This coming Sunday is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Before we undertake our study of vv. 51-58, I would offer O’Day’s [605-7] comments as regards the place our verses have in the overall picture of chap. 6. Here she will argue against all the positions in the previous post – to some degree – and suggest there is intentionality and continuity with these verses within all of John 6: Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We are in the midst of a sequence of Gospel readings taken from John 6 – the Bread of Life discourse. We come to a critical point in the narrative as Jesus alternatively has addressed two groups: the crowd of people who followed Jesus and his own disciples. Everything began with the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 (plus) people whose response is that they want to take Jesus away and declare him “king.” (v.15) But Jesus knows their hearts and withdraws – but the crowd follows. They are astounded by the miracle of the feeding, but miss the “sign” it was meant to convey. It is good to remember that St. John never refers to “miracles” but only to “signs” as the acts point beyond the result of the act and reveal the One who is the actor, Jesus. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, lectionary cycle B. We have been taking a “summer break” from the Gospel of Mark, our normal gospel reading for cycle B, as we explore Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John – the Bread of Life Discourse. This “summer break” began on the 17th Sunday and will conclude on the 21st Sunday. However, this week’s gospel reading is perhaps the most dense in language, theology, and nuance. Not surprisingly, it is the passage for which there is a very wide, diverging understanding. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.  48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  45 It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.

Jesus now addresses the crowd for a second time and tells them to stop their grumbling. Then he repeats the saying of v.37, but in a slightly stronger form. In v.37 the word “come” (hēxei) is the future, active voice and means that the person (subject) will be in the process of “coming.” But in v.44 the subject is God who will helkysē (draw, haul by force – EDNT v.1:435) the person to him. In the midst of everyone considering the great Eucharistic questions posed by John 6, it is easy to pass over one of the great doctrines of the Gospel and the Christian faith: divine initiative. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 41 The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42 and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

As with the encounter with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well, the dialogue reveals more about Jesus and his mission, but the revelation does not necessarily lead to understanding. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The text from the previous Sunday (18th Sunday) centers around Jesus challenging the people’s motivation for coming to Jesus. He tells them they only came to see more signs, eat their fill, but not really “work” for the bread that is eternal. The people not only do not understand Jesus’ point, but become bogged down in “what do I have to do to get it” as though they could accomplish this on their own talents and perseverance.  Jesus’ response is that all one needs to do is believe – and the conversation returns to “show us another sign” and they up the ante – “and make it better than the one Moses did in the dessert.” Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, lectionary cycle B. For five Sundays here in the middle of Year B, our gospel is taken from John 6. So, perhaps it is best to see where this reading fits in. John 6 follows the same basic pattern noted in chapter 5: miracle / dialogue / discourse. This pattern is more intricate in John 6 because the chapter narrates Jesus’ self-revelation to two groups: the crowd and his disciples. As such John 6 contains two miracles: one performed before the crowd and the disciples (6:1–15) and one performed in front of the disciples alone (6:16–21). This dual focus is reflected in the discourse material as well. John 6 can be outlined as follows: Continue reading →