Eighteeenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
The first reading is from the Book of Exodus. Exodus is the second of the five great scrolls
(books) which form the Torah – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The Hebrew word “Torah” means “the Teaching.” The English word for the Torah is Pentateuch.
It is derived from the Greek word meaning “five scrolls.” Exodus narrates the exit or exodus of the Israelites from centuries of slave-like conditions in Egypt. The family of Jacob, whose name was also Israel, emigrated to Egypt due to a severe famine in what came to be called Palestine. The time of migration can be roughly placed around 1700 B.C. Genesis 15:3 notes that the descendants of Abraham would be slaves “in a land not their own” for four hundred years. 1 Kings 6:1 notes that Solomon began building the temple in Jerusalem in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelite exodus from Egypt, or about the year 960 B.C. These are all round numbers, so the beginning of the Exodus can be placed around 1400 B.C.
During the forty years of nomadic life in the Sinai wilderness and beyond, the Israelite tribes were beset by many problems – lack of food and water, rebellion, etc. In today’s first reading they complain, (the technical term is “murmuring”), against the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron. They accused their leaders of bringing them into the wilderness to starve them to death. The Lord God intervenes, “I will rain down bread from heaven every day.” At the first occurrence of this bread from heaven, the Israelites were startled, and asked in Hebrew, “MAN HU,” or “What is this?” Thus is explained in popular belief the origin of the word “Manna.” Our reading ends with the words of Moses, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” Why this reading? In the gospel of this Sunday the crowd pursuing Jesus notes, “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Manna becomes a key word in the Bread of Life Discourse which begins in today’s gospel reading.
The Responsorial Psalm (78) reviews in Hebrew poetry the story of the giving of the manna in the wilderness. The people’s response summarizes the story, “The Lord gave them bread from heaven.” The Psalm 78 version is more appealing to artistic taste than the story in Exodus 16. The poetic form graces us with these expressions, “He commanded the skies,” “He opened the doors of heaven,” “He rained manna upon them for food,” “heavenly bread,” “bread of angels.” The latter expression found fame in Thomas Aquinas’ Sequence for the Mass of Corpus Christi, “Ecce panis angelorum,” “Behold, the bread of angels,” as a name for the Eucharist.
The second reading continues a series of selections from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. The first three chapters of this letter emphasized unity between Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles in the one Church. Luke’s Acts of Apostles and Paul’s Letter to the Galatians bear witness to the immense struggle in early Christianity to overcome racial and religious prejudice. Paul phrased his call for unity differently in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile)…, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” In this Sunday’s second reading the author comes to the exhorta-tion part of the letter. He calls on them no longer to live the empty-headed life of the Gentiles. One example of Paul’s idea of this empty-headed life is in Romans 13:13, “partying, drunken-ness, debauchery, promiscuity, quarreling, jealousy.” Does human nature ever change? Paul’s antidote for an empty-headed life, “Put on the new self, created in God’s way….”
Last Sunday’s gospel reading ended with Jesus fleeing into the hills to escape the crowd that intended to proclaim him king. The Lectionary omits the next episode – Jesus walking on the sea and his self-identification as God. This episode is important to establish the truth of the teaching in the Bread of Life Discourse that begins in this Sunday’s gospel reading. Thus far John pro-claimed Jesus as Messiah and King of Israel. When Jesus walks on the Sea of Galilee, he proclaims Jesus as God. How does he do this? Jesus walks on water – which the Old Testament reserves to God alone. If that was not enough, John confirms his identity as God, when Jesus says to his frightened disciples, “I AM. Do not be afraid.” “I AM” is the name by which God identifies himself in Exodus 3:14. What is John’s catechesis here? If Jesus is Messiah, King of Israel, and God, then what he reveals in the Bread of Life Discourse must be absolutely true.
As our gospel reading begins, the people who crossed from east to west on the Sea of Galilee arrive at Capernaum on the NW shore. They want to know how Jesus got there. They saw his disciples leave by boat without him. Since he just fed them, he suggests that they seek him because they are hungry. This is John’s clever way of referring to Deuteronomy 8:3, that, “Man does not live by bread alone but by everything (word) that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” That word will be the Bread of Life Discourse. The people note that God, through Moses, gave their ancestors bread from heaven. Jesus responds, “Moses did not give you that bread from heaven. My Father, (right now), is giving you true bread from heaven.” What is that true bread from heaven? The revelation that Jesus brings from the Father and is about to give to them in the Discourse. He is not speaking of the Eucharist here, but about the revelation he brings from the Father. Next John uses one of his favorite teaching devices – a not so bright response which leads to clarification and more revelation. The crowd says, “Give us this bread always.” The answer is a profound revelation, “I am the bread of life. Those who come to me and believe in me will never again hunger or thirst.” Meaning: that Jesus himself is God’s revelation. In next Sunday’s gospel, John will clarify this, then move on to Jesus as Eucharist.
