Gospel for Sunday, Aug. 11: John 6:41-51
XIX Sunday Year B
“41 Meanwhile the Jews murmured about him because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this man Jesus, the son of Joseph? Of him we know his father and mother. How then can he say, I have come down from heaven?”
43 Jesus answered, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And all shall be taught of God. Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 Not that any have seen the Father, but only he who comes from God has seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth hath everlasting life.
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and died; 50 this is the bread that descends from heaven, so that whoever eats of it will not die. 51 I am the living bread, descended from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”Jn 6:41-51
Care sorelle e fratelli della Misericordie, sono Carlo Miglietta, medico, biblista, laico, marito, padre e nonno (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Anche oggi condivido con voi un breve pensiero di meditazione sul Vangelo, con speciale riferimento al tema della misericordia.
From: C. MIGLIETTA, L’EUCARESTIA SECOND LA BIBBIA. A biblical-spiritual itinerary, Gribaudi, Milan, 2005, with an introduction by H. E. Msgr. Giacomo Lanzetti
Murmuring (“They murmured about him because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.'” Jn. 6:41; cf. Jn. 6:43, 52) is a recurring sin in Exodus: it expresses unbelief, distrust, skepticism, and criticism of God’s plan of salvation, his voice and that of his prophets. It is our eternal fear of relying on him, of surrendering to his providence. It is our sin: wanting to teach God what is good for us, constantly complaining if things do not go according to our expectations, our plans, our projects, our mentality.
Just as in the desert God understood the repeated murmurings of the Hebrews coming out of Egypt (Ex 16:4-5.11-12; 17:4-7; Nm 14:10-12.26-30…), so now Jesus is enduring those of his contemporaries, very similar to ours: how come God’s logic is in the sign of poverty, concealment, humiliation, last place, suffering, death, giving of oneself, becoming food for others?
God had responded, to the first murmuring in the desert, with manna, whose name “man hu” means, “What is it?” (Ex 16:15 ) : a clear invitation to discover the origin of this gift. And here Jesus invites us to enter the mystery of his Person, to trace his divine origin. Faith is a gift from the Father (Jn 6:44 ; Mt 16:16-17 ) : but to receive this grace we need to “listen to the Father and learn from him” (Jn 6:45 ), that is, to renounce our pride, our claim to self-justification, our desire to explain everything according to our own ideas, humbly instead “letting ourselves be taught by God” (Jn 6:45 ).
Jesus goes on the counterattack: just as the Jews inquired about his origin, so he questions them about their “fathers”: how is it that these, who had also eaten the manna, died? And this death was not only physical, but also deprivation of the Promised Land. Why did that generation not come to salvation, despite the miraculous bread? Jesus becomes defiant: “Your fathers died because they did what you do now: they murmured!”: “All the Israelites murmured against Moses and against Aaron: ‘Oh! Had we died in the land of Egypt or had we died in this wilderness!'” (Nm 14:2). And God always hears the prayer of his own: “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites against me…. For my life,” says the Lord, “I will do to you what I have heard from you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. None of you…, who have murmured against me, shall be able to enter the land where I have sworn to make you dwell” (Nm 14:26-30). Jesus is “the bread of life” (Jn 6:48): those who believe in him can truly arrive at the goal, the Promised Land, “eternal life” (Jn 6:47), the blessedness of God. But we are to “eat” of him (Jn. 6:51), to unite closely with him, without murmuring, without continually rebelling, recalcitrant, problem-setting and conditional, without always whining, sad and sullen like the pagans “who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). The Targum Jerushalaim commented, “Woe to the people whose food is the bread from heaven and who murmur”: woe to a Church that, though possessing Christ-the Eucharist, is always grumbling, discontented, intent on complaining and criticizing. The call to Christ is a vocation to hope, optimism, peace, happiness, cheerfulness, “full joy” (Jn. 15:11, 17:13): so “do not murmur, as some of our fathers murmured, and fell victims to the exterminator. All these things, however, happened to them as an example, and were written for our admonition, of us for whom the end of time has come” (1 Cor 10:10-11).
Buona Misericordia a tutti!
Chi volesse leggere un’esegesi più completa del testo, o qualche approfondimento, me lo chieda a migliettacarlo@gmail.com .