READ SCRIPTURE (John 6:35, 41-51)
Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Then the Judeans began to complain about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, "I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; this one has seen the Father. "Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
REFLECT ON THE READING
This Sunday the Letter to the Ephesians calls us to speak the truth to each other. Part of the truth is that, like Elijah, we all become weary, discouraged, despairing even. We are indeed no better than our ancestors. But the story says that there was bread for Elijah, and in the strength of that food he was able to revive and go to Horeb, the mountain where God had met Moses, the mountain where God was to be seen. Is there bread also for us? Yes. The word of the scriptures today is like the voice of the angel calling us to get up and eat. And the presence of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, in both word and sacrament is the very bread of life. “Taste and see,” the Psalm calls out. “Taste and see” was the old Christian invitation to holy communion. Eating this bread enables seeing! If we eat the word of the scriptures in our homes and the word and meal of God in the church, what will we see? We will see the very humanity of Jesus—his flesh—given away and forming us to live in love. We will see the Spirit of God sealing us together as witnesses to grace. Taught of God, we will see that God is good.
PRAY
Gracious God, your blessed Son came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Give us this bread always, that he may live in us and we in him, and that, strengthened by this food, we may live as his body in the world, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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