18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); August 4, 2024

Ex 16:2-4,12-15.  Ps 78.  Eph 4:17,20-24.  Jn 6:24:35

Deacon Jim McFadden

       This Sunday we continue our reflection on the 6^th chapter of John’s gospel.  After the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the people went in search of Jesus.  At first blush, that seems like a good thing: to look for Jesus.  Yet, that’s not enough.  We must ask ourselves why are we seeking him?  Indeed, Jesus raises the specter that “you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (Jn 6:26).  To be sure, the people had witnessed the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, but they had not grasped the meaning of that gesture.  They just stopped at the external miracle: their bellies were fed by the material bread and they weren’t willing to go further, to the meaning of this miracle.

            Again, this raises the question: why do we seek the Lord?  What is the motivation of my faith?  Seeking the Lord is a good beginning, but we can’t stop there.  Our Lord wants people to know him.  He wishes that the search for him and the encounter with him goes beyond the immediate satisfaction of their needs.  Jesus came to brings us something more—to open our lives to a greater Vision than the daily concerns of getting my immediate needs satisfied, whether they be material, psychological, or social. 

            Jesus is trying to move the crowd away from a ‘me-centered’ religion in which we relate to God and to the Church according to how our needs are being met.  Such a disposition may appeal to us at first, but it really is cheap grace as it doesn’t satisfy our deepest spiritual hunger.  Jesus knew that people wanted  a quick fix and easy answers instead of entering into the mystery with heart and soul open to receiving the new life that discipleship would bring. 

            We live in a consumer-driven, transactional world; if these form our conscience, then it is inevitable that we will approach God and our neighbor in a similar fashion.  In other words, what drives us is to seek God for our own purposes: to solve problems, to fix things, to give thanks to Him for things we can’t obtain on our own.  But, if we relate to God in this way, our faith remains superficial.  We look to God to feed us, but once we’re satiated, we forget about him.  At the center of this immature faith is not God but our imperial ego with its incessant and rapacious needs and demands. 

            This is not to say that we should abandoned petitionary prayer; it’s right to present God our needs—“give us today our daily bread”—but God wants to act far beyond our expectations.  He wishes to live with us in an ‘I-Thou’ relationship that’s not transactional, but is grounded in love.  And true love does not come with strings attached: it is freely given and does not expect a favor in return.  So, Jesus is challenging us to move beyond self-interest, of having our needs met, being taken care of, or being healed.  Jesus tells the crowd what he has to offer goes far beyond need-gratification.  He challenges them and us: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst”  ( v. 35).  Simply put: “the bread of God…gives LIFE to the world.”

            The crowd listens to Jesus’ invitation, but they still don’t get it, which often happens to us as the spiritual journey unfolds in ‘two-step forward, one-step backward’ fashion.  But, they do ask him, “What must we do to accomplish the works of God” (v. 28).  It’s as if the people, provoked by Jesus’ words, are saying: “How can we get on track?  How can we purify our search for God?  How do we go from a self-referential, transactional faith, which only thinks of realizing its own egoic needs to a faith that pleases God? 

            Jesus shows the way that is so simple that it can’t be missed: the work of God is to welcome the One the Father has sent, that is, welcoming Himself, Jesus.  That’s it, brothers and sisters!  It’s not adding one devotional practice on top of another; it’s not observing a slew of special precepts.  Rather, it simply is welcoming Jesus into our hearts, into our lives; basically, it is living a story of falling in love with Jesus.  He is the only Way that will purify our faith.  We are not able to do this on our own, but our Lord wants a loving relationship with us.  If we allow ourselves to be involved in this loving relationship with Jesus, if he becomes the Center of our lives, then our relationship with Him will go far beyond the logic of self-interest and calculation. 

            This applies to our relationship with God, but also applies to our human relationships.  When we seek first and foremost the satisfaction of our needs, we run the risk of using people and exploiting situations for our own ends.  Using people for our own ends can’t possibly end well and will predictably taint our relationship with God as we’ll bring this attitude to our faith.  And, we see this writ large in our society.  A society that puts at its center self-interest ahead of people is a society that does not generate life, but just the opposite as it promotes the culture of death. 

            Today’s Gospel invitation is clear:  rather than being preoccupied with the material bread that feeds us, let us welcome Jesus as the bread of life and, starting out from our friendship  with Jesus, let us learn how to love one another.  Let us do so freely and without calculation, without using people for our own needs, but to relate to our brothers and sisters freely with generosity which is how Jesus relates to us. 

            Let us pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary who lived her sacred story of love with God, that she may give us the grace to open ourselves to the encounter with her Son.  Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1. Why do you seek the Lord?

• Have you ever experienced a self-referential, transactional approach to religion? 

• Are you falling in love with Jesus?  How do you cultivate that ‘I-Thou’ relationship?