This week Jesus doubles down on his claim to be the bread from heaven (Jn 6:41-51). Better than the manna that provided a meal for hungry Israelites in the desert, his food provides eternal life.
The people around him found this claim hard to swallow 😊. They knew this guy, it made no sense to think he had some special relationship with God. Except that he did. But the point Jesus was trying to make wasn’t that this he had some sort of private deal with the Father God, rather, he was making this relationship open to everyone. He was the way, he was the door, he was the food – whatever metaphor you prefer (and John throws just about every one you can imagine at us) – Jesus is the best way to get into relationship with God our father.
We don’t face the challenge of knowing Jesus personally so we don’t have the same problem as his original audience. But we still need to be conscious of the challenge that Jesus is giving also to us. Paul spells it out in his letter to his church in Ephesus (Eph 4:30—5:2): All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. That seems like a sentiment that many people are failing to observe in our times.
Following Jesus has consequences. We must expect to change our behavior, not simply follow our instincts. ‘Just believe’ might sound easy, but believing takes commitment. The results of that commitment are very clear: “be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ” (again from Paul in our Second Reading). So if you’re falling short in that regard there is still work to do. But that’s ok – that’s why Jesus is feeding us. He expects us to take a while, and he knows we’re not at our best when we get hungry.