"Worshipping God means learning to be with Jesus, stripping away our hidden idols, and placing Him at the centre of our lives."
Pope Francis
The Gospel of John beautifully brings about a rich multi-faceted understanding of Jesus as the Bread of Life. Chapter six of John's Gospel starts off with the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand (plus) with the bread and fishes. He is the giver of the bread, the new Moses.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites, in the desert, survived on bread or manna, but there is something more being offered here by Jesus; something beyond the need for mere survival. Jesus is encouraging us to look beyond physical nourishment.
Following the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, we read the story of Jesus walking on the water towards the frightened disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee during a vicious storm. As the disciples see Him, Jesus speaks those encouraging words: "It is I; Do not be afraid" We are encouraged to place our trust in Him, the source of life that even transcends the need for physical safety from an unpredictable environment. Can we take this invitation for courage and apply it too the many outrageous events that we experience today? Are we able to restore our calm and vigilance despite the many violent things that come our way?
If we read on in the Gospel of John, there is a sudden shift from seeing Jesus as the one who feeds the five thousand with bread to Jesus "the real bread" that has come down from heaven. Jesus becomes for us the bread of wisdom, the bread of revelation, who comes to nourishes us with faith. The operative verb in this Gospel story is "to believe". "They who comes to me will never be hungry. They who believes in me will never thirst." The same invitation that was extended to the Samaritan woman at the well is now extended to us: To believe, to accept, to belong to that which brings life. The belief asked of us is much more than intellectual understanding and consent. It is an invitation to give our whole selves to believe in the one who comes to save us. It is an invitation to change. It is an invitation to give our hearts.
Pope Francis tweeted yesterday: "Worshipping God means learning to be with Jesus, stripping away our hidden idols, and placing Him at the centre of our lives." This type of radical faith requires us to move away from being merely satisfied with a physical existence, and moving towards hungering for the abundant life that comes from knowing Christ.
The last shift of understanding that we are challenged with in John's gospel can be found in the stories that follow. It is the shift beyond experiencing Jesus as the bread of wisdom and revelation to actually being with the one who nourishes through His presence in the Eucharist.
The shift we see happening in the apostles as we read the story of their lives in the Gospels is the same shift that is happening, or should happen, in us as we surrender our lives to the reality of Christ presence. Other things fall away as we discover, with deeper meaning, the life and relationship that Jesus calls us to. "Where I am, you will be also."
No comments:
Post a Comment