The Gospel passage proclaimed in next Sunday’s liturgy continues the “Bread of Life Discourse” we began to hear two weeks ago.
Jesus, the bread of life, is essential for life. In the story in the Book of Numbers the Israelites wandering in the desert refused to brave the dangers of the Promised Land after the report of the scouts and as a result they were condemned to wander in the wilderness until they died (Numbers 13-14). Because they would not trust and believe the protective word of God they were forever shut out from the promised land.
To refuse to believe Jesus is to miss life in this world and in the world to come; to accept and believe him is to find real life in this world and glory in the world to come.
This Sunday’s Gospel passage from John opens with the Jews murmuring about Jesus and his claim about being “the bread from heaven”. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of the carpenter, Joseph?” They were judging things by human values and external standards. Why – Jesus was only a carpenter’s son; they had seen him grow up in Nazareth! They could not accept that one who was a mere tradesman could possibly be a special messenger from God.
The passage cautions us to be careful that we never neglect a message from God simply because we despise or do not care for the messenger. God has many messengers and his greatest message came through a Galilean carpenter.
Read his text messages!
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Yvonne Gill
Director of Adult Formation