John 6:44-51
No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last
day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.'
Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that any
one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which
comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live
for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my
flesh."
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God offers his people
abundant life, but we can miss it. What is the bread of life which Jesus
offers? It is first of all the life of God himself – life which sustains us not
only now in this age but also in the age to come. The Rabbis said that the
generation in the wilderness have no part in the life to come. In the Book
of Numbers it is recorded that the people who refused to brave the dangers of
the promised land were condemned to wander in the wilderness until they died.
The Rabbis believed that the father who missed the promised land also missed
the life to come. God sustained the Israelites in the wilderness with manna
from heaven. This bread foreshadowed the true heavenly bread which Jesus would
offer his followers.
Jesus makes a claim
only God can make: He is the true bread of heaven that can satisfy the
deepest hunger we experience. The manna from heaven prefigured the superabundance
of the unique bread of the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper which Jesus gave to his
disciples on the eve of his sacrifice. The manna in the wilderness sustained
the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land. It could not produce
eternal life for the Israelites. The bread which Jesus offers his disciples
sustains us not only on our journey to the heavenly paradise, it gives us the
abundant supernatural life of God which sustains us for all eternity. When we
receive from the Lord’s table we unite ourselves to Jesus Christ, who makes us
sharers in his body and blood and partakers of his divine life. Ignatius of
Antioch calls it the "one bread that provides the medicine of immortality,
the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus
Christ." This supernatural food is healing for both body and soul and
strength for our journey heavenward.
Jesus offers us the
abundant supernatural life of heaven itself – but we can miss it or even refuse
it. To refuse Jesus is to refuse eternal life, unending life with the Heavenly
Father. To accept Jesus as the bread of heaven is not only life and
spiritual nourishment for this world but glory in the world to come. When you
approach the Table of the Lord, what do you expect to receive? Healing, pardon,
comfort, and rest for your soul? The Lord has much more for us, more than we
can ask or imagine. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist or Lord's
Supper is an intimate union with Christ. As bodily nourishment restores lost
strength, so the Eucharist strengthens us in charity and enables us to break
with disordered attachments to creatures and to be more firmly rooted in the
love of Christ. Do you hunger for the "bread of life"?
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"Lord Jesus, you
are the living bread which sustains me in this life. May I always hunger
for the bread which comes from heaven and find in it the nourishment and
strength I need to love and serve you wholeheartedly. May I always live in the
joy, peace, and unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and in the
age to come."
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