Sunday Gospel Comment
Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR B
NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - 10.8.03
1 Kg 19,4-8; Eph 4,30-5,2; Jn 6,41-51
A Hostile Crowd
Jesus and the hostile crowd
The discourse on the bread of life in Johnıs Gospel (Ch. 6) is written with
passionate, contrasting nuances between Jesus, the crowd and us readers.
Repeatedly this hostile crowd imposes its interpretation, rejects claims and
remains locked in its false messianic hopes. Jesus is very much in command: he
corrects misunderstandings and presents himself: not just as Jewish Messiah but
also as the Incarnate Son of God, as the new ³I AM² (of the Burning Bush in
Exodus), the One sent to all the world (not just the Jews). Repeatedly John
hints at us the readers, to believe that -in Jesus- the ³Word was made flesh²
(1,14), and now we share in his life. And we are invited to see where in Old
Testament a crowd was as hostile, stubborn and rebellious against God: we are
asked to compare the two situations, and are warned not to be like ³their
ancestors in the desert when they rebelled against God and against Moses².
Five Questions and Five Answers
John presents the crowd as it imposes its interpretation on the miracle of
the loaves. At first, it considers the idea that perhaps Jesus may be their
Jewish Messiah; inevitably however, it rejects him altogether. The hostile crowd
addresses five questions: Rabbi, when did you come here? - What sign will you
do? - Lord, will you give us this bread? - Is not this Josephıs Son? (How can
he talk about his father in heaven? Donıt we know his mother and father?) - How
can this man give us his flesh to eat? To these questions, Jesus provides his
answers, beginning with the words ³Amen Amen², which is Johnıs way to invite
the crowd (and us the readers) to look for deeper meanings and motives, to
perceive and pursue insights that are beyond what is seen by the physical eye.
Jesus says: In your life, work for values that endure forever. It was God, not
Moses, who gave your ancestors the Manna from heaven. It was good, but could not
last, it perished by the next day and in the end those ancestors also died. Now,
you must believe in me, as I put before you a food, that is greater than the
Manna in the desert, itıs a food that endures into eternal life. Hearing this,
the crowd -with a touch of irony- becomes curious: What kind of food? Where is
it? How is it given? and When? and Who gives it?
The crowdıs response and ours
John uses his peculiar style of writing to reassure us, the readers and
believers of all time. Indeed he urges us to ³to see² and pursue his insights,
being fully aware that we have seen neither Jesus nor his miracle. As he tells
it, he gives us ample grounds to believe. As he writes it down, he shares his
sad realization that Jesus came unto his own people but they did not accept him.
But for those who do, Jews as well as Gentiles, Jesus is not simply a Messiah
for Jews only, but the Saviour of all, the Incarnate Word of God, who was sent
with power and authority to give himself to us, so we can have life with him and
have to the full, and forever. As Moses had pointed to the manna and said: ³This
is the bread - I am the bread, that I shall give for the life of the world².
Now John warns us: do not be stubborn and blind, as the contemporaries of Jesus
were, and as their ancestors had been before them.
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