{"id":2597,"date":"2018-08-05T12:38:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-05T16:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2018-08-05T12:38:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-05T16:38:29","slug":"18th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/18th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

18th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nExodus 16:2-4, 12-15
\nPsalm 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54 (24b)
\nEphesians 4:17, 20-24
\nJohn 6:24-35
\nAugust 5, 2018<\/p>\n

Last week<\/a> we hear from the Old Testament of when Elisha fed 100 people with 20 loaves.\u00a0 This was a small miracle serving as a precursor to the huge miracle of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves and two fish.\u00a0 I spoke last week of how Jesus did this as a sign of God\u2019s power at work in him and to draw the people to what was to come.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s gospel passage happens the next day.\u00a0 The crowds are following Jesus.\u00a0 This is a good thing, but Jesus knows they are following because he filled their bellies with physical food rather than seeing the feeding as a sign.\u00a0 Still, they are following him.\u00a0 Jesus uses the opportunity to begin to move them from \u201cfood that perishes<\/em>\u201d to \u201cthe food that endures for eternal life<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus said to them, \u201cI am the bread of life<\/em>.\u201d\u201d\u00a0 This is not the first time the Bible refers to God-given his people \u201cbread\u201d.\u00a0 Our first reading is the story of when, shortly after God freed them from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites in the desert \u201cgrumbled against Moses<\/em>\u201d because they had no food to eat.<\/p>\n

Of course, God provided for their needs, raining down \u201cbread from heaven<\/em>,\u201d giving them \u201ctheir daily portion<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 In the evening God gave them quail to eat and in the morning their \u201cfill of bread.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Today bread comes in many kinds.\u00a0 There is white, wheat, rye, pumpernickel,\u2026 the list could go on.\u00a0 Generally, we buy it in loaves that are already sliced at the store.\u00a0 We also have bread in the form of rolls.\u00a0 Maybe you have had fresh baked homemade bread.\u00a0 All of these are recognizable to us as bread.<\/p>\n

None of these was what the Israelites found in the morning.\u00a0 What they saw \u201cwere fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When they saw it they \u201casked one another, \u201cWhat is this?\u201d for they did not know what it was<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Moses had to tell them this was the bread that God gave them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>I think God gave them bread that looked different to help them realize this was not just ordinary bread but \u201cbread from heaven<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going back to Jesus\u2019 statement, \u201cI am the bread of life<\/em>,\u201d while he begins this statement with \u201cI am<\/em>\u201d, it is not a statement simply about who he is as what he does.\u00a0 Bread is necessary for life.\u00a0 Jesus gives us true life.<\/p>\n

Jesus gives us life through the Eucharist we receive.\u00a0 The bread that we receive in the Eucharist is both like ordinary bread and yet different.\u00a0 It is like a lot of bread in its color.\u00a0 It\u2019s different in that it has no yeast and so it hasn\u2019t risen.\u00a0 The difference should help us realize that it is not simply physical food that we are partaking of.\u00a0 It is the bread of life.<\/p>\n

We will hear more about this \u201cbread of life\u201d in the next three weeks.\u00a0 Before concluding for today, I just want to take one moment to go back to the first reading where the Lord speaks of giving them \u201ctheir daily portion<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 In the Lord\u2019s Prayer, we pray \u201cgive us this day our daily bread.\u201d\u00a0 We trust in Jesus to give us what we need each day as he feeds us with the \u201cbread of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Psalm 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54 (24b) Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 John 6:24-35 August 5, 2018 Last week we hear from the Old Testament of when Elisha fed 100 people with 20 loaves.\u00a0 This was a small miracle serving as a precursor to the huge miracle of …<\/p>\n

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