On the Road Together
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Tracy Rodenborn, Director of RCIA
Our Real Desire
Those Israelites in the first reading from Exodus…here they are complaining again. God has rescued them from slavery in Egypt, and they are now wandering through the wilderness in hopes of finding the Promised Land. It might be easy for us to condemn their constant whining and complaining, but the miracles of their rescue from Egypt are getting farther and farther from their minds as their food and rations are dwindling, as they tire from the many days on the road, as the Promised Land is not in sight, and they begin to doubt the change they so wanted in their lives.
They are getting so discouraged, that they even long for their conditions in slavery where at least they did have enough food to eat, even meat! God hears their cries and responds with giving them what they want: both bread and meat from heaven. But God knows that what they really want is more than what they think. They are going to have to learn this as, with every step of the way, they come to know this One, True God who has set them free. God has set them free, but they must come to understand what it means to be free as they journey to the Promised Land and towards knowing and trusting God.
John Shea, a biblical and spiritual writer imagines God saying here: “Manna every morning will not solve the whole problem. Connect with me and be forever satisfied on a spiritual level.” (Shea, John, Mark, Year B, Eating with the Bridegroom, Liturgical Press, 2005. 199.)
In today’s Gospel, the people Jesus fed last week in the feeding sign are now coming to find Him in hopes of more food and more wondrous acts. Jesus’ dialogue with them is His effort to help them see that what they really seek is much more than just food and wonders. He is trying to make them aware of their spiritual hunger for the food that gives life to the world. By the end of this passage, they come to see that they do want the bread of life that Jesus is talking about. This reading is much like the Samaritan Woman at the Well that comes earlier in John’s Gospel. Much in the same way that Jesus leads the crowd to see that what they desire is not just food for physical nourishment, but food that gives life, He leads the woman at the well to see that what she desires is not just water from the well, but indeed living water from God where she will never thirst again. She proclaims, “Give me THAT water” much in the same way that the crowd proclaims, “Sir, give us THIS bread always.”
These readings have a lot to do with adjusting our consciousness of what we really desire and what we really need. Much in the same way that the Israelites who are grumbling in the desert are not aware of what they need, so we, too lose sight of what will really bring us to the fullness of life. As we think about what needs to be adjusted in our own lives, may we proclaim with the woman at the well and with the crowds Jesus fed, saying, “I want THAT water” and “Give us THIS bread always.”
John Shea in his reflections on these readings says he imagines Jesus saying to the crowds, “Don’t keep hungering after wonders as wonders, thinking the next miracle will solve your problems. Notice there is a deeper hunger in you, not for what perishes in time but for what lasts into eternity.” (Shea, John, Mark, Year B, Eating with the Bridegroom, Liturgical Press, 2005. 199.)
They are getting so discouraged, that they even long for their conditions in slavery where at least they did have enough food to eat, even meat! God hears their cries and responds with giving them what they want: both bread and meat from heaven. But God knows that what they really want is more than what they think. They are going to have to learn this as, with every step of the way, they come to know this One, True God who has set them free. God has set them free, but they must come to understand what it means to be free as they journey to the Promised Land and towards knowing and trusting God.
John Shea, a biblical and spiritual writer imagines God saying here: “Manna every morning will not solve the whole problem. Connect with me and be forever satisfied on a spiritual level.” (Shea, John, Mark, Year B, Eating with the Bridegroom, Liturgical Press, 2005. 199.)
In today’s Gospel, the people Jesus fed last week in the feeding sign are now coming to find Him in hopes of more food and more wondrous acts. Jesus’ dialogue with them is His effort to help them see that what they really seek is much more than just food and wonders. He is trying to make them aware of their spiritual hunger for the food that gives life to the world. By the end of this passage, they come to see that they do want the bread of life that Jesus is talking about. This reading is much like the Samaritan Woman at the Well that comes earlier in John’s Gospel. Much in the same way that Jesus leads the crowd to see that what they desire is not just food for physical nourishment, but food that gives life, He leads the woman at the well to see that what she desires is not just water from the well, but indeed living water from God where she will never thirst again. She proclaims, “Give me THAT water” much in the same way that the crowd proclaims, “Sir, give us THIS bread always.”
These readings have a lot to do with adjusting our consciousness of what we really desire and what we really need. Much in the same way that the Israelites who are grumbling in the desert are not aware of what they need, so we, too lose sight of what will really bring us to the fullness of life. As we think about what needs to be adjusted in our own lives, may we proclaim with the woman at the well and with the crowds Jesus fed, saying, “I want THAT water” and “Give us THIS bread always.”
John Shea in his reflections on these readings says he imagines Jesus saying to the crowds, “Don’t keep hungering after wonders as wonders, thinking the next miracle will solve your problems. Notice there is a deeper hunger in you, not for what perishes in time but for what lasts into eternity.” (Shea, John, Mark, Year B, Eating with the Bridegroom, Liturgical Press, 2005. 199.)
