“Lord, give us this Bread everyday”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, LA

August 5, 2012

On this 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we continued with the Gospel of John 6.  Today, we read that when the crowd did not see Jesus and his disciples (because they had withdrawn from the people), they (i.e. the people) got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. As soon as they found him, they exclaimed “Rabbi, when did you get here?” But Jesus did not waste time in telling them why they were actually looking for him: “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. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.” After a back and forth argument, the people wanted Jesus to give them the true bread from heaven. Jesus now used the occasion to tell them who he is “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Why did the crowds pursue Jesus? What were they looking for? What was so compelling, so utterly different and unique about the man Jesus? What actually made crowds of thousands go looking for him until they found him on the opposite shore? 

It’s important to point out that the Jews had been looking for Jesus for a very long time. Our first reading today from Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 describes how the Israelites in the time of Moses, during the time of their wandering in the desert, went out each day in search of food. And when they found what appeared to be fine flakes on the ground and asked what it could be, Moses assured them “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat” (Exodus 16:15). Twelve centuries later, when the descendants of those same Israelites set out in search of Jesus and found him on the opposite shore, little did they know that they had found the One about whom Moses prophesied. This is what Jesus meant when he said to them: “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33). Reflecting on the words of Jesus, the Jews asked him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” And Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:34-35).

“Sir, give us this bread always” the people pleaded with Jesus. The bread that the Jewish people wanted always, beloved in Christ, is Jesus Christ. This same Jesus, who came down from heaven and who gave his life to the world, is truly present in the consecrated Bread that we receive in the Eucharist and in the Cup that we share. He is the real Bread from heaven, which the Israelites hungered to receive. 

Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.” All other food we eat will grow stale, inedible in a short period of time. Even the manna from heaven that fed the Jewish people in the wilderness was temporary. But Jesus, our Greatest Treasure offers us a new kind of Bread, one that does not go bad, one that is not temporary, one that nourishes and sustains everlastingly, one that sustains and bolsters hope. 

Beloved in Christ, the Eucharist is the Bread of Life. In the Eucharist, Jesus is truly and supremely present - Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. During communion, what we receive is not a symbol of the Lord, it is the Lord himself. It’s Jesus! We are the most fortunate of all. The demand of the Jewish people, “Sir, give us this bread always” was given, so to say, to us. When they asked for the daily bread, their minds were in material bread. But the Bread of Life which was first revealed to them is made available to us daily at Mass. So, to Catholics who can afford to come to Mass but choose not to come, you are the one missing because at every Mass, the Lord feeds us specially with himself- the Bread of Life. To Catholics who wish to come to Mass but cannot come due to ill-health, advancement in age, and other impediments, please make arrangement for a Eucharist minister or a priest to bring you Communion. We all need the Bread of Life. Like the Jewish people of Jesus’ time, let’s continuously ask, “Lord, give us this Bread always.”