All of us have probably used the expression “I am dying of hunger!” While we probably were not literally dying for lack of food, we probably were very hungry. In today’s Gospel Jesus states: “I am the bread of life.” In Jesus’ day if you didn’t have bread, you were not just hungry, you died. This insight helps us to understand his promise that his bread will give life, even eternal life. Jesus identifies himself with this living bread. His actions and teachings feed our deepest hunger. His healings and his life of service and sacrifice give us a true life or eternal life. In John’s Gospel eternal life is not just living for ever and ever. It is a qualitatively different life in the here and now. The only real life and the only truly free life is living with God and doing God’s will. Jesus shows us this path to true life, and he declares: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father.” (John 14:6-7). In other words, Jesus is the Way to true life, life with God. As Jesus explains in today’s Gospel, true life is always doing God’s will. Even Jesus, the Son of God, does the will of his heavenly Father: “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”
The Gospel calls us to recognize that we are hungry people even if we are well fed! We can express this hunger in different ways, e.g., hunger for meaning in my life, hunger for forgiveness, hunger for understanding, hunger for freedom from guilt, hunger for courage, etc. The Gospel proclaims to us that Jesus is the one who feeds these hungers. Jesus issues this invitation to each of us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). In a similar way in today’s Gospel Jesus invites us to come to him if we are “dying from hunger or dying from thirst.
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst…I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:35, 51)
Image: “Breadmaker Slow Fermented Bread Loaf” by Bods is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.