10th Sunday After Pentecost

B 2015

Tenth Sunday After

Pentecost B

1. The Gospel of John was written 60 or 70 years after the death of Jesus. So it is not an
eyewitness account of what Jesus did and said, but an interpretation of what Jesus did and
said.

The Gospels of Mark, Luke and Matthew were already available to the Christian churches when John was
written. John does not provide as many details about Jesus actions as the other 3 Gospels. Johns
Gospel is more of a theological reflection of the meaning and implications of the coming of Jesus Christ,
and less of a report of what happened when and where.
For instance, the other 3 Gospels report twenty plus miracles by Jesus, and write that he performed
many more miracles that were not reported in their Gospels. John does not report the same 20 +
miracles, but only 7. The Gospel of John selects miracles that serve his purpose to make a point.
John called the miracles signs, because for John, the purpose of Jesuss miracles was to signal
something very important, to teach people a lesson.
Todays reading is the discussion between Jesus and and some people in the crowd about the lesson to
be learned from the miracle of the multiplication of bread and fish.
The day before this discussion, Jesus had been preaching to a crowd of 5,000. By the end of the day,
they were hungry, and there was no food in the area, except 5 loaves of bread and a couple of fish.
Jesus took the bread and the fish and multiplied them, and fed all the people. After that, he and his 12
disciples left and went to Capernaum.
That miracle had a huge impact, particularly in a place where most people had barely enough to eat, so
the next day the crowd went looking for him. They wanted more food.
But, as John reminds us, Jesus mission was not to feed to hungry, but to reveal God, reconcile people
to God, and reform Judaism. So in this passage, John describes how Jesus used the miracle performed
the day before to teach people a lesson and get them to think about their souls.
But that was a lesson they were not prepared to learn. What they had learned the day before was that
Jesus could provide free food. But when Jesus started telling them that there is more to life that the
body and its needs, and that the soul also needs to be nourished, they were not interested.

2. Lets follow the debate: Jesus told them, focus not on the food that perishes, but on the
food that endures forever.

Tenth Sunday After

Pentecost B

In other words, human beings are made of both body and soul. Material things , like the body, eventually
come to an end: we all die. But our spirit, our soul lives forever. Both body and soul need to be
nourished. The food he had provided the day before was nourishment for the body. But their souls also
needed nourishment.
Our souls, our spirits are nourished by the word of God and by Gods grace. The bread Jesus had
provided the day before had filled their stomachs, but his teachings were food for the spirit and if they
believed him they would get eternal life.
The multiplication of bread performed was a sign to get their attention and get them to think. Human
being cannot perform miracles, only God performs miracles, and if God had given a human being the
power to perform miracles it was because God wanted them to listen to this person and follow him.
The miracle of the multiplication of bread was supposed to make a Jewish audience think back at their
history and remind them of Moses. When their ancestors had been hungry in the desert, Moses prayed
to God and God sent them manna to eat. From that event, their ancestors had learned that Moses spoke
on behalf of God, so they followed him, obeyed his laws, and he led them to the promised land.
Just as miracle of the manna had been a sign to their ancestors the Moses had been sent by God and
that they should listen to him. So the multiplication of the bread and fish was also a sign that Jesus had
been sent by God, and they should listen to him and follow him to the kingdom of God.

2. But the crowd was not interested in what Jesus had to say about religion. They, and
especially the Pharisees, were convinced that, since they were Gods chosen people,
their religion was perfect and did not need to change, and so they responded to Jesus,
if you want to change the religion we have received from Moses, give us a sign.
That was rather disingenuous considering that he had just given them a sign the day before.
The reality is that they wanted Jesus to stick to feeding the hungry and leave religion to the priests and
the Pharisees. They were convinced that all their laws had been given to Moses by God. But Jewish laws
had been added and multiplied over time and many laws contradicted Gods will, but the Pharisees
taught them that every rule was Gods laws and could not be changed.

Tenth Sunday After

Pentecost B

4. Jesus had come to reveal that God is love and challenged the reduction of the religion of Israel
Judaism to a system of 613 laws, plus countless legal interpretations of the rules. But the
Pharisees and of their followers reacted with un-belief and rejection: who are you to change
Gods laws? Give us a sign the you speak from God.
The multiplication of bread they had witnessed the day before was the sign, just like the manna in the desert
had been a sign for their ancestors..
But they didnt accept that it was a signal from God that Jesus had been sent by God to complete the
revelation of God. He told them, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.
But the crowd turned away from him and left.
He wanted to shift their attention away from the life and the nourishment of the body to the life and the
nourishment of the soul, but they were not interested. They already had all the religion they needed and
came to the conclusion that Jesus was talking nonsense and they left.
Jesus then turned to the 12 and ask them, do you want to go too? And Peter answered, where could we go,
you alone have words of eternal life.

5. Let us pause for a moment, and let me ask you to think about some questions:
Are miracles enough to convince people who dont want to be convinced? Obviously not!
What is Christianity about? Is it just about feeding the hungry? Is it just about nourishing our spirit, while
ignoring the needs of the body? Or is it about nourishing hungry bodies and hungry souls?
Jesus did both he cured the sick, fed the hungry, but also fed their souls.
We nourish our souls by receiving the word of God in Scripture and by receiving Gods grace through the
Sacraments, especially through the Eucharist. Jesus in this passage said, I am the bread of life and later
at the last supper he broke bread and said, this is my body do this in my memory. By receiving the word
of God, and receiving the Eucharist, we nourish our souls.
But we cant preach the Gospel to empty stomachs. They will not hear us, and, just in case we should
misunderstand Jesus point, he said that we will be judged by how we help his brothers and sisters in need.
Yet, In todays Gospel Jesus reminds us that food for the body is not enough. There is a part of us that
survives death, our spirit, and that too needs to be nourished by the word of God and by the sacraments.