11th Sunday After Pentecost – August 8th – Year B

Gospel Lectionary Text

John 6:35, 41-51
6:35 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.

6:41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

6:42 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'?"

6:43 Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves.

6:44 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.

6:45 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.

6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.

6:47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.

6:48 I am the bread of life.

6:49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

6:50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

6:51 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."

THE HUMAN BECOMING: A COUNTER-INTUITIVE JOURNEY TO GOD. (WEEKLY SMALL GROUP LITURGY)

Word from Below Reflections

Induction to Reality

If this is true, the Lord's Table is not simply a ritual performed on special occasions in clearly recognized "sacred settings" - though it is often exactly and beautifully that. Like Jesus's "I Am" statements, including his statement about being the Bread of Life, a sweeping universality is held in the particularity of this Meal.

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Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.

Weekly Homily by James Alison