PROPER 14 (19) – Year B
12th Sunday after Pentecost — August 11, 2024
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."
CONTEXT
Welcome to the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. We are in the middle of a five week stretch in which Jesus reflects on matters related to the feeding of the 5,000 and the essence of the meal on offer. This week’s passage doubles back on Jesus’ role as the “bread of life.”
Three key verbs surface in the text. The first is that the people began to “complain.” This evokes memories of how the people grumbled before God when being fed manna in the desert. The second verb is the word “drawn.” It is a gentle word referring to how God deals with those who grumble. God draws them. Finally, this drawing is contrasted with the word “drive,” found in verse 37. “Anyone who comes to me, I will never ‘drive’ away.”
Jesus wants his grumbling guests to celebrate the wide open table that God sets — a table that does not exclude anyone. Ironically, this table is hosted by the one who will soon be driven out. It is the driven-out-one who gently draws the complainers back to the table that excluded him, nourishing and sustaining them with his very life. This is the meal on offer.
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, wild and free. Do as you please. Shine your light on me that I might see things as they are, not as I am. Free me to act in your name with courage, creativity, and compassion. See the complete prayer
Word from Below Reflections
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Weekly Homily by James Alison