Gospel for Sunday, Aug. 4: John 6:24-35
XVIII Sunday Year B
24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was no longer there and neither were his disciples, they got into the boats and headed for Capernaum in search of Jesus. 25 Finding him across the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye have seen signs, but because ye have eaten of those loaves, and were satisfied. 27 Get you not the food that perishes, but the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” 28 They then said to him, “What must we do to do the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered, “This is the work of God: to believe in him whom he has sent.”
30 Then they said to him, “What sign then do you do that we may see and believe you? What work do you do? 31 Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you bread from heaven, the true bread; 33 the bread of God is he who descends from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will no longer hunger, and whoever believes in me will no longer thirstJn 6:24-35
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
The discourse of the “bread from heaven”
After the episode of Jesus walking on water (Jn. 6:16-21), Jesus’ famous discourse in the synagogue of Capernaum begins (Jn. 6:22-66). This passage suggests precise references to the Exodus: the murmuring against Moses in the wilderness (Ex 16:2-3; 17:2; Nm 14:1-2…), the blood of the lamb (Ex 12:1-14), the manna (Ex 16:4-36); moreover, the text must be understood in the light of the Jewish belief in the messianic return of the manna, and the identification of the manna, in the Sapiential Books and rabbinic commentaries, with the Torah, the Word of God, “Dabar- Lògos.”
Jesus is the true Bread offered to the Father (Nm 15:17-21; Jn 6:25; 8:28; 12:32), he is the ultimate offering that reconciles us to God (1 Jn 2:2).
Jesus is the Bread that does not perish, because he is confirmed by God with “the seal” (Jn 6:27) of the Spirit: to this world that seeks a thousand loaves, it is reaffirmed that there is “one bread” (Mk 8:14), “the bread from heaven, the true one…, the one who descends from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32-33).
Jesus, the Bread, is the great Sign (Jn 6:30) given by the Father: to Jews who, like us, polemically demand wonders in order to believe (“What sign then do you do that we may see and believe you? What work do you do?”: Jn. 6:30; cf. 1 Cor. 1:21-24), is offered the miracle of a God who gives Himself totally, who lets Himself be broken, who lets Himself be eaten, who makes Himself ‘the bread of life, that we may hunger no more and thirst no more’ forever (Jn. 6:35)!
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The Eucharist prophetic “mime”
Being eaten by men
When Jesus institutes the Eucharist, he first and foremost operates a prophetic mime. What he accomplishes at the Last Supper is “the last parable of Jesus” (J. Jeremias). Offering the bread, he says, “This is my body given for you”; offering the cup, “This is my blood, poured out for you” (Lk 22:19-20): the first meaning of this action is that he gave himself totally to men, that his life was full oblation for the lives of his brothers and sisters, that he was entirely consumed for them, and that he became, by offering himself for them as the bread and wine, their support and survival. “By distributing the bread, Jesus manifests in words that he “gives himself for.” By circulating the cup, he declares that he “pours out his blood.” Jesus’ two gestures receive symbolic value from this: the gift of his own person for the benefit of the disciples, which goes as far as the shedding of blood” (X. Léon-Dufour). “Before his disciples Jesus makes a mime of his death, representing it before them; it is the attitude of a prophet and a martyr who carries the mission to its fulfillment, giving his own death a meaning of love and service” (A. Marchadour).
The voluntariness of the gift
There are two emphases that Jesus wants to give to his gesture. The first is the absolute voluntariness of his self-giving: his making himself a man to the point of death is not given by the inevitability of chance, but is his free choice of love: “My life, no one takes it away from me, but I offer it of myself, because I have the power to offer it” (Jn. 10:18); “Now my soul is troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this I have come to this hour!” (Jn. 12:27). The evangelists knew that “the Father had given everything into his hands” (Jn 13:3), and on purpose they point out that Jesus foresees Judas’ betrayal. All Eucharistic institution narratives are under the sign of this awareness of Jesus: “Truly I tell you, one of you, the one who eats with me, will betray me” (Mk. 14:18); “The hand of the one who betrays me is with me, on the table” (Lk. 22:21); “The one who dipped his hand in the dish with me, that one will betray me” (Mt. 26:23; cf. Jn. 13:26). Jesus thus voluntarily accepts to the end his sharing with man: he does not back down, he does not flee. Deliberately he offers himself. “That is why at the Last Supper <<se dat suis manibus>>: his Passion will be the Body given and the Blood shed by him” (A. Bozzolo).
The totality of the gift
The second aspect of the prophetic mime is the absolute totality of his self-giving: Christ, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn. 13:1), until the supreme fulfillment of love, which is to give one’s life for those whom one loves (cf. Jn. 15:13): the bread eaten and the wine drunk are the sign of this “consuming himself” for his own, making himself all for them.
The command to imitate Jesus
Two commands accompany the prophetic action: the first is: “Take, eat…; drink” (Mk 14:22; Mt 26:26, 28): the disciples are not just passive objects of this self-giving of Christ, but are invited to take an active part in it, to participate in his love, to accept his life as a gift, to be consciously and responsibly filled with him. From this comes the second command: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24): Jesus commands that his disciples also make themselves bread and drink for others, become food for all, allow themselves to be “eaten” by their brothers and sisters.
The importance of the Eucharistic mime
In the biblical reading of the mime, the first meaning is thus the invitation to total gift to others, following the example of the Master. The other meanings (the real presence of Christ, the sacrifice of the New Covenant, an eschatological sign…), are certainly there, but they are secondary to this and draw light and understanding from it.
It should be noted that, in the Eucharistic mime, “the central moment is given not by the two significant elements of body and blood, but by God’s gift of Jesus that is fulfilled in his violent death (”my blood shed”)… It means that the disciples become sharers in Jesus’ self-giving at the very moment they receive the bread… The Lord’s Supper is thus an action-sign, prophetic, that is, true, and not merely symbolic: in the offering of the broken bread and red wine, the reality indicated by the action – sign, the disciples’ participation in the act of life-giving that Jesus performs by giving his own for the many, is verified and communicated” (B. Klappert).
“’Do this in memory of me.’ These words are repeated in every Eucharistic celebration… One would think they only pertain to the formula of consecration. But Jesus never asked us to repeat these words. Instead, he asked us to do what he himself was doing at that moment. And that is to prepare ourselves to give our lives for the salvation of the world… If our Eucharistic celebrations in the past have not been entirely effective in transforming people’s lives, in making the faithful more committed to the work of Christ, perhaps it is because people have always thought that they should receive rather than give. The hands we extend, however, are not only to receive the body of Christ, but also to give it to others” (Fr. Bernier).
The Eucharist then becomes for believers a program of life, their rationale in being present in the company of men, the matrix of their industriousness in worldly realities.
We must really have the courage to take the Eucharist seriously, and not celebrate it when our political choices have not privileged the poor in whom Christ identifies Himself, our social choices have not wanted our Parishes or our neighborhoods to become hospitality for foreigners, migrants, the homeless, if we have not at least tried to make our lives a gift in the service of our brothers and sisters.
Buona Misericordia a tutti!
Chi volesse leggere un’esegesi più completa del testo, o qualche approfondimento, me lo chieda a migliettacarlo@gmail.com .