The True Bread from Heaven: Reflections on the Readings for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

As we continue our travel through Chapter Six of the Gospel of John, we enter into the Bread of Life discourse.

Dr. Peter Kreeft points out that, while in English we have the one term for life, in the Greek, in which this gospel was written, there are two words for life. One is bios, signifying bodily (material) or natural life. The other term used is zoe, which means supernatural life. As we shall see, this has great importance for the discussion to follow.

The first reading recalls the time in Exodus when the Israelites grumbled against God during their travels through the desert. They were hungry and uncomfortable. Their thoughts were on material things, “as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!” Then, as we noted in a previous post, typology shows up. Recall, typology is an example of things to come. God “will now rain down bread from heaven” for them. The miracle of the manna is made manifest for them so that they will not starve. Even though His people grumbled against Him, God gave them what they needed. A free gift, just like the free gift of grace that He offers to all.

The responsorial psalm taken from Psalm 78, continues this theme: “The Lord gave them bread from heaven.” God sent them manna, the heavenly bread, the bread of angels. This brings to mind one of the great hymns of the Church, “Panis Angelicus.” And He gave it to them in abundance, on their way to a new life in his holy land.

St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians also talks of new life, new life in Christ Jesus. St. Paul tells them (and us) “that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” And how do we put on that new life? Through baptism and the Eucharist. It’s not a stretch to see the connection between the old life that the Israelites had in Egypt and the renewal that was awaiting them in the promised land. When we partake of the Eucharist Jesus becomes a part of us and we are joined uniquely to Him. It is a step in our journey to become one with Christ, and henceforth, one with the Father. “... so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us...” (John 17:21).

While much of the synoptic gospels go into the things Jesus said, John’s emphasis is more on what Jesus did and who he was. Here John, or rather Jesus himself, identifies Jesus as the Bread of Life come down from heaven. Here the Jews get into a contentious discussion with Jesus over the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. Jesus points out to them that they are looking at things materially (food that perishes) but, instead, they should be looking for “food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Jesus is speaking in terms of zoe.

Here we see a similar distinction that was brought out in last week’s readings. Last week in the reading from the Second Book of Kings, it was God not Elisha who multiplied the loaves so that all ate and there was some left over. But Jesus himself multiplied the loaves for the crowd that had now followed him and talked about Moses giving them manna in the desert. Similarly, this week the Father provides the bread come down from heaven but in this case it is not manna but Jesus himself, the Son of Man, who is the Bread of Life. Both of these situations point to the divinity of Jesus, which the Jews had a hard time understanding as Jesus points out in the very next verse (36), “But I told you that although you have seen [me], you do not believe.” This points out the importance of reading more than the verses just selected out for the mass, as this sentence is also not in next week’s selection but is significant for understanding the sequence that is building in this chapter.

This is also key to learning the true nature of the Eucharist as we shall see Jesus is building on the importance, not only of partaking of the Bread of Life, but also that it is Jesus himself who we must eat, not merely some symbol.

This leads to the importance of caring about our future in heaven rather than earthly or material desires. The parables frequently use the phrase, “The kingdom of heaven is like ...” They also tell us to “store up treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6:20), emphasizing the difference between the natural and supernatural mentioned at the outset of this article and contrasted in the readings from Exodus and John. Jesus is talking about eternal life, not physical life. This will be brought out next week when we read, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.” (John 6:49-50) As the tension between Jesus and the Jews, including his followers grows, so does the importance and significance of what Jesus is teaching the crowd. It is supremely important for the whole Church then and now.

I remember an incident where a Protestant colleague attending a mass for a special occasion asked if he could receive communion. Sadly, I had to tell him it wasn’t permitted. The foundation for this is in the full understanding of the Eucharist in John’s gospel. While members of the body of Christ, our Protestant brethren’s understanding of the Holy Eucharist as the Bread of Life and Jesus’s real presence in the appearance of bread and wine has not reached the fullness of its meaning. The same is for their understanding of the veneration of Mary that Catholics embrace fully. These aspects of the faith that give Catholics access to the fullness of revelation are a real stumbling block hindering them from a complete union with the Catholic Church and all the means of salvation.