Nana. The psalm is a later reflection on the mana as the bread from heaven and a blessing from God. The selection from the letter to the Ephesians sketch is the image of putting away “old self“ and putting on the new, emphasizing that a persons life in Christ needs to differ from their previous life, just as the life of a free person differs from that of a slave.

Signs and wonders?

Today’s gospel continues into a second day the narrative that had begun the day before when after crossing the lake to look for Jesus, a large crowd are fed with five barley loaves and two fish. The following day today’s reading, after more Lake crossings, the people who had been miraculously fed Oregon searching for Jesus. However they do so as Jesus puts it “not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled“ (John 6:6).

In John’s Gospel, the word “sign” has a distinct meaning. At the wedding at Cana, after telling how Jesus turned water into wine, the evangelist notes “Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs“ that “revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him“ (John 2:11). For John, signs are not just wonders to behold; they are about the revelation of God and response of faith in Jesus.

Or maybe the sign is the wonder?

When the crowd first arrives, Jesus notes that they had not appreciated the sign that he had already given; they are still focused on their physical hunger. When they ask for a sign, “that we may see him believing you“ John 6:30, they refer to their ancestors who ate man in the wilderness. Can Jesus taught that? Can he give them more bread that will relieve them of their daily worries about going hungry?

Jesus reminds the crowd that it was not Moses who gave the “bread from heaven“ but his Father. Further, the Father can give them the true bread from heaven that comes down and gives life to the world. There is a parallel in the Greek between working for food the parishes and doing the works of God, which is believing in Jesus as the one God has sent. this is the sign that the people missed the day before, the sign that Jesus is pointing out to them.

Like the evangelist, the church uses the word “sign” for it sacraments. Like the crowd, we are called to see similar “signs“ of God‘s generosity and all the blessings of our lives.