Daily Retreat 04/08/08
2008 Apr 8 Tue: Easter Weekday
Acts 7: 51 -- 8: 1a/ Ps 30(31): 3cd-4. 6 and 7b and 8a. 17 and 21ab/ Jn 6: 30-35
From today’s readings: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.... Into Your hands I commend my spirit; You will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.... Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven - My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven.”
Bread of Life
After the multiplication of the loaves, the crowds chased after Jesus in hopes of another free meal. When Jesus then explained that they should work for imperishable food, and explicitly linked that with belief in Him, the crowds grew excited, and challenged Him to match the miracle of the manna, when the Israelites were given a steady supply of bread from Heaven for forty years.
Instead of turning down the challenge, Jesus ups the ante with a triple contrast: “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father [who] gives you the true bread from Heaven!”
While the Jews certainly believed in the one true God, their experience of Him was mainly mediated by Moses, the man who was rightly revered as their great liberator, leader, and lawgiver. Even though it was recognized that almighty God Himself is the actual Liberator, Leader, and Lawgiver who worked through His servant Moses, in common parlance, God’s words and works were often attributed to Moses. Now, there’s nothing wrong in itself with that practice within common sense limits- even Jesus spoke this way at times, e.g., Mark 7:10, when He quoted one of God’s commandments, saying, “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother....’ ” But when Jesus insists here (John 6:32) that “it was not Moses...but My Father...,” He is deliberately contrasting the mediated experience of God through Moses and the Old Testament with the more immediate experience of God in the New Covenant.
The contrast continues, as Jesus reminisces about Moses with the past (the verb gave), but vividly presents the current work of the Heavenly Father in the present (the verb gives). And while not denying the miraculous nature of that desert manna which was justifiably recognized as “bread from Heaven,” Jesus insists that His present discourse is about a new, more veritably celestial Food which He Himself authenticates as “the true Bread from Heaven,” that “comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world!”
Well, that certainly excites the crowd, so that they plead, “Sir, give us this bread always!” But, the true Bread from Heaven is then revealed as not just a treasured token, or memorial mouthful, or suitable souvenir of any sort, for Jesus explains and identifies, “I AM the Bread of Life - whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst!”
Lord, give us this Bread always!
Acts 7: 51 -- 8: 1a/ Ps 30(31): 3cd-4. 6 and 7b and 8a. 17 and 21ab/ Jn 6: 30-35
From today’s readings: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.... Into Your hands I commend my spirit; You will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.... Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven - My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven.”
Bread of Life
After the multiplication of the loaves, the crowds chased after Jesus in hopes of another free meal. When Jesus then explained that they should work for imperishable food, and explicitly linked that with belief in Him, the crowds grew excited, and challenged Him to match the miracle of the manna, when the Israelites were given a steady supply of bread from Heaven for forty years.
Instead of turning down the challenge, Jesus ups the ante with a triple contrast: “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father [who] gives you the true bread from Heaven!”
While the Jews certainly believed in the one true God, their experience of Him was mainly mediated by Moses, the man who was rightly revered as their great liberator, leader, and lawgiver. Even though it was recognized that almighty God Himself is the actual Liberator, Leader, and Lawgiver who worked through His servant Moses, in common parlance, God’s words and works were often attributed to Moses. Now, there’s nothing wrong in itself with that practice within common sense limits- even Jesus spoke this way at times, e.g., Mark 7:10, when He quoted one of God’s commandments, saying, “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother....’ ” But when Jesus insists here (John 6:32) that “it was not Moses...but My Father...,” He is deliberately contrasting the mediated experience of God through Moses and the Old Testament with the more immediate experience of God in the New Covenant.
The contrast continues, as Jesus reminisces about Moses with the past (the verb gave), but vividly presents the current work of the Heavenly Father in the present (the verb gives). And while not denying the miraculous nature of that desert manna which was justifiably recognized as “bread from Heaven,” Jesus insists that His present discourse is about a new, more veritably celestial Food which He Himself authenticates as “the true Bread from Heaven,” that “comes down from Heaven, and gives life to the world!”
Well, that certainly excites the crowd, so that they plead, “Sir, give us this bread always!” But, the true Bread from Heaven is then revealed as not just a treasured token, or memorial mouthful, or suitable souvenir of any sort, for Jesus explains and identifies, “I AM the Bread of Life - whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst!”
Lord, give us this Bread always!
posted by FrPitstick | 4/07/2008
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