04-24-2012, 09:31 AM
Scripture Reflections
24 April, 2012, Third Tuesday of Easter
JESUS AS THE TRUE BREAD OF LIFE ACTIVATES THE SPIRIT WE HAVE RECEIVED AT BAPTISM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 7:51-8:1; JN 6:30-35
The theme of life is very dominant during this Easter season since it is after all the celebration of the new life in Christ. We are all seeking for life. For physical sustenance alone, we need two basic elements to maintain us, namely, water and bread. Of the two, the more fundamental is water because without bread we still can live a little longer, but not without water. Still, both are necessary for life.
However, none of us can be contented simply with physical life. Indeed, to think that simply seeking for an everlasting life on earth would suffice is to fall into the same mentality of the Jews. In the gospel, they mistook Jesus as the one who came to give them bread so that they would never be hungry again. Hence, they pleaded, “give us that bread always,” which is reminiscent of Chapter four of John’s gospel when the Samaritan woman also made a similar request to Jesus, “Give me some of that water so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water.”
Of course, we know that the evangelist of the fourth gospel has a hidden and deeper meaning in the apparent words of Jesus. What Jesus wanted for His disciples was not simply physical life, water or bread, nor even a life that never ends but eternal life. Indeed, yesterday, we heard how Jesus warned His disciples, “Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life.” Truly, He comes to give us living water and the bread of life. And what can this living water be if not the Spirit of God, since water represents the fluidity of the Spirit; and what can this bread be if not the nourishment of our minds and hearts?
It would be useful to note from the onset that the discourse on the Eucharist in John chapter 6 was written in a manner that corresponds to that of chapter four regarding the Samaritan Woman who came to recognize Jesus as the life-giving water. That this link was in the mind of the evangelist is underscored in the last line of today’s gospel when he said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.” The implication is clear: the sacrament of the Eucharist is to be closely related to the sacrament of baptism. At baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit who incorporates us into the body of Christ. However, this Spirit which we receive at our baptism needs to fill our whole being and takes effects in our lives more and more each day. This is possible only when Christ Himself nurtures us, since the Spirit which we receive, is none other than the Spirit of Christ Himself.
How then can Christ enable us to receive His Spirit more deeply? By way of the Eucharist, understood as the Word of life, and not as a ritual! The Eucharist as bread and food must be understood in the first place as the Word of God.
This is clearly established in today’s discourse when Jesus declared, “It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Such an interpretation would be in agreement with the evangelical Christians who understood the discourse on the Eucharist as the Word of God. Of course for us Catholics, such an interpretation would be incomplete even though it is valid.
Nevertheless, we must still ask what is the basis for the interpretation of the Eucharist as the Word of God? The foundation lies in the fact that for the Jews, the Torah is considered the bread of God. We must remember that in Deuteronomy 8:3, which was incidentally cited by Jesus in the Synoptics, that “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”, so in the reading of the Jews the Torah is the real bread from heaven.
But arriving at this conviction is still not yet the climax of our faith. We are called not simply to believe in the words of Jesus. Nay, the explicit demand of Jesus is that we must believe in Him as the one who has been sent. For if Jesus who claims to be the Word of God, since it was His Father who gave that bread, then, the implication is that He is identical with God. Such a high Christology is possible only because the evangelist was influenced by Wisdom literature which views Jesus as the wisdom of God, partly due to His many wise sayings and because wisdom is seen as the personification of God in His relationship with the world. Such an insight was certainly in the mind of the evangelist, for he began his gospel by speaking of Jesus as the Divine Logos, which is God. Indeed, in the gospel text of yesterday, Jesus tells us that for this reason we must believe in Him as the one sent by the Father.
But then we are called to go further by believing not only that Jesus is God, but God made flesh. He has assumed our humanity in Himself. In the incarnation, all reality is transfigured. Hence, Jesus could say that He is the bread of life, the life-giving water, the light of the world and the Shepherd. This declaration also prepares us for the next revelation of Jesus when He affirms His real presence in the Eucharist, since the bread is His flesh! If He is the Word of God and is identical with God and having assumed our humanity, He can now be present also in the bread as well. The Eucharist is the ultimate sign which we are called to believe in for in the Eucharist, we encounter Jesus in the Word and in person. In this way, the questions that were raised at the beginning of the gospel passage are answered, “”What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do?”
If Jesus is the Word of God made flesh in person, we are called to have a personal relationship with Him. If we have faith in Him, then we will truly receive His Spirit given to us at baptism and be nurtured in the life of Jesus. A good example and model is of course, St Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is portrayed as the model, the first martyr, therefore a witness to the life-giving power that comes from Christ.
Such message is reinforced by St Luke who narrated the life of St Stephen as almost parallel to that of Jesus. Stephen is the true Christian. The outcome and trial of Stephen is described in such a way that it resembles that of Jesus. Like Jesus, Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin; like Jesus, he was accused falsely; like Jesus in John’s passion narrative, instead of being tried, he was accusing and judging the religious leaders of the day; like Jesus, Stephen also looked into the heavens and saw a vision; like Jesus at the Transfiguration, Stephen’s face shone. But most of all like Jesus, he surrendered his Spirit to the Father saying, “Father, receive my spirit”, that spirit of love and forgiveness when he prayed, “Father, do not hold this sin against them.” Certainly, the Spirit of Jesus was evident in St Stephen.
As a consequence of his witnessing, we are told that even Saul who “entirely approved o the killing” must have been inspired and prepared his mind and heart for the eventual conversion on his way to Damascus. The death of Stephen, like that of Jesus, must have awakened hardened hearts like Saul. So the death of Stephen like that of Jesus is life-giving only because Stephen was configured to Christ through the sacrament of baptism and the Eucharist. He expressed his identity with Jesus to the fullest by dying to self and giving his life for others like Jesus.
Yes, today we are asked to do the same. As the Jesus invited us yesterday, “working for God” is to “believe in the one he has sent.” We must take the Word of God seriously, especially at the Eucharistic celebration, so that we can be life-givers as we grow to be more like Him in Spirit. In this way, we co-operate with the Holy Spirit given to us at baptism and find life by giving ourselves as food to others in works of love and compassion. By so doing, we have life in the fullest.
24 April, 2012, Third Tuesday of Easter
JESUS AS THE TRUE BREAD OF LIFE ACTIVATES THE SPIRIT WE HAVE RECEIVED AT BAPTISM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 7:51-8:1; JN 6:30-35
The theme of life is very dominant during this Easter season since it is after all the celebration of the new life in Christ. We are all seeking for life. For physical sustenance alone, we need two basic elements to maintain us, namely, water and bread. Of the two, the more fundamental is water because without bread we still can live a little longer, but not without water. Still, both are necessary for life.
However, none of us can be contented simply with physical life. Indeed, to think that simply seeking for an everlasting life on earth would suffice is to fall into the same mentality of the Jews. In the gospel, they mistook Jesus as the one who came to give them bread so that they would never be hungry again. Hence, they pleaded, “give us that bread always,” which is reminiscent of Chapter four of John’s gospel when the Samaritan woman also made a similar request to Jesus, “Give me some of that water so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water.”
Of course, we know that the evangelist of the fourth gospel has a hidden and deeper meaning in the apparent words of Jesus. What Jesus wanted for His disciples was not simply physical life, water or bread, nor even a life that never ends but eternal life. Indeed, yesterday, we heard how Jesus warned His disciples, “Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life.” Truly, He comes to give us living water and the bread of life. And what can this living water be if not the Spirit of God, since water represents the fluidity of the Spirit; and what can this bread be if not the nourishment of our minds and hearts?
It would be useful to note from the onset that the discourse on the Eucharist in John chapter 6 was written in a manner that corresponds to that of chapter four regarding the Samaritan Woman who came to recognize Jesus as the life-giving water. That this link was in the mind of the evangelist is underscored in the last line of today’s gospel when he said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.” The implication is clear: the sacrament of the Eucharist is to be closely related to the sacrament of baptism. At baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit who incorporates us into the body of Christ. However, this Spirit which we receive at our baptism needs to fill our whole being and takes effects in our lives more and more each day. This is possible only when Christ Himself nurtures us, since the Spirit which we receive, is none other than the Spirit of Christ Himself.
How then can Christ enable us to receive His Spirit more deeply? By way of the Eucharist, understood as the Word of life, and not as a ritual! The Eucharist as bread and food must be understood in the first place as the Word of God.
This is clearly established in today’s discourse when Jesus declared, “It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Such an interpretation would be in agreement with the evangelical Christians who understood the discourse on the Eucharist as the Word of God. Of course for us Catholics, such an interpretation would be incomplete even though it is valid.
Nevertheless, we must still ask what is the basis for the interpretation of the Eucharist as the Word of God? The foundation lies in the fact that for the Jews, the Torah is considered the bread of God. We must remember that in Deuteronomy 8:3, which was incidentally cited by Jesus in the Synoptics, that “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”, so in the reading of the Jews the Torah is the real bread from heaven.
But arriving at this conviction is still not yet the climax of our faith. We are called not simply to believe in the words of Jesus. Nay, the explicit demand of Jesus is that we must believe in Him as the one who has been sent. For if Jesus who claims to be the Word of God, since it was His Father who gave that bread, then, the implication is that He is identical with God. Such a high Christology is possible only because the evangelist was influenced by Wisdom literature which views Jesus as the wisdom of God, partly due to His many wise sayings and because wisdom is seen as the personification of God in His relationship with the world. Such an insight was certainly in the mind of the evangelist, for he began his gospel by speaking of Jesus as the Divine Logos, which is God. Indeed, in the gospel text of yesterday, Jesus tells us that for this reason we must believe in Him as the one sent by the Father.
But then we are called to go further by believing not only that Jesus is God, but God made flesh. He has assumed our humanity in Himself. In the incarnation, all reality is transfigured. Hence, Jesus could say that He is the bread of life, the life-giving water, the light of the world and the Shepherd. This declaration also prepares us for the next revelation of Jesus when He affirms His real presence in the Eucharist, since the bread is His flesh! If He is the Word of God and is identical with God and having assumed our humanity, He can now be present also in the bread as well. The Eucharist is the ultimate sign which we are called to believe in for in the Eucharist, we encounter Jesus in the Word and in person. In this way, the questions that were raised at the beginning of the gospel passage are answered, “”What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do?”
If Jesus is the Word of God made flesh in person, we are called to have a personal relationship with Him. If we have faith in Him, then we will truly receive His Spirit given to us at baptism and be nurtured in the life of Jesus. A good example and model is of course, St Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is portrayed as the model, the first martyr, therefore a witness to the life-giving power that comes from Christ.
Such message is reinforced by St Luke who narrated the life of St Stephen as almost parallel to that of Jesus. Stephen is the true Christian. The outcome and trial of Stephen is described in such a way that it resembles that of Jesus. Like Jesus, Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin; like Jesus, he was accused falsely; like Jesus in John’s passion narrative, instead of being tried, he was accusing and judging the religious leaders of the day; like Jesus, Stephen also looked into the heavens and saw a vision; like Jesus at the Transfiguration, Stephen’s face shone. But most of all like Jesus, he surrendered his Spirit to the Father saying, “Father, receive my spirit”, that spirit of love and forgiveness when he prayed, “Father, do not hold this sin against them.” Certainly, the Spirit of Jesus was evident in St Stephen.
As a consequence of his witnessing, we are told that even Saul who “entirely approved o the killing” must have been inspired and prepared his mind and heart for the eventual conversion on his way to Damascus. The death of Stephen, like that of Jesus, must have awakened hardened hearts like Saul. So the death of Stephen like that of Jesus is life-giving only because Stephen was configured to Christ through the sacrament of baptism and the Eucharist. He expressed his identity with Jesus to the fullest by dying to self and giving his life for others like Jesus.
Yes, today we are asked to do the same. As the Jesus invited us yesterday, “working for God” is to “believe in the one he has sent.” We must take the Word of God seriously, especially at the Eucharistic celebration, so that we can be life-givers as we grow to be more like Him in Spirit. In this way, we co-operate with the Holy Spirit given to us at baptism and find life by giving ourselves as food to others in works of love and compassion. By so doing, we have life in the fullest.