WHAT KIND OF MESSIAH ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24; John 6: 24-35
Did you ever feel misunderstood? Did you ever feel that people don’t see the real you? Ever feel that people just don’t get you? Are you ever upset because you feel used, that people are only interested in what they can get out of you? If so, you’re in good company. I think most of us have felt that way at one time in our life or other. Some of us might feel that this is the story of our lives, a persistent pattern, an ongoing reality. If so, you’re in even better company than you realized, because I think that’s the Jesus we meet in today’s gospel.
Today’s Gospel is Part II of a five part series from John’s Gospel called the “Bread of Life Discourse.” Mark’s Gospel, which is the shortest of the four Gospels, is interrupted and supplemented with this important episode and inserted into the Cycle B readings. In it, the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, which we heard last Sunday, takes just nine verses to relate and some forty-two verses to explain. The feeding of the 5,000 is a gentle but central introduction of a succession of Gospel readings that take us through one of the most difficult, confusing, counter-intuitive chapters in all the gospels. John 6 is a rhetorical back and forth between Jesus and the crowd and the disciples about his identity, God's mission, and our response. In the coming weeks, Jesus will tell the people they must eat his flesh, and, when they object and ask him to clarify or soften his hyperbolic message, they ultimately reject him.
Last week, if you recall, Jesus took five barley loaves and two fish and multiplied them to feed a crowd of five thousand hungry people. To them, this miracle is the greatest thing since sliced bread and it convinces them that Jesus must be the Messiah. Their attempt to carry Jesus off and crown him king, results in him literally running away because he will not have it. Why? After all, isn’t Jesus the Messiah? Didn’t he want the people to recognize this and believe in him. Yes, but on his terms and not theirs. For them, the Messiah would be a new King David, who would not only free them from Roman oppression and bring down their enemies, but lead Israel into an era of prosperity. He would be one who would take care of, not only their political needs, but their physical needs as well. But that wasn’t the type of Messiah that Jesus came to be. The kingdom Jesus came to rule over wasn’t the Kingdom of Israel, but the Kingdom of God. He came, not so much to nourish them physically, but spiritually.
It’s there that today’s Gospel picks up. As is often the case in John, Jesus turns the physical into the spiritual. They want bread—like the bread Moses provided in the wilderness, but Jesus had another kind of bread in mind. He told the people that they searched and found him, not so much because they witnessed a miracle, but because they had their bellies filled. They had temporal needs met, which at that moment are important to them. And Jesus uses this as an opportunity not to rebuke them, but to challenge them to go deeper.
More than likely, many of us find ourselves in a similar situation. Maybe we’re here at Mass because we’re dealing with some major issue in our lives. Someone is sick, someone has died, someone is unemployed. And we’re fearful or angry or afraid. And it’s a good thing to come and bring that to Jesus. But Jesus tells the people and us that it wasn’t Moses who gave the people bread, it was God. Now God would offer them bread, just a different kind of bread—the bread of life. That promise leads to another request: show us this bread. Jesus answers: “I am the bread of life.” Just as food is essential for our physical safety and well-being, he is essential for our eternal safety and well-being.
The thing is, the people did get it at least part right. They recognize at least part of Jesus' identity. He is a king. He admits his kingship when he stands before Pilate. Jesus is meant to rule. So the people have it partly correct. They don’t, however, see the whole picture. Jesus is meant to rule, but not for just a few years - and he doesn't belong to only one group. That's why Jesus withdraws from them - not that they are wrong, but they have too narrow a view of who he is.
So it is down to our day. A New York Times' columnist named Ross Douthat has written a book entitled, "Bad Religion - How We Became a Nation of Heretics." He argues that we Americans, by and large, still want Jesus to have some place in our lives, but that, like the people of his day, we want to limit him. That's the definition of heresy - not some new idea about Jesus, but a limited idea. "Heretics" emphasize one aspect of Jesus in a way that leaves everything else out.
Some, for instance, want a Jesus who simply affirms them as they are. It is “feel good religion,” one that justifies our actions and a Jesus that accepts us as we are, no matter what we do, rather than challenging us to become something more and better. In "Bad Religion" Ross Douthat also analyzes the "prosperity gospel" of Joel Osteen, the recycled Gnosticism of the DaVinci Code and the dangers of blending religion and nationalism - making a kind of "American Jesus."
The question before us this Sunday is: Who is Jesus? Is he merely king or guru or business partner? Is he some small part of my life - or is he as necessary to me as food and drink. Jesus says that he is the “Bread of Life, the “Cup of Eternal Salvation?” He is the food that gives eternal life. He is the food that encourages and comforts the guilty sinner. He is the Wonder Bread that enables us to carry the heavy loads that life can put on our shoulders. He is the food that will strengthen us to face anything that comes our way. With Jesus, the Bread of Life, there is nothing more that we need. This is bread that God gives to us as a gift. This is the bread that is not only good for the here and now but also for eternity. This bread will change you. This bread will strengthen you for the journey ahead. This bread gives eternal life. This bread gives hope in the face of trouble, confusion and death.
Today Jesus reveals something about who he is, his true self. He comforts us in our troubles, but he doesn't say he will affirm us no matter what we do. He helps us have a better life, but he doesn't guarantee financial success. He teaches the purpose of life, but he doesn't give secret knowledge to make us superior to others. He is meant to rule our lives and our world, but he does not allow us to use him for personal political ends. What he tells us is this: "I am the Bread of Life." If we come to him, we will never hunger and thirst for anything else. He is the Bread of Life. That is Jesus' identity. Take him or leave him.
