GOSPEL: JN 6:30-35
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THE crowd said to Jesus:
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
So Jesus said to them, “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. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
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Manna is food that the Israelites ate during their sojourn in the desert, after they had escaped the slavery of Egypt. It is fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. Its name recalls the question of the Israelites: Man hu? (“What is this?” – cf Ex 16:12-35). The Lord supplied manna to the Israelites until they reached the border of Canaan and could eat from the produce of the Promised Land.
Even if the Israelites, in their rebellion, got tired of eating manna (cf Nm 11:6), later generations would refer to this food as “grain from heaven” (Ps 78:24) or “food of angels” (Wis 16:20). Thus, among the Jews, there was a popular expectation that in the final days God or his Messiah would again provide manna.
To test Jesus’ claims, the Jews demand a sign: To rain bread from heaven similar to the manna. If Jesus is indeed the new Moses, what sign will he give them comparable to the manna? Jesus replies that the manna was not the genuine bread from heaven. He is the genuine bread from heaven: He comes down from heaven, and he offers himself as the bread of life that preserves from death.
*** SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 8957328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
