"I Am the Bread of Life"

Today’s Gospel passage begins the great Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel account, his Eucharistic chapter. John, of course, is the only Gospel account that omits the Lord’s institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, even though John’s account of that event, at five full chapters, is by far the longest Last Supper account of all four Gospels.

Today we hear only of the signature miracle of the Lord’s that presages all that Jesus will say about, “The food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle of the Lord’s that is witnessed by all four Gospel accounts. John’s, however, is the fullest account. Here both Andrew and Philip speak. Although Andrew spoke once before in the synoptics at Mk 13:3, Philip speaks only in John’s gospel. This is one of about 4 times Philip speaks in John.

The miracle of the loaves and fish is without doubt a direct allusion to the Eucharist. The Eucharist has so many meanings for us. It is the body and blood of Jesus. The Incarnation is the central mystery of the Church. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In it, humanity is united with almighty God in the person of Jesus Christ. We have all been adopted by God through Jesus and thus made heirs with him of eternal life. In Jesus’ flesh and blood, we are united with the Father. Jesus will later say here Chapter 6 of John that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we cannot have life within us. He is the bread of life and all who eat of this bread will have life.

The Eucharist thus feeds us with the bread that comes down from heaven. “My flesh is real food and my blood real drink.” Hungering and thirsting are very primal. Unless we drink and eat, we cannot do anything else. Then there are all the things we associate with eating and drinking. The Eucharist as the banquet where all are richly satisfied and we enjoy the finest wheat and the choicest wines. There is also the idea of table fellowship that is at the heart of every culture. All peoples have customs that revolve around the table.

The idea of the fullness of life represented as a feast is a very ancient one. It certainly runs throughout the scriptures. The Eucharist is understood as the banquet without equal. Jesus feeds us with a food after which there will no longer be hunger, just as the water he will give, as he told the woman at the well, will forever take away thirst.

Other than breath itself, there is nothing more primal than hunger and thirst, food and drink. All creatures on earth spend the vast majority of their lives in search of one or the other. It is only we humans who have achieved some free time from these primal pursuits. But in the sense that we all must work for our living, we also spend a great deal of time pursuing them, even if not directly as do the wild animals. The drives of hunger and thirst are the strongest there is. 

Therefore, the act of eating itself has always been bound in ritual and tradition. There is no culture on earth where eating is not very centrally located within both the family structure as well as the community’s. We come together to share the meal and one another’s company. And we come to give thanks. The word Eucharist means thanks. We are thankful for being given life and Jesus gives us life in its fullness. Who could not be grateful for this great gift? “The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The Eucharist is also communion uniting us in his body. We are so aware of all that separates us. Our communion in his body and blood makes us one. Under the façade of what we show to the world is a poor and lonely creature desiring to be free. It is a meek and powerless creature desiring courage and the ability to overcome fear. It is a creature who mourns and longs for justice. Jesus gives us all righteousness in his own flesh.

In his prayer, “That they may all be one,” there is that union of mind and heart and that union of belief the Church understands as dating back to that first Eucharist at the Last Supper and continuing through each Eucharist at the altars of the Church throughout the world. We are united by the Eucharist in orthodoxy and in faith.

But there is another unity that we pray for. It is a similar unity to where Jesus says that in seeing the lowliest among us, we see him. All of us are Christ to each other, or can be. If we could see him in all our neighbors and everyone we meet, we could see ourselves as Christ also and thus be enabled to minister to one another. If we could accept ourselves as poor and lonely, as meek and needy, as people decidedly powerless since that is what it means to be human, to accept ourselves as powerless, then we could be one with everyone.

Beneath all the appearances that seem to separate us and beneath the masks we wear in fear of being really seen lest we be rejected and vilified, there is a great equality. But rather than seek that unity at the heart of all, we are caught up in the differences that set us apart. These are largely illusions but it is these illusionary things that we focus on; how we look, success or failure, abilities or inabilities, personality. All those things we think that make up who we really are. All the while, who we really are is that frightened, lonely, often sad and powerless person at our heart. It is a person we are often at pains to hide so that no one will ever know. We hide behind the mask of self-assurance and confidence, of control and power. These are the greatest illusions of all.

In the Eucharist we are given the grace to accept our deepest, truest selves because that is the one who Jesus died for. The ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness. If we cannot accept our true selves, how will we know the person who Christ died for? But that is to accept a person not in control, a person who does not understand and a person who is unable. We are afraid of this great meekness and humility that lies at the heart of all human beings. We are afraid to be that vulnerable because we know it will involve pain and from the beginning we have learned to fear and avoid pain. Only in Jesus can we overcome this fear. Only in Jesus can we receive the true power and strength that comes only from above, only from the Spirit. That is to become fully alive. “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot have life within you.” This is not something to be understood, simply believed and surrendered to. All we can say to this gift is thanks and Amen!