Reflection on John 6:22-29

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Monday, April 27, 2020

In today’s Gospel, the crowd that witnessed and enjoyed the miracle of the loaves went to Capernaum in search of Jesus; and having found him across the sea asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “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.” Then strikingly he added, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his his seal.” On hearing those words, the crowd asked Jesus a follow up question, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

These folks, like the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, latched on the first words spoken by Jesus, and simply ignored what he said afterwards. They expressed no interest in “the Son of Man.” They did not want to know who he might be, how he gives food that endures for eternal life, and how God has set his seal on him. Their chief focus and interest was on themselves and what they are to do: What can we do to accomplish the works of God? They used Jesus’ mention of “work” to ask what works God wants them to do in order to receive the food that endures for eternal life. Now, it is right and important to be concerned about what God expects, but it must be held in proper balance with what God wants to give. Obeying God is important, very important, however, to be preoccupied with that alone distorts who God is, and it reduces him from being a loving Father to being a rule maker. 

When the crowd asked Jesus, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” They were thinking of multiple acts they will need to perform, but Jesus answered them in terms of the work of God, a single work— which is to believe in the one God has sent. To believe in him means to acknowledge who he is—the one sent and empowered by his Father to do his Father’s works. To believe in him is to accept what God has provided for attaining eternal life—Jesus himself. To reject him is to reject God’s offer of life. 

But why is Jesus particularly interested in people believing in him? Throughout his ministry he invited his audience to believe in him. Why? Because to believe in him will ultimately compel a choice. If we believe that Jesus is who he said he is, if we believe that he is the Incarnation of God, if we believe that Jesus is Yahweh in human flesh, if we believe that he is the Christos, if we believe that he is Adoni, then we are compelled to make a choice. You cannot possibly believe that Jesus is all that and still resist to commit to him. His early disciples were so convinced that Jesus is the Christos (Christ) and the Kyrios (Lord), and that is why they were willing to do the unthinkable— travel to Rome and at the Roman arena, boldly proclaimed that Jesus, not Caesar, is the Lord and the new King of the world. That heroic act cost them their lives. 

Now the expression, “the work of God” can be understood in two ways: it can mean the work that God desires us to do; it can also mean the work that God does. When Jesus said, “the work of God is to believe in the one he sent,” both meanings are contained in those words. Belief is a human response to God, and it is also the work of God within a person. After all, Jesus said that no one can come to him unless the Father who sent him draws him. Faith is a mysterious tangle of the divine and the human. So, we pray that the good Lord will continue to strengthen and deepen our faith in him. Even when we struggle and suffer, and it appears he is distant, we will continue to believe that he is with us. The lesson to learn from the two disciples on their way to Emmaus is that even when we cannot see and recognize God in difficult moments of our lives, he is surely traveling with us. If we can only speak to him and allow him to speak to us, he will help us to understand what is going on.