Readings for Aug. 10-11, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Jack Treloar, SJ | For On Mission
In a culture with a superabundance of food it is easy for us to take for granted its presence and forget the real need for and dependence on food that guides the daily existence of most people in the world.
This week, both the reading from 1 Kings and the Gospel of John focus on God feeding the people in their need.
We are familiar with the fact that God feeds his people from the story in the book of Exodus. When they were hungry in the desert, God provided the manna for them.
The reading from 1 Kings shows us another instance of God feeding someone in dire need. Elijah was fleeing from the king of Israel and was at the point of death. He fell asleep and an angel provided bread and water for him not once, but twice.
Jesus feeds the multitudes in all four of the Gospels. In the passage we have today, John’s version of the feeding has just occurred. Jesus has just done something that was reserved to God alone. He has fed people in the wilderness. This feeding is the reason the authorities have so much consternation concerning his action. Only God can do this!
The Gospel passage moves the discussion from merely feeding people in a transitory or occasional way to a whole new meaning of nourishment as an eternal gift from God. Elijah’s bread and the Hebrews’ manna in the desert only sustained for a short time.
Jesus’ promise is that the bread he will give will sustain for all ages to come. It is not a matter of physical nourishment, but rather an entry into eternal life.
In the course of the discussion, Jesus tells his listeners, “I am the bread of life,” “The one who eats this bread will live forever” and “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”
Suddenly, feeding in the desert takes on a new meaning embedded in eternity rather than temporal existence. When he tells them that he is the bread of life, he is identifying himself with the source of unending life. This identification with eternal life says that when we eat the bread he gives, we will live forever.
Far from advocating cannibalism, such as his adversaries interpreted his words, his message is about a nourishment that endows the one who eats it with a whole new existence.
St. Augustine summarizes all of this in one short sentence from one of his sermons. He tells us, “If we receive the Eucharist worthily, we become what we receive” (Easter Sermon #227).
Augustine’s claim, then, is that any ordinary food we eat becomes part of us. When we receive the bread from heaven, we become that bread. This is quite the opposite from what occurs when we eat ordinary food. We become like Jesus who lives forever.
As we have seen, there is a long tradition of God feeding his people. Jesus transforms the tradition by claiming to actually be the bread of life and invites all of us to share in his life.
Fr. Treloar, an assistant director at Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh, has served as a professor, lecturer, author and academic administrator.
The readings for Sunday, Aug. 11, can be found at Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB.
