GOSPEL POWER l AUGUST 1, 2021

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Jn 6:24-35 24When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they  themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to  him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Very  truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs,  but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food  that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the  Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set  his seal.” 28Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the  works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that  you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30So they said to him, “What  sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe  you? What work are you performing? 31Our ancestors ate the manna  in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven  to eat.’” 32Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not  Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who  gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is that  which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34They  said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me  will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” J esus frankly tells the Jewish crowd that they are looking  for him for the wrong reasons. Will he not say the same  thing to those of us today who think and, in fact, preach that  the Gospel is about becoming prosperous and successful in this life?  In this Sunday’s Gospel episode, Jesus exposes the error in that line of  thinking. It is not material food that he comes to offer. The bread that  he multiplied for the Jewish crowd is meant to be only a pointer to a  greater reality that the heavenly Father intends to give humankind.  It is the mission of Jesus to reveal that greater reality and obtain it  for us through the offering of his own life. Since it is a mystery that  we cannot adequately grasp with purely human reasoning, what is  asked of us is to believe the revelation and put our trust in the One  who reveals it. Lord Jesus, give us the grace to feel the pangs of that greater hunger  which no material food can ever satisfy. Amen