Commentary
Sunday, 8/5/2018, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Rain from Heaven
First Reading Commentary: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15
What is it about the Children of Israel being given bread from heaven that the Church gives us this reading as part of the daily liturgy to meditate on twice within the last two weeks and what is the connection to today’s gospel?
The obvious connection to the gospel is that this event is mentioned in today’s gospel. But what makes it so important is the message from Jesus which Paul reinforces in today’s second reading from Ephesians.
That message is that we have to put our old ways aside. We cannot expect that which is of this earth to take care of us. It is God who created us who also takes care of us. In other words, as Jesus came to make all things new, we must do our part in making all things new within ourselves so that we might receive all of the blessings that God has in store for us.
On the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites entered the desert of Sin between Elim and Sinai and grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They said that when they were in Egypt, they had food to eat but, in the desert, they were starving.
Ever feel like you are at the mercy of someone’s wrath because of something which is not your fault and totally out of your control? We tend to do that to each other in many ways all of the time. For example; you may try to help someone who is in trouble. But instead of showing gratitude, they complain to you about their problem even though you had nothing to do with it. You just happen to be there and even though you are trying to help; you catch the wrath. Moses and Aaron were carrying out God’s Will by leading the Israelites out of Egypt but because the Israelites were not satisfied, Moses and Aaron had to listen to the people grumble.
It was not enough for the Israelites that God had Moses lead them out of slavery in Egypt. They wanted more. There are two ways to look at this. First, we can consider the fact that the Israelites were God’s chosen people, His children, and like all children, they needed to be cared for. Indeed, we are all God’s children and we all need God’s care. We are all in need of God’s nourishment and the food that God gives us is spiritual food. But the Israelites were not thinking about that. They wanted physical food and expected to be taken care of in a physical way. That brings me to the second way of looking at their grumbling.
Some people just can’t be satisfied. Show them the way and they want you to lead them by the hand and if you do that, they want you to pick them up and carry them. The Israelites complained about being in slavery and persecuted by the Egyptians so God had Moses lead them out of Egypt. They complained at the Red Sea so God had Moses part the waters so that they could cross. Now, they are complaining because they have no food.
Notice that all of their complaints were physical. Keep in mind that they knew very well that God was with Moses but their faith in God was virtually none existent because they were only thinking about their physical situation. But God is good, all of the time.
So, the Lord told Moses that He would rain down bread from heaven. God told Moses to have the people gather their daily portion. God said, “…thus I will test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day…let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” God gave this instruction because the seventh day would be the Sabbath and God wanted to see if the Israelites would keep the Sabbath. If they did, it would be a demonstration of their faith.
Moses told Aaron to have the people present themselves before the Lord. When Aaron announced this to the people, they turned toward the desert and the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning, you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord, am your God.”
Do you recognize a pattern here which sadly, has been followed throughout the ages? No matter how many signs God gives us, there are those who still refuse to believe. Did God really need to prove Himself to the Israelites after everything that had happened up to this point? He did not! God was giving the Israelites every opportunity to get it!
As always, God kept His promise. In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning, the dew evaporated and on the desert surface, there were fine flakes like hoarfrost. The children of Israel asked one another, “What is this?” Moses told them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”
Jesus made reference to this in John 6:32-33 when He said, “It was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus said this before the Institution of the Eucharist although that is what He was talking about and therefore comparing the hoarfrost (manna) from heaven to the Eucharist.
When we receive the Eucharist, we receive the spiritual nourishment of Christ in us. When the Israelites ate the manna from heaven, they were supposed to realize that they were being nourished by God spiritually as well as physically. But as time would go on, we know that the Israelites did not make the connection. God was in communion with them but they were not in communion with Him. When we receive the Eucharist, we should take care to not be like the Israelites in the desert. We should understand that God is in communion with us and we should be in communion with Him which means that we should be free from mortal sin.
Make All Things New from Within
Second Reading Commentary Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
Paul declares and testifies that we must put away the old self and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth. Paul is basically telling us to separate ourselves from anything that separates us from God. In other words, stay away from sin.
That’s pretty tough to do in today’s world where from the moment that we wake up, we are distracted by things which will lead us into sin. If it is not money, sex or hatred, there will be something that will lead us into breaking the Greatest Commandments. The evil one always has something in our face to make us sin against God and one another.
Before Christ, we were all doomed because of sin. But because of God’s love for us, Christ paid for all of the sins of the world with His Blood making it possible for us to be united with Him and the Father. By taking away the sins of the world and defeating death; Christ made all things new.
That does not mean that what Christ did for us will guarantee our place in heaven. We still have to do our part. We have to take today’s message from Paul to heart and make things new from within. We do that by accepting the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Once we accept God’s love, it becomes easier for us to place all of our faith Him and obey His commandments. When we do that, things become new from within.
No More Signs Needed
Gospel Commentary John 6:24-35
After Jesus had fed the five thousand and gone off to be by Himself, the people still wanted to be with Him because they could see that if they followed Jesus, He would take care of them. But they were only looking for Jesus to provide for their physical needs.
Like the people that Jesus spoke to in this Gospel, we must not take the phrase, “Do not work for food that perishes” literally. Jesus did not mean that we should not earn our keep. That is a part of good citizenship. Remember, Jesus taught us the principle of being good citizens when He said, “Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give unto God what belongs to God.” Matthew 22:21
Jesus was telling the people not to make physical things on earth more important than their faith in God. That message is true for us as well. It is not wrong for us to work for what we have, indeed we should. It is not wrong or bad for us to take advantage of an opportunity to be successful either. Remember the Parable of the Talents. Matthew 25:14-30 In that parable, Jesus told us not to be like the servant who was afraid to invest which means that we should not let opportunity slip away.
Some of the people did not understand what Jesus was telling them because they did not yet realize that He was the One that was sent. But Jesus could not have been more direct when He said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
Our number one priority in life should be our belief in the Son. To believe in the Son is to believe in the Father and the Spirit. Our absolute belief in God should be above everything else and should be our primary agenda in life.
The people asked Jesus for a sign pointing out that their ancestors ate manna from heaven. Jesus told the people that the true bread of heaven comes from the Father. When the people asked how they can get this bread, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
What is interesting here is that this event immediately followed Jesus walking on water and saving the disciples from rough seas. John 6:16-21 and that was immediately after the feeding of the five thousand. John 6:1-13 These same people had just recently seen a sign by being fed from the five loaves and two fish. So what else were they looking for?
Their problem was that they did not realize that Jesus was the one sent from God. Instead they could only think of Jesus giving another sign because they did not know how to think in a spiritual of Godly way. But instead of giving another sign, Jesus told them that He was the bread of life.
Jesus feeds us with His Word and in the Eucharist. He was no doubt making a direct correlation to the Eucharist when He said, “whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” But the Eucharist had not yet been instituted. This all took place before the Last Supper so the people did not understand as we do today that Jesus was making reference to the Eucharist. But that was the message then and will be the message for all of mankind forever.
